Flanders on Salvation

This week at the Movement Campus Church we continue our series The Gospel of Ned Flanders, by building upon the contrast of Christian vs. Secular worldviews. In this sermon we will tackle the all important doctrine of salvation.

The Day after Babel
Religion has always been a little wacky. All religions share a common origin in confusion, the day after mankind was spread from the fertile crescent. From that point on we have been struggling to contextualize our relationship with God or gods, depending upon the perspective. But there is one element that survived the collapse of the tower; the feeling that mankind must earn the favor or grace of the gods.

Christian Mythology?
As long as there has been a combination of weather, natural disaters and blonde haired women, the result has produced the idea of sacrifice and mythology. In this capacity we are tempted to join with the atheists and proclaim religious insanity. My rationality is simply not prepared to accept throwing a person in a volcano, much less feeding Anne Darrow to King Kong. And yet, while many "enlightened" Christians would scoff at the idea of appeasement of the gods of Mt. Olympus, they share many of the same human religious characteristics.

First, like the ancient Greeks, they recreate God in our own human image, sharing in our knowledge and playing by our rules. Moreover, they have exchanged the ideas of collective interaction with God for a personal relationship. (Zeus no longer zaps with lightning bolts, that is God's job during the tribulation.)

The end result is no different from Babel. The focus is placed on us instead of on God. To pacify an angry god we offer sacrifice, to please god we offer worship, and to move a lethagic god we offer service. Our focus becomes what can we do for God, instead of what God has already done for us.

Our lives become thinly veiled failures of a reality that "we are none good, NO NOT ONE."

This is the nonChristian-Christian worldview presented in the gospel of Ned Flanders. It speaks the truth in frustration that no matter how hard we try, we can just not reach that standards of making God love us through our religious works. Many a faith has died along that journey in the knowledge that our sacrifice is always blemished and eternally unacceptable.

Enter the Gospel
The Bible presents an alternative view of christianity, as it speaks of salvation in terms of what Jesus has already done on our behalf instead of what we must continue to labor to accomplish for him. It illustrates the long lost relationship of God and man as a father to a son. It reveals that as a father loves his son in spite of his failures so also does God to those whom He has adopted through His spirit.

Hebrews 9:11-14
But when Christ appeared as a high priest, then he entered once for all into the holy place, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls sanctify the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve God.

The Movement Campus Church Fall Schedule!

Welcome the Movement Campus Church.

All services are held at Krannert Auditorium in the Kranner Business School Building on the Purdue Campus in West Lafayette, IN.

Weekly services are held at 1pm.

Semester Sermon Series: The Gospel of Ned Flanders

Friday,Sept 10th- Kickoff Tent Revival with Rev. Aaron Arrowood and Rev. Robert McManue.- 8pm Memorial Mall Lawn

Sunday,Sept 12- Opening Service- Flanders: Jesus

Sunday.Sept 19- Flanders: The Ministry

Sunday,Sept 26- Flanders: The Church

Sunday,Oct 3- Flanders: Salvation

Sunday,Oct 10- Special Guest Speaker

Sunday,Oct 17- Flanders: The Christian Lifestyle

Sunday,Oct 24- Flanders: The Christian Man

Sunday,Oct 31- No Service Special Holloween Party

Sunday,Nov 7- Flanders: The Christian Woman

Sunday,Nov 14- Flanders: The Christian Family

Sunday,Nov 21- Flanders: The Christian Calling

Sunday Nov 28- No Service- Thanksgiving Break

Sunday Dec 5- Final Service and Series Conclusion- Flanders: The Kingdom of Heaven

*For midweek activities please Contact Scott Wilkinson @ 765-490-5212

Flanders: The Church

When World-views Collide

This semester at the Movement Campus Church, we have been comparing and contrasting two ideological world views, both within the context of Christianity. A world-view is simply defined as the context or way in which an individual sees the world. The first, what we call a NonChristian Christian world-view, is an ideology developed by secular people to define and redefine Christianity for the mainstream conception and consumption. In contrast, we are studying a Biblical world-view, an ideology developed by first century men writing under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, to define Christianity from generation to generation, unaffected by cultural shifts or changes.

Representing the two conflicting ideas are the gospel of Flanders, preached by the writers of the Fox sitcom "the Simpsons" which has been redefining all aspects of Christianity since 1987. In comparison we find the Epistle to the Hebrews, writer unknown, which defined all aspects of Christianity since the mid first century A.D., when it proclaimed,"Jesus Christ- the same yesterday, today, and forever."

In the past two weeks we examined the Christ found in the gospel of Flanders vs. the Christ presented in the Hebraic epistle. Christ therefore being the Good Shepherd, in the second week we studied the role and the responsibilities of the shepherds (the ministry) in religion, the relationship between God and man. This week we will study the relationship of the husband to the wife, as the war of words focuses in on the bride of Christ, His church.

Please join us on Sunday September 26th, at 1pm in the Krannert Auditorium for an hour of Campus worship.

Flanders: The Ministry

This week at the Movement Campus Church we continue our series The Gospel of Ned Flanders. Building upon the contrast of Christian vs. Secular worldviews, we will be examining distinct definitions of the Ministry with the help of Rev. Timothy Lovejoy, "Presbamethodist" pastor of the First Church of Springfield and its faithful saint Ned Flanders.

Religion Saves?
We begin with the question of the importance of religion. Increasingly today, the worldview among Non Christians and Christians alike has moved toward religion being irrelevent. The common battlecry for this coming generation is "Everything is Spiritual," the argument that spirituality has replaced the need for religion.

Religion Kills?;
Since religion has become little more than mere zealotry and pumped up legalistic ritual, the worldview of many people argues that religion must be replaced and its institutions destroyed. But is this worldview of Christianity Biblical? What does the Bible say about the role that religion in salvation?

Hebrews 3:1-2
Holy brothers, who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house.

The writer of Hebrews speaks of Jesus Christ and His work of salvation for us in religious terms. He calls Jesus our High Priest who works diligently in God's House. Why then would we need a high priest if religion is worthless routine? The Biblical answer is evident: Religion does not save us, the process of religion keeps us saved.

There is no point in a high priest if there is not a lamb; likewise their is no point in a lamb without a high priest to make intercession over and to perform the sacrifice. Jesus Christ was both our Lamb and High Priestt! The role of the ministry (religion) is therefore pertinent to salvation. Paul echoes this while he writes to the Romans saying, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God... and how shall they hear without a preacher?"

Herbrews 1:5-6
Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if we hold fast our confidence.

Jesus perform the priestly duties in Christians who are the temple of the Holy Ghost. He perform daily intercession, sacrifice, and cleansing in his imperfect vessels. The daily submission to religious oracles keeps our confidence in the lamb's sacrifice on Calvary.

Without Calvary's lamb, none will come to salvation. Without Calvary's High Priest's daily ministry, none will come to salvation.

Religion Loves
Many will argue that ministry has been used to steal, kill, and destroy. That actions or deeds done in the name of religion have made the world a worse place. We do not deny this, yet Biblically we find multiple definitions of ministry along with stern Godly rebukes towards those who would corrupt its heavenly intentions.

Please consider joining us Sunday as we unpack the role of ministry, especially if you feel that ministry has been: manipulative, greedy, judgmental, ecumenical, or hypocritical. We will discover together that the ministry that is faithful in the example of Jesus is none of these things the gospel of Flanders claims it to be in the secular worldview. Instead it is "absatively posilutely" the opposite:

Hebrews 4:14-16
we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God. we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The Gospel of Ned Flanders

Satire and Allegory:
We are all a part of a bigger story. Our lives are characters on the stage of life, each of us a different part to play. The irony lies within our mindset: that each of us play the leading role in this cosmic performance, we all play the star.

We are in a comedy. The Director of this play has a sense of humor. He weaves together all aspects of performance with delight; irony, parody, allegory, and satire. The Apostle Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians, "it pleased God to confound the wise with folly, with the foolish things of the world."

But deep into the third act, the actors lost the plot, lost the sense of humor with which our Director created, wrote and designed us into existence. Christianity may be guilty of an ab-libbed performance. We have forgotten our lines or even worst rejected them as insufficient to the play itself.

There was a scene in Act Two, when Christianity was the driving force in art and lifestyle. A time when we spoke the words of creation in the image of our Director. Instead of re-creating our own Christian label, (safe harbors apart from the vile and wicked humor of "stand in" performers), it was Christians who set standards of cultural development and societal pursuits. Now we have been "Left Behind" and humorless, interacting only amongst ourselves, each the most self important part to play.

God intended our worldview to be communicated by humor and story. Instead we rewrite our part to communicate it with ritual and fear. Allegory is understood only through preaching points and satire is often rejected all together (we have lost all ability to poke fun at ourselves). The church, with all of its solemn piety, just doesn't get it. They didn't understand Dante even when he named his epic poem Divine Comedy nor do they understand that Ned Flanders (of the Simpsons) has become one of the most important voices of Christian worldview in our society today, far more influential than any single pulpit or ministry.

Ned Flanders,the annoying neighbor and supporting character in the globally popular American sitcom "The Simpsons", is written to be the embodiment of American Christianity. Through his character, non-Christian writers present a Christian worldview, they are painting a portrait of what it means to be a Christian.

At the Movement Campus Church, this fall semester, we will be studying the Gospel of Ned Flanders verses the book of Hebrews. We refuse to be afraid of using humor and satire to communicate the gospel of the One who created it. We will examine the difference between the Bibles definition of following Christ against the the accepted societal normative of Christianity. We seek to reclaim our Director's voice in the presentation of His performance, our story.