Our name | Mission | Vision | Leaders Ministries | Schedule | Directions | Contact Home   Gateway Church gathers for worship Sundays at 10:30 a.m. Location: 6425 Jefferson Rd. (Hwy. 129) in Athens, Georgia. For directions, click here. Ministry of the Word: Recent sermons Our quarterly e-magazine Gateway Today For the Gateway family Pastor Jerry's Weekly E-Mail A GATEWAY SERMON SUMMARY AUDIO Dethroning the 'Barney-fied' Jesus* Jerry Varnado, pastor Gateway Church, Athens GA October 16, 2005 Main Scripture text: Revelation: 19:11-16. People come to Christ for many reasons: to find unconditional love, to experience peace, to feel better about themselves. But if our reason for putting our faith in Christ does not include a "desire to flee from the wrath to come," we do not have a correct understanding of the gospel. Suppose you were on an airline flight. Soon after takeoff, the flight attendants distribute parachutes, telling the passengers that wearing them will make the flight more comfortable. You're one of the few who actually puts the parachute on. You find out it make the flight less comfortable, not more. Other passengers are giggling at you. There's a tremendous temptation and pressure to take that thing off. But suppose you had reliable information that the plane -- now at 35,000 feet -- was about to break up and that parachute was going to save your life. Now, the glances and giggles don't bother you. I'll come back to that illustration shortly. In an article in Good News magazine, a Methodist pastor named Matthew Woodley wrote about teaching a confirmation class. He asked his students for five words that describe Jesus -- and he heard the most-common ones: loving, caring, gentle, sweet, kind. But one boy in the class blurted out: "Hey, are describing Jesus Christ or Barney the purple dinosaur?" Sure, there's truth in the "Barney-fied" Jesus. He is loving and caring and kind. But the Jesus of the Bible is not always understanding, nurturing, and friendly. The biblical Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He is is coming back with fire in His eyes and a sword in His mouth -- and He'll be looking for a faithful and spotless bride. Here are several problems that flow from having a "Barney-fied" Jesus -- a Jesus who is meek and mild only: 1) It produces weak faith. Like the person being laughed at on the airplane, many people who've put their faith in a "Barney-fied" Jesus turn back in the face of adversity. If one "puts on the Lord Jesus Christ" to feel better, to make life more comfortable, to be blessed, or find peace, what happens to their faith when they run into hardship and difficulty? They fall away. But if a person understands that he or she is guilty of transgressing God's law and, without Jesus, is justly under a sentence of death and hell, that person will cling to Jesus come hell or high water! 2) It produces no sense of adventure. When we make Jesus dull, people, especially men, quickly loose interest and drift away. But Jesus is not dull. He is wild, unpredictable, ready to swallow entire kingdoms and rule with his rod of justice. The real Jesus calls us to a life of adventure. 3) It demands no healing repentance. No one looks for a cure to a disease they don't know they have. The theology of the"Barney-fied" Jesus says He accepts us as we are, including our sin, which is a deadly disease. The message the real Jesus preaches is, "Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" 4) It has no transforming power. If there is no repentance there is no transformation. Thank God, the real Jesus does accept just as we are -- but then He begins the incredible process of changing us at the very core, so we can become the people God has called us to be! In our witness and in our living we need to make sure we have the real Jesus on the throne. He is not the "Barney-fied" Jesus, but the One in Revelation 19 riding the white horse. His is the One with sharp sword coming out of his mouth to strike down the nations. And here is the Good News of the gospel: Anyone who puts on that Jesus can make the 35,000 foot jump from this life to the next without fear -- and without a scratch! Thanks be to God! Supporting texts: 1 Thessalonians 1:10 | Hebrews 9:27-28 | Hebrews 12:14 A mp3 audio file of this sermon is here (28:00). (Download to a PC by right clicking on the link and choosing "Save Target As." Mac users: click, hold, and choose "Download Link to Disk." Depending on your connection speed, the file may take several minutes to download.) An audio tape of the sermon summarized above is available free of charge (U.S. requests only). Request a tape by calling or writing the Gateway Church office. Please specify tape number 051016a: Dethroning the 'Barney-fied' Jesus. *Ideas for this sermon were derived in part from Matthew Woodley's article, "How Well Do You Know Jesus?" (Good News magazine--May/June 1999), and the sermon, "Hell's Best-Kept Secret," by Ray Comfort. © 2005 Gerald R. Varnado To the Gateway Church home page How to contact us