Some behaviour is an accurate reflection of faith in Christ, while other behaviour is an actual contradiction of faith in Christ. This message was given on December 6, 2015 at New City Church in Calgary by Pastor John Ferguson. For more info, please visit: www.newcitychurch.ca

1. Far As The Curse Is Found
Human Suffering & The Hope of Christmas
“The Problem of Christmas Grinches”
~ The Gospel of Matthew 26:45-54 ~
(or, Christians Behaving Badly)

3. “There have been a lot
of horrifying—there
have been a lot of
monster Christians.
Hitler was a Christian.”
~ Whoopi Goldberg, Nov 17, 2015

4. How should we
respond to the
charge of Christian
hypocrisy / evil? ?

5. “Christians today are, in many
countries, identified with a
history which, at several
points, has served to obscure
the gospel from the gaze of the
non-Christian: a history that
includes bloody crusades and
inquisitions, social intolerance
and intellectual bigotry, the
selective use of biblical texts to
justify slavery, sexism, colonial
imperialism, and a host of
other evils.”

6. “Over the course of
2000 years, there has
consistently been one
unanswerable objection
to the Christian faith—
Christians.”

7. “The Problem of Christmas Grinches”
~ The Gospel of Matthew 26:45-54 ~
(or, Christians Behaving Badly)
Advent 2015: “Far As The Curse Is Found”

8. 45 Then he came to the disciples and
said to them, “Sleep and take your rest
later on. See, the hour is at hand, and
the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands
of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going; see,
my betrayer is at hand. 47 While he was
still speaking, Judas came, one of the
Matthew 26:45-54

9. …twelve, and with him a great crowd
with swords and clubs, from the chief
priests and the elders of the people. 48
Now the betrayer had given them a sign
saying, “The one I will kiss is the man;
seize him.” 49 And he came up to Jesus
at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!”
Matthew 26:45-54

10. And he kissed him. 50 Jesus said to him,
“Friend, do what you came to do.” Then
they came up and laid hands on Jesus
and seized him. 51 And behold, one of
those who were with Jesus stretched out
his hand and drew his sword and stuck
the servant of the high priest and cut off
Matthew 26:45-54

11. …his ear. 52 Then Jesus said to him,
Matthew 26:45-54
“Put away your sword back into its place.
For all who take the sword will perish by
the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot
appeal to my Father and he will at once
send me more than twelve legions of
angels? 54 But how then should the
Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?

12. Our response on
a personal level
should be
gracious humility
1

13. Shut up, listen,
& empathize.

14. “God, as we encounter him in
the Scriptures, is a God of
justice. He seeks justice, he
hates injustice, he is on the side
of the victims of injustice, he is
adamantly opposed to those
who perpetrate injustice, and all
who live before him must in their
turn seek justice and have the
courage to stand against
injustice.”
~ Os Guinness

15. Confession &
Repentance

16. ~ CS Lewis
The Four Loves
“If ever the book which I am
not going to write is written, it
must be full of confession by
Christendom to Christendom’s
specific contribution to the sum
of human cruelty. Large areas
of the world will not hear us
until we have publicly
disowned much of our past.
Why should they?”

17. ~ The Apostle Paul in
1 Timothy 1:12-16
I thank him who has given me
strength, Christ Jesus our Lord,
because he judged me faithful,
appointing me to his service,
though formerly I was a
blasphemer, persecutor, and
insolent opponent. But I
received mercy because I had
acted ignorantly in unbelief, and
the grace of our Lord overflowed
for me with the faith and love
that are in Christ Jesus.

18. ~ The Apostle Paul in
1 Timothy 1:12-16
The saying is trustworthy and
deserving of full acceptance, that
Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I am
the foremost. But I received
mercy for this reason, that in me,
as the foremost, Jesus Christ
might display his perfect
patience as an example to those
who were to believe in him for
eternal life.

19. What do you
believe is
WRONG
with the
WORLD?

20. GK Chesterton
“I am.”
What do you
believe is
WRONG
with the
WORLD?

21. Our response on
a practical level
should be
courageous truth
2

22. The link between a belief & its outcome is
important to examine. Some bad behavior,
however, is an accurate reflection of a belief,
while other bad behavior is such a contradiction
of its belief that it is no reflection at all.
~ Os Guinness
Unspeakable
“

23. Jesus forbids…
• violence toward enemies (Matthew 5)
• arrogance towards others (Matthew 7)
• coercion (Matthew 22)
• oppression of the poor (Matthew 23)
• abuse of power (Matthew 23)
• hatred & murder (Matthew 23)
• advancing his cause by violence (Mt. 26)

24. Jesus seeks alignment
between belief & behaviour
…he questions the integrity of faith if
there is no good works along with it
(James 2:14-26)
…he criticized the church for failure
to follow his teachings
(Revelation 2-3; Matthew 23)
…he set up a system for the church to
police herself, i.e., church discipline
(Matthew 18)

25. image: Christopher Brown
Only Christianity offers the world
a God who has suffered
at the hands of religious people.

26. Some behaviour is an
accurate reflection of faith in Christ,
while other behaviour is an
actual contradiction of faith in Christ.

27. “As an atheist, I truly believe
Africa needs God.”
by Matthew Parris ~ Dec 27, 2008

28. Imagine…

29. image credit: Jeff Wallace
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wherezjeff/10303547696/
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
flickr images courtesy of:
other images used for educational purposes:
http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/whoopi-goldberg/images/31581577/title/whoopi-goldberg-photo
image: Christopher Brown
https://www.flickr.com/photos/coltrane/3531948937/
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/