Lent V John 12:20-21 Redeemer
In Jesus Holy Name March 29, 2009
“Are People Still Asking to See Jesus?”
When I was a kid in the 1950’s people’s minds and actions were saturated and wrapped in Christian values. The worship of God and honesty were important values. People knew bible stories. If you breathed air, you knew who a “Pharisee” was. You knew what it meant to call a city “Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Parents were worried that the gyrations of Elvis Presley would corrupt their teens. Now parents worry their daughter can take the morning after pill … and never tell.
They worry their pre teens will text nude picture to their friends and never know that it’s a crime to post pornography on the web.
Christianity is now culturally, socially and religiously disestablished. Your computer’s spell check proves it. Windows 95 did not know the books of the bible or recognize biblical names. Prayer before basket ball games in Illinois, even between Christian schools.
In 1998 the pastoral team at Trinity Church in Columbus, Ohio, “retreated” to Indianapolis for the NCAA “March Madness” basketball playoffs. The guy with the orange hair and home made John 3:16 sign was under the basked at the other end of the court. Seated behind the pastoral team were tow well dressed couples debating what John 3:16 meant. One guessed it was an ad for a new restaurant in town. Another thought John 3:16 might be a signal to someone to meet at the John on the 3rd floor, stall 16. Talk was clueless. They had no idea.
Christian faith was never universal in America. But there was a broad consensus that our values still depended and rested upon the Ten Commandments and that God really did exist. Today Science has replaced religion as the basis of social morality. Pitrim Sorokim, founder of the Harvard University Department of Society notes that when something other than religious faith underpins morality, which underpins society, the society begins to crumble. He died in 1968. (Leonard Sweet SoulTsunami)
We are not living in the world our parents grew up in.
Biotechnology, genetic engineering, artificial life, bionic medicine, nanotechnology, microsurgery… these are the flagship technologies of the 21st century. My 7th and 8th graders have I pods and I phones with thousands of songs and several bible verses all in a hand held nano computer.
We are leaping into a new world of biology and technology; yet crawling backward into the caves of old world philosophies and spiritual “paganism” and the worship of Mother Earth. Issues of abortion, genetic engineering, euthanasia and designer genetics are all part of the bio technological revolution. As disciples of Jesus Christ we may be tempted to shelter ourselves behind our church doors….keeping Jesus to ourselves… We can not jump ship. In the motto of the Coast Guard:
“You have to go out…. You do not have to come back.”
When the astronauts are preparing for their work on the space station they spend hours practicing their every activity in zero gravity. They must remain tethered to a stable object or they and their tools (as has happened) will literally float away. Our culture is trying but it can not live under conditions of zero morality.
What will again tether our moral compass? No… who will again tether our moral compass? It’s not a new question. The gospel of John tells us that there were some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. Their quest? “We want to see Jesus.” Please note that upon their arrival in Jerusalem they did not ask…”where’s the temple?” Everyone could see the temple.
Today, people are not asking… ‘where’s your church’… Churches are visible all over the city. They are asking… “Why are you so kind? Why are you so accepting? Why are you so honest and trustworthy…” Your answer…. “I’m a disciple of Jesus.”
“People in our culture need hard evidence that following Jesus really makes a difference.” (Reinventing Evangelism Donald Posterski p. 31)
He writes: “living the Christian life is like a 3 legged stool. If one leg is missing there is no support. The key to reaching the spiritually hungry is: 1) prayer 2) care 3) communicate.
Pray: When Jesus was earthbound he developed a reputation for being a man of prayer. To pray is to say, “I believe. I believe God exists. I believe he wants to hear from me. Prayer acknowledges that I believe he is my creator.
When we pray we enter into a partnership with God, in the process of making him known. Prayer for specific people prompts God to speak to their heart. The Holy Spirit arouses interest in spiritual matters, convicts of sin and opens their heart and mind to see and hear about God’s love in Jesus.
Care: James writes: “What good is it if a person claims to have faith in Jesus but has no deeds? If you say “God, I wish you well, keep warm and well fed but you do not offer a blanket, or food…. What good is it? Faith without action is dead.” (James 2:14-16)
Without prayer the Christian life is unbalanced. Everyone knows we live in a self centered society and so when a disciple, of Jesus toes tangible acts of care and kindness the world notices. Caring for people brings the light of heaven into their darkness. The Good Samaritan is always given good marks for caring.
“Following the end of the Vietnam War thousands of Christians opened their homes and lives to Vietnamese and Hmong refugees. Recently, one Christian Campus worker reported that a Vietnamese student had seen and advertisement for a bible study. The reason the student joined the group to study the bible was significant. His words: “I must find out more about your God, because you are the people who helped my people.” (ibid p. 42)
Communicate: Today is not like yesterday. Your word, your handshake was enough to seal a deal when I was a kid. Our challenge today is to find a way to communicate the ultimate truth of God as displayed in the person of Jesus in a culture that says there is no ultimate, absolute moral truth, but rather that Jesus is one truth among many. People who live in a pluralistic culture have lots of spiritual and religious choices and besides I think people like permissiveness. “I’ll do my thing and you do your thing.”
In this culture confrontational styles of witnessing are not so popular and even considered offensive. I have noted in past sermons that the claim of Jesus… “No one comes to the Father except through me”; was acceptable in the past, not in our present world. You see, Ice cream counters and multiplex theaters all tell us the same thing…. Choices are mandatory. So how do we tell others there is only one way to heaven?
We know that “God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son…so that all who believe in him will have the gift of eternal life.” We know our God is a jealous lover. He constantly used the O.T. prophets to woo the children of Israel. He didn’t just say… “Choose this day whom you will serve...” and then back away. The prophets kept calling… return to the Lord, your God. Then finally, when the time was right God sent his own son to bring humanity back to himself.
I know I have shared this story before but I believe the Apostle Paul shows us how to communicate the love of God, displayed at the cross of Jesus to those who live in our world that offers so many religious choices, yet they are without hope, without joy, with out assurance.
In Acts 17 we find the Apostle Paul alone in Athens. He is waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him. He goes for a walk in the city of Athens. Beautiful stone streets. Great market places. But he is troubled by all the temples to various gods… how does one choose? Paul engages the people in conversation. He asks questions.
The Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were people who believed in the pursuit of pleasure. Life was fatal; there is nothing you can do… Paul notes that they were very “religious”…. He talks about Jesus and the resurrection. They were intrigued. Some wanted to hear more. Some people believed, others thought the resurrection foolish.
People continue to have the same response today. Our responsibility is to pray, expect the Holy Spirit to bring those who are spiritual lost and hungry into our sphere of influence….because we care …so that they can see Jesus.
Yes I believe that people are sensing that capitalistic materialism without moral restraints is not working. Yes, I believe that people are looking for Jesus. Philip brought the Greeks to Andrew and they both brought them to Jesus.
Jesus was quite clear about his future. He would be lifted upon a cross as the substitute provided by God to remove our sin.
I realize that the very word sin has been dropped from most people’s vocabulary. In the N.T. there are several words for sin. Harmartia –means to “miss the target”. “To miss the goal.” It is a term used in archery when the archer aims the arrow for the target and misses. You see, every religion has ethical goals and values. Everyone knows they fall short of the mark set.
A second word is Parabasis which is translated “transgression.” Transgression is a deliberate choice to break a law. We know the speed limit on many Fresno streets is 40 mph. and we deliberately choose to go faster.
A third word is Poneria from which we get our English word, pornography. It is a term that speaks of an inward corruption of human nature.
Rev. John Stott writes: “Human nature gives into self centeredness and we reject dependence upon our Lord and Creator. When we proclaim our self dependence we are seeking to occupy the position claimed by God alone. Sin is not a regrettable lapse from conventional standards …it is hostility to God.”
Emil Brunner states that sin is defiance, the desire to be equal with God.
As stated last week we know there is evil in the world. All you have to do is read the newspaper. Sometimes evil, bad things do happen to us because of the sin of others. So why has the word “sin” disappeared from our cultural vocabulary? Psychiatrist Karl Menninger in his book “What ever Happened to Sin” describes our western society. “Many sins have become crimes… and people suffer. As a culture we have transferred them from priest to policeman.” But mostly Americans like the term collective responsibility which allows us to transfer the blame for some of our deviant behavior to others. We have a whole stack of scapegoats available….our genetic make up, our chemical imbalance, our inherited temper, our parents failures in early childhood, our bringing up, our education or social environment. There are great alibi’s out there in our world…. But they do not work before God. “For all have sinned and fall short of His glory.”
If human beings have sinned, and we have, if we are responsible for our sins… and we are… then we are guilty before a holy and righteous God. Guilt causes us to feel bad inside our soul. Guilt causes us to dislike ourselves. We go looking for acceptance.
This is the argument Paul made in Romans. As human beings we know our moral duty but either we have refused to do it or we are unable. When people choose to reject God the result is immorality and anti social behavior.
It is at the cross and only at the cross of Jesus that we find forgiveness for our past. For God so loved you, for Gods so loved me… he sent Jesus to take my place, by his blood our sins are wiped away.
Yes, People want to see Jesus.
One minute he walks on water, the next minute he washes his disciple’s feet. One minute he dies on the cross, the next minute he rises from the dead. He is the Lamb of God who died for us and the Lion of Judah who is King of Kings, who is, who has come and who will come again.
As I noted last week, our culture offers a lot of different religious choices. Every variety is available. It’s sort of like visiting a restaurant and you order a potato. “Will you like it baked? Mashed? Boiled red? Or French fries? Baked! Then do you want chives, sour cream, butter, plain or salted, cheese with broccoli?
The choices of religions are there for one purpose…. All hope to meet our deepest human need for acceptance with an eternal God and have our guilt removed. Keep it simple. Let me see Jesus. Keep it simple… show me Jesus and the cross. Souls are thirsty.
A thirsty cowboy walked into a saloon. The bartender said, “Care for a drink, stranger?” The cowboy responded: “What are my choices?” The Bartender answered: “Yes, or no.” (Leonard Sweet Soul Tsunami)
