Today we continue our series entitled, The ABC’s of faith. The larger idea is based on the idea that we learn over time through an exploration process of success and failure. Everything we come to know and understand is built over time on the foundation of trial and error.
We learned last week, the wooden blocks we have all played with were an idea in 1594, a practical concept 100 years after that, and only then it would take another 175 years to be mass practiced and produced as the blocks we know and love from Brooklyn, New York.
Last week, we talked about the confusion of humanity and this week we continue with our “C” alliteration by building on the ideas of creation, corruption, catastrophe and confusion by talking about the most important aspect of our Christian witness: Christ.
Before I get started today, I’d like to tell you a story.
Dad was sitting watching television, when his little boy came running over. “Daddy, can you play with me?” Dad enjoys playing with his son, and plans to give him plenty of time, but not just yet. “Soon, son, soon” says Dad. “When this program finishes.”
Five minutes later the little boy returns. “Daddy, can we play now?”
“Soon, son, soon. When this program finishes.”
Two minutes later the little boy returns again. “Daddy, is it time to play yet?”
Dad realizes he’s not going to get any peace, so he decides to set his son a task that will take some time. He notices a picture of the world on the front page of the newspaper lying in front of him. He tears the picture out then rips it into small pieces. Now son, I’ve got a game for you. Take the pieces of this picture of the world and put them back together again and then we’ll play together.”
The little boy eagerly takes the pieces away with him and sets to work. Dad’s relieved he’ll get to see the last half hour of his TV program. But to his amazement his little boy is back in less than five minutes. “I’ve finished daddy. Can we play now?”
The father is stunned when he turns around to see his son holding up the picture of the world, each piece sticky taped into the right position. Dad begins wondering whether he has a child prodigy on his hands. “How did you get it done so quickly?” he asks. “That would’ve taken me a good 20 minutes and I’m an adult.”
“Oh, it was easy daddy. On the back of the world was a picture of a person, so I put the person together and that’s when the world came together.”
How do you put the world together? How do you make sense of your world and find your way through it? Christians find that Jesus is the face on the other side of the puzzle. He enables us to make sense of life and our world and to find a path through it.
Source: unknown
This morning we heard a scripture often heard only during Advent and the Christmas season. The words spoken over you were shared as a reminder that it was God's idea to come to earth. He came to fill the greatest need of humanity. A need we all have felt at some point. A hole in our soul craving fulfillment. Driving us to say and do things hoping against hope to satisfy the need. As St. Augustine would once say, “The deepest need of humanity is the salvation of sin.”
A need so significant, God would do what was thought impossible. He would become fully human. He would remain fully God. He would exist with two natures in one person. The idea is the basis for who we worship.
Christian scholars have used the word Christology to describe this idea as well as to describe the work done by Christ.
It hinges on a simple distinction between who one is and what one does. Nothing done by Christ the human could be done rightly without first accepting it was God who did it all. Hence, the reason we use the basic statement of faith: Jesus Christ is the Lord.
It is because of God’s love for humanity (his creation), God would show us the perfect solution to our greatest need while still remaining perfectly just and good. He opened the door to correcting a decision His creation (humanity / us) had and have chosen that prevented our presence with him in a way that wouldn’t corrupt HIS nature.
Have you ever seen food coloring drops in cold water? When drops first enter you see the tentacles and then the process that diffuses the coloring throughout the glass. In the same way, our sin, even a small bit, would color heaven in something less than pure.
The scriptural adage for this is a little yeast infects the whole loaf. It’s a metaphor Paul uses in Galatians to refer to the problem with false prophets and their incorrect teachings. It is also a metaphor that highlights the problem of sin and the perfect nature of God. If God allows any evil into his presence, his perfect nature is compromised. There is no justification for sin because it corrupts everything - Justice, Love, Mercy, Grace.
As a result, God created a way for us to avoid the penalty of our errors so we could be made blameless and recreated before the day of judgment. He’d come to earth, live a perfect life, allow himself to be killed and return to heaven thereby creating a way that those who believe, repent and amend their lives can take on the cloak of Jesus’ perfection after the physical life ends and judgment arrives.
With the death of Christ,
our sins became powerless to rule over us (Romans 6).
Jesus destroyed the works of the devil (John 12:31; Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8),
He condemned Satan (John 16:11),
He crushed Satan (Genesis 3:15)
However, the story of Jesus Christ did not end with His death. The resurrection of Christ is also foundational to the gospel message. If Christ is not physically risen from the dead, then we ourselves have no hope of resurrection, the apostles’ preaching was in vain, and society is right to tell us our belief in one God is a fairy tale of ignorant and less intelligent people.
It is only because of Jesus’ resurrection that his promise holds true for all of us: “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19). Jesus’ resurrection is important because through it, God declares us righteous: Jesus “died for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25) and that’s not all. Jesus' resurrection and ascension provides for the coming of the Holy Spirit to all. (John 16:7).
Talk about some good news: God has a perfect love for humanity. It's so perfect that he allows humans the power of choice. After all, love without choice is abuse. God then provides humanity an opportunity to rise from the human addiction of self by offering His love through the acceptance of His action on our behalf. A decision so simple, it makes humanity wonder what’s the catch. The decision is simple (not easy).
It is to believe a loving and perfect God exists,
that He has made a way out of this life,
if we let go of our olds ways,
accept His forgiveness for all old words and actions
and begin afresh with His teachings as well as His examples as our guide.
Oh, and like those infomercials on late night TV, That’s not all. If you act, He’ll throw in His Spirit, His people and a future home without pain or tears or leaky pipes.
Seriously, Christ is the cornerstone of how we, who identify as Christians, make sense of the world in which we live. There is no other reality or truth or idea.
I believe the disciples were a lot like many of us in this room. They had an idea of what it meant to follow Jesus. They had head and some heart knowledge, After a while, they understood the concept of a loving God who came as Jesus. However, it wouldn’t be until later, after Jesus’ ascension their commitment to this way of life would engross them.
Communion
Question: What does it mean to live in Christ?
Creative: Blocks on Stage, Reading of Scripture prior to preaching, Public reading Isaiah 9:2-7, video for lent
References: Warren Wiersbe Commentary Isaiah, p
https://creationmuseum.org/gospel/
https://www.gotquestions.org/death-resurrection-Christ.html
