My favorite part of Paul Harvey is the last segment of the newscast that he calls “For What It’s Worth.” One day he gave this interesting story: “Our For What It’s Worth Department hears from Hershey, Pennsylvania — where the woman in the Mercedes had been waiting patiently for a parking place to open up. The shopping mall was crowded. The woman in the Mercedes zigzagged between rows — then up ahead she saw a man with a load of packages heading for his car. She drove up, parked behind him and waited while he opened his trunk and loaded it with packages. Finally he got in his car and backed out of the stall. But before the woman in the Mercedes could drive into the parking space, a young man in a shiny new Corvette zipped past and around her and he pulled into the empty space, got out and started walking away. ‘Hey ’ shouted the woman in the Mercedes, ‘I’ve been waiting for that parking place ’ The college-ager responded, ‘Sorry, lady; that’s how it is when you’re young and quick.’ At that instant she put her Mercedes in gear, floor-boarded it, crashed into and crushed the right rear fender and corner panel of the flashy new Corvette. Now the young man is jumping up and down shouting, ‘You can’t do that ’ The lady in the Mercedes said, ‘That’s how it is when you’re old and rich ’”
As I thought about that story I realized again that maturity does not necessarily come with age. You can be young and foolish, and you can just as easily be old and foolish. The Bible says, “The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly” (Proverbs 15:2). Just when I think that maturity comes with age, or that you learn to be less foolish with time, I get to the end of another day and want to kick myself for some foolish thing I have said or done. Age does not equal maturity — maturity comes in another way.
In the story we read in the Scripture today, the Bereans were a group of folk who manifested spiritual maturity. They possessed character that was marked by excellence. Paul described them as “noble.” They were engaged in a spiritual quest — an adventure, a search for spiritual truth. They were open-minded — unlike other groups that Paul had tried to reach. Instead of opposing him, they eagerly heard him. They searched the Scriptures to see if what he was saying was true, and the truth they discovered transformed them.
I have known many people who have been on quest, but they never seem to find what they are looking for. In fact, you have to wonder if they want to find the truth. I have known people who are searching spiritually, but who believe it is impossible to really know spiritual realities. Paul spoke of those who were, “always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). If you are not willing to find the truth, then your quest is not a noble one. What makes a quest noble? We can follow the example of the Bereans here. The first thing that is necessary for a quest to be noble is when: We receive the Good News with eagerness. The people from Thessalonica had opposed the message that Paul brought. In fact, they followed him from place to place stirring up trouble. It was not that the Thessalonians did not have the opportunity, for the Scripture says, “As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. ‘This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ,’ he said” (Acts 17:2-3). And some of them did believe and receive the message, but the majority opposed him, and not just a little. They stirred up a mob and hired them to spread lies. They refused to listen to anything he had to say. They closed their minds and their hearts. Paul had patiently explained the truth to them over a period of time. He reasoned with them and explained the Good News to them. And it was not just empty talk. He proved what he had to say about Christ from the Scriptures. But it was all to no avail. Their hearts were hardened to the message of Paul, even though it was great, good news. There are those who are eager to hear the good news, and those who are eager to hear bad news. There are those who are glad to hear a word of faith and hope, and those who are glad to hear a word of skepticism and doubt. There are those who delight in the truth, and those who delight in the lie.
Israel was all abuzz this week as Madonna arrived in the holy land on what the newspapers described as a “spiritual quest, including visits to the graves of revered rabbinical sages.” It seems Madonna is into Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism. She was joined by fashion designer Donna Karan and Marla Maples, an ex-wife of Donald Trump. According to the Associated Press: “Liora Goldenberg-Stern, a culture writer at the Maariv newspaper, said Madonna would be welcomed by Tel Aviv’s rich and famous, which has embraced Cabala. ‘It’s a social thing, very trendy.’” Madonna was raised as a Roman Catholic, but has now adopted the Hebrew name Esther, wears a red thread on her wrist to ward off the evil eye and refuses to perform on the Jewish Sabbath. She has also incorporated Jewish symbols into some of her music videos.
Here is a person who is familiar with the Christian faith, but who has chosen to trash the truth of Christianity and pursue a mysticism which promotes irrational things such as tying red string on your wrist to ward off the evil eye — as though a piece of colored string could protect you against the power of evil. She has chosen to reject the truth and flaunt her hostility and distaste for Christianity, even though she is familiar with it. There are many today who belong to what I call the ABC crowd — Anything But Christianity. They are open minded to anything, unless it is Christian.
Jesus taught about the importance of our willingness to receive the Word of God into our lives in the parable of the sower. The sower sowed the seed on different kinds of ground, each of which responded differently. He explained it like this: “The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop” (Luke 8:11-15). Now there is a formulas for spiritual nobility and growth: Hear the Word, receive the Word, retain it, persevere in the Word and produce a crop.
To be a person of nobility on a genuine quest you have to at least be open minded. You have to receive the message which is good news with anticipation and eagerness, and eventually go on to retain the seed and ultimately produce of crop of righteousness. You recognize when something has the ring of truth and you want to know more. Cultivating spiritual hunger is important. A noble person is eager to receive all that God has for them — even if it means going outside of their personal comfort zone. Our culture teaches us to be skeptical and nurse our doubts, but at some point you have to be open to faith and the spiritual realities of life.
But how do you keep from making a serious mistake? How do you know when something is genuine or just sounds good? That leads to the second point. A quest becomes noble when: We examine the Scriptures to see if it is true. Never be afraid to investigate the Bible; it can stand up to the toughest test of intellectual scrutiny. We don’t want to be gullible and just eagerly accept anything that comes down the spiritual pike because it sounds good, we want to discover whether or not it is true. The Bible says, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).
Following the news of former Beatle George Harrison’s death, Anne Curry interviewed Anthony DeCurtis on the Today show. DeCurtis is a writer for Rolling Stone magazine, and he talked at length about Harrison’s search for a meaningful spiritual life. In the interview, Anne Curry made the statement: “Apparently Harrison was the most spiritual of the group [speaking of the Beatles]; in a recent interview, he said, ‘Everything else in life can wait, but the search for God cannot wait.’” We know that his search for God led him in many directions, especially eastern mysticism, but we don’t know if in his quest he was ever really open to Jesus Christ, except as one religious leader among many others.
Actor Woody Harrelson recently said, “I’d been nursing this emptiness for far too long. . . Four or five years ago, I came to the conclusion that I’d made a huge mistake in turning my back on religion, because there were seeds in it that were extremely important to me. Then I set out in search of my soul again. . . In rejecting religion, I had also discarded spirituality. I’ve found a bright new reason for living.” But, in today’s world, “religion” or “spirituality” can mean almost anything. In fact, it can mean some of the strangest stuff you have ever heard. Just a fuzzy kind of religious or spiritual feeling is not enough, even if those feelings are sincere. Feelings must be grounded in the truth. I am always amazed by those who are always in quest, but never arriving anywhere. Always searching, but never finding. Seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not understand (Luke 8:10). Truth, by its very nature, is specific. You have to land somewhere. And when you hear something that sounds good, you had better check it with the Scriptures to see if it is true. It may be the latest spiritual chic which everyone is trying, but if it is not based in reality, what good does it do?
God has given us a reliable document, called the Bible, by which we can measure and assess what is true and what is not. If we did not have the Bible, there would be no way to judge what is true and what is not, except our own intuition. But don’t just casually pick up the Bible and read a verse here or there, be a student of the Word. Jesus said to those who believed in him: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). We know four things from this statement of Jesus: 1) There is such a thing as truth. 2) Truth is knowable. 3) The way to know truth is to study Jesus’ teachings. 4) This truth is freeing. In your thinking and experience, you may have had trouble with the church, you may question the behavior of some individual Christians, or you may question the actions of Christians in history, but you have to get beyond all that and study the person of Jesus — his ministry, his teachings and his life. It is there you will find Truth, and it is the Truth by which all other truth is measured and evaluated.
The Bereans received Paul’s message eagerly, but they still checked it out. They still examined it to see if it was true. That is the same thing that you should do whenever you hear anyone proclaiming what they claim is the truth of God — including this pastor. Don’t just take my word for it. Something that is true can stand the test of investigation. Don’t just go on your feelings, study the Word and see if it is there. That is necessary for a quest to be noble.
The third thing that makes a quest noble is when: We are transformed by the truth. I know a lot of people who believe all the right things. If you investigated their beliefs it would be difficult to find anything with which to disagree. But they have never let the truths they believe in transform them. You need to understand that truth is not static. If the truth has not transformed your life, then it has not done its work, and you might as well not believe in the truth at that point. When I was in college we used to go to the bars in Lexington’s skid row district (which no longer exists). I remember vividly going into the bars to talk and witness to the people there. Every once in awhile we would run into someone who knew the Bible and could quote more Bible verses than we could. And they could not only quote them, they ardently believed them. But their lives were a disaster. The truths they said they believed had failed to transform them, therefore they failed. And that is true not only for someone who frequents a dive, it is true for a person in a business suit who congratulates himself for believing the Word, but who has never let it transform him.
The Bible says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2). Our minds, our wills and our attitudes all must go through the transformation process. The biblical word for this is sanctification. Sanctification is God’s work in us through his Word and Holy Spirit to transform us into the image of Christ. The Bible says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (2 Peter 1:3-4). If the Bible’s information does not lead to transformation it lacks application. When there is no application of the truth, you might as well believe a lie.
Richard Wurmbrand, a Romanian Jew who was converted to Christ, has been called “the voice of the underground church,” because he has helped Christians around the world to be informed about the persecution of believers who live under oppressive regimes. In the 1940’s, he was jailed and tortured by communist officials in his home country. While he was in prison he spoke boldly about his faith to his atheistic captors. He spent 14 years in prison, and in his writings tells this story about one of his experiences: “The political officer asked me harshly, ‘How long will you continue to keep your stupid religion?’ I said to him, ‘I have seen innumerable atheists regretting on their deathbeds that they have been godless; they called on Christ. Can you imagine that a Christian could regret when death is near that he has been a Christian and call on Marx or Lenin to rescue him from his faith?’ The atheist began to laugh, ‘A clever answer.’ I used Lenin’s books to prove to him that, even after becoming prime minister of the Soviet Union, Lenin himself prayed when things went wrong. I continued, ‘When an engineer has built a bridge, the fact that a cat can pass over the bridge is no proof that the bridge is good. A train must pass over it to prove its strength. The fact that you can be an atheist when everything goes well does not prove the truth of atheism. It does not hold up in moments of great crisis.’”
A noble quest prepares you for a time of crisis. But you have to be willing to receive the truth, investigate the truth and be transformed by the truth. “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
Rodney J. Buchanan
September 19, 2004
Mulberry St. UMC
Mount Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
For Those in Quest
(Questions for September 19, 2004)
1. Why do some people fight God?
2. Why do some fight him and others run to him?
3. Review the three points of what makes a quest noble. How can we emulate the Bereans?
4. Hebrews 10:19-25 describes how we are to approach God and live with other believers. What would the church and world look like if every believer followed this teaching?
5. Why is an open mind important?
6. Read 1 John 4:1. Why is it important to prayerfully examine the Scriptures to see if something is true? Can’t we depend on our own intelligence?
7. How is it that some people can know the Scriptures very well and not be transformed by the truth that is there?
8. Why is it important to pursue a life of excellence and nobility? What will happen if we do not?
9. Apathy is the enemy of spiritual growth. How can we “spur one another on toward love and good deeds”?
10. Read Matthew 13:18-23. What does this parable tell us concerning receiving the Word of God and spiritual growth?
