I don’t know if anybody else looks. I hope so.
I sure like checking it out.
After all, some clever stuff gets put up there. How many of y’all pay attention to the
messages on our church sign? Bart,
the guy in our church, who does this for us, even comes up with messages pretty
relevant to current events, like this one that he had up recently. That’s pretty clever, huh.
But I am certainly glad that Bart didn’t put up this message
last week
Or did he?
If he did, I’d rather just not know.
And sometimes these church sign messages can get a little personal like
this one
When it
comes to the Baptists, those folks don’t play.
No, they’ll pray some holy retribution down on you for sure. And then there’s the well intentioned church
sign that ends up getting across, well, a very different message than the one
intended, like this one:
This one seems
to have the same problem or who knows?
Maybe the person who puts up the signs, really, really dislikes the
preacher’s sermons.
And just to show you that we Presbyterians aren’t
exempt from these sorts of mistakes, I saw this one recently too
But again, maybe this sign person does really
find the preacher’s sermon a good sleep aid.
I don’t know.
Ok so why am I showing you all these signs? Being on vacation last week, did I not have
time to put together a good sermon, so I am showing you church signs instead? No, beyond being a bit fun to check out
those signs, my wife told me about one recently that stirred up all sorts of
conversation on twitter. It was this
sign.
Again, I’m fairly certain that the person who put up
this sign didn’t mean facts don’t matter.
He or she was probably simply saying that faith can overcome adverse
circumstances. Faith can enable you to
triumph over painful realities in your life, something like that. But that sign also points to a mistake that
people often make when it comes to a relationship with God, that your faith
can’t also be a fact. What do I mean?
I mean. faith isn’t simply an experience you have,
it’s a fact you can know. If I ask
someone, “Are you a Christian?” And
that person responds. “Well, I am trying
to be.” Then I know.
That person doesn’t get that yet.
You see. So
often, folks get trapped in doubts about their faith. They find themselves caught up in scary
uncertainties about their relationship with God. When
something bad happens to them, they fear that maybe they lost God’s love or at
least God’s favor. But you can know
that you know God. You can know it not
just as a belief. You can know it as a
fact. Your relationship with God can be
as real as the gravity that keeps your feet on the ground. How can you know God like that? In these words you’re about to hear, God
shows you the way. Let’s listen and hear
what God has to say.
John has been saying throughout this letter one key
truth. John has been telling us that
not only can you know God. You can know
that you know God. You can know it
with the same certainty that you know the sun rises. You can feel it as solidly as you feel the
ground under your feet. How does that
happen? It happens when you realize that
before the gospel, the good news of God’s love, is a fact in here, it’s already
a fact out there.
You see.
People often focus on only one of those. Some see Christianity as something out
there. And others see Christianity as
something in here. But Christianity has
to be both. It has to be real out
there. And it has it be real in here.
What do I mean?
I remember the first time I visited Scotland. I was sitting in a pub in Edinburgh, and
struck up a conversation with the man beside me. He even bought me a pint, which he could
easily afford as I found out later he owned the hostel I was staying in. Then he asked me with a sharp look in his eye. Where are ye? And I said, Scotland. Bloody right you are! Not Scotland like so many of you Americans
say. Then he went off. He said. “What is it with you
Americans. You come over. You’ve got a Scottish name, and you buy
yourself a kilt, and then you call yourself a Scot. You’re not a Scot! You left here two hundred years ago! We’re the Scots. We live here, not you.” Now he said it in a tone that wasn’t
terribly serious, but he had a point.
Look, I love my kilt. I love my
Scottish heritage. But am I a
Scot? I’m certainly not in the way he
was, a man born and raised there, who made his living there, raised his family
there.
I am a Scot so to speak on the outside. But he was a Scot inside and out. And when it comes to Christianity, you can’t
just be one on the outside.
Have you heard about the rise of the nones? Recently, the number of people who say they
have no religious affiliation has risen dramatically. Researchers call them the nones, as in none
of the above. Now a decent number of
these folks may have made serious decisions to walk away from faith. But lots of them have simply decided to
finally get honest. For years, a huge
percentage of people called themselves Christians if someone asked. But in reality, they were Christians in the
same way I was Scot. They may have
visited there. They may even have some
of the external trappings. But their
Christianity only went skin deep.
These folks don’t just show up in the polls
though. They also can show up in the
pews. Years ago, I remember talking to
someone about how they came to faith, how God became real to them. I could tell that the whole question made
this guy really uncomfortable. But he
did answer it kind of. He said that he
grew up Episcopalian, and really liked the liturgy. But that the Presbyterian liturgy he enjoyed
too. And that was as deep as he could
go. Now maybe behind that answer lay a
deep experience of faith. But I suspect
that coming to worship was just a thing he did, something that even as he
regularly did it, only went skin deep.
But Christianity has to be more than simply an
identity. It has to be a living thing,
something that grows as you grow, that has its moments where it is strong or
weak or simply in between. It can’t
just exist on the outside. It also has
to live on the inside.
But on the other hand, it can’t only be about the
inside either. Christianity even as it
becomes real within you, also has to be real outside of you.
Sometimes, people say that well Christianity is true
for me, but I can’t say it’s true for everybody. Now if I come back and ask why not? They can reply. “Well, isn’t that
arrogant?”
But here’s the problem.
What if we were both hanging out looking over a cliff,
and staring down to the bottom hundreds of feet below. Then you said to me, “You know, I don’t
really believe in this gravity stuff. I
think I’m going to just jump off this cliff, and see if I soar like a
bird.” Now what if I said to you. “Well, okay, sure. Gravity is true for me, but I can’t say that
it’s true for you. You do whatever you believe is best.” Would that not be crazy? It certainly wouldn’t be nice. If I was your friend, I’d say. “Forget what you believe, you take a leap off
this cliff, you’re not going to fly.
You’re going to die. Don’t even
think about it.”
Here’s the truth about gravity. You can believe in gravity or not. But whatever you believe, gravity will still
be in force. Your belief or disbelief
cannot change that at all.
And Christianity has that same reality. You can believe in it or not, but that won’t
change the reality of its power in your life.
A quote from the filmmaker, Cecil B. Demille, puts it
well. “You can’t break the ten
commandments. You can only break
yourself against them.” And for the
gospel that statement is even more deeply true. You can choose to let your life flow with
the reality of God’s love and grace.
But if you chose not to, then that decision will have a power in your
life, as real as you deciding to ignore gravity. It is
real like that.
And when you know that, when you know that
Christianity is that real out there, and that real in here, it opens the door
to an assurance in your faith that nothing can shift. It’s why John can say in verse three these
dramatic words. We can know that we
know him.
You see. If you
just think that your relationship with God depends on how things are going on
the inside, then of course you’ll have doubts.
Heck, in no love relationship will
you be feeling the love all the time.
Any couple that has been married for any length of time can tell you
that. But your relationship with God
isn’t just a subjective reality. It’s
an objective one too. The objective
reality of your relationship with God doesn’t change just because you go
through some time when you’re not really feeling the love. No, the reality of God’s love for you,
that’s as real as the gravity that keeps your feet on the ground.
A few days ago, I was listening to one of my favorite
songs, one written by the singer-songwriter, Victoria Williams. The
main chorus goes like this.
Jesus walked on the
water
He turned the water into wine
He went down to the drunkards
To tell them everything is fine
You R loved
You R loved
You R really loved
He turned the water into wine
He went down to the drunkards
To tell them everything is fine
You R loved
You R loved
You R really loved
Again and again,
Victoria Williams sings that line, You R loved, with such utter
conviction. Why can she do it. She knows it isn’t just something she feels. It’s something that simply is. And when you know that truth, when you really
know it, it can’t help but become real inside.
And too many people
around us don’t know that. They don’t
know that they are loved like that.
They don’t know how real that love is, that it is as real as the gravity
that keep their feet on the ground.
That’s why God put us here in this church, to do all that we can to get
that reality across. No power in the
universe can change people like that love.
And Jesus has given us the opportunity to join him in seeing that power
poured out into our world. It’s why we
reach those kids in our Learning Centers or in all our various ministries. In everything we do, we are telling
folks. You R loved. You R loved.
And too many still aren’t getting the beautiful reality of that
truth. And it’s why we have to do more,
to be more, so that through us, Jesus’ love gets poured out into the world.
The reality of that love
is what the love shown at the Lord's table proclaims. Jesus’
love for you is as real and concrete as the bread and the cup of that table. And it
is that reality, that God has called us to share with a world in such need of
that awesomely good news. So know it, taste it and see it, the goodness and love of the Lord, a love that as you realize how real
it is, will not only become real out here, it will become more and more real in
here. And don’t leave the reality there. Bring it
with you. Go forth and in
everything you do and say, proclaim this incredible reality. You R loved. You R loved. You R really, really loved.
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