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Sunday, September 21, 2008

So That You Might Have Life In His Name

By Rev. Dr. Harvey C. Martz

Scripture: John 20: 30 – 31

30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

We have been on a journey together through the unique Gospel of John these past four months, and I hope it has been useful and enlightening for you. We said at the beginning that each of the four gospels has characteristics that are distinctive and special about them. Mark, the first gospel, is the shortest and contains the word “immediately” fifty times: Jesus is energetically going from place to place healing and teaching and proclaiming that God wants us to turn our lives in a new direction and live in his kingdom, or his “kindom,” as one scholar puts it.

Matthew is speaking primarily to a Jewish audience to persuade them Jesus is the messiah they have been looking for, and Matthew is the only gospel that gives us the beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount and the version of the Lord’s Prayer that we use the most. Matthew is the only gospel that has Jesus give us the Great Commission: go into all the world and create disciples in my name, and I will be with you always.

Luke is addressing a universal audience that includes all the peoples of his time. Luke has Jesus in his first public act after his baptism go back to his hometown synagogue and read these words from the prophet Isaiah:

The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to announce the time has come when God will save the people. Jesus reads the verses and says, today these words have come true as you heard them.

Luke has a different version of the Lord’s Prayer from the one we learned from Matthew’s Gospel. Luke has some beatitudes, some “Blessed are those who…”, but when Matthew has Jesus say, “Blessed are the poor in spirit”, what does Jesus say in Luke? “Blessed are the poor.” That concern for the poor and the most vulnerable goes on throughout Luke.

And Luke is similar to the gospel of John in this way: they each have some stories that are unique only to that gospel. If we did not have the gospel of Luke, what stories of our faith would we be missing? Some very important ones! We would not have the two most important parables Jesus told – the parable of the Prodigal Son or the seeking father, and the parable of the Good Samaritan. Luke is the only gospel that gives us the story of the man who was very successful and used his wealth only for himself and then died. Luke uniquely gives us the story of the beggar Lazarus who lay outside the mansion of the person of means, but the man inside paid no attention and suffered for his apathy.

John’s gospel, the last and latest of the four has some stories of Jesus that only show up in this gospel. We looked at most of those and you may remember some of them: Jesus goes to a wedding and when the wine runs out, transforms 180 gallons of water into fine wine. He heals a man who has lain by the pool of Bethzatha for 38 years. He tells the leader Nicodemus that he must be born from above to be part of God’s kingdom. He speaks with a woman at a well in Samaria and she goes back to town and tells everyone she has found the messiah. When some self righteous men bring him a woman who has been committing adultery, he refuses to join in their smug self righteousness and asks them to look at their own sin before they condemn anyone else. Toward the end of the story, in the Upper Room in Jerusalem on the night before he is executed, he does not institute what we know as the Lord’s Supper. What does he do instead? He takes a basin and towel and washes their dirty, smelly feet like a servant. He tells them this is how we are to serve and he tells them to love one another.

At the end of the gospel, he has prepared a picnic on the shore of Lake Galilee and after they have eaten he tells Peter, who a few days earlier denied even knowing Jesus in order to save his own skin: “Feed my sheep. Take care of my lambs.”

Jesus in John’s gospel gives us some statements about himself which are very important. They could be memory verses for us to guide us and carry us through life. We have been using some of them as a call to worship the last few weeks. They are the “I am” statements that only appear in the gospel of John. They are profoundly important and in these statements Jesus makes some earth shaking claims:

• I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life.
• I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
• I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. I have other sheep that are not yet here. I must bring them too so there will be one flock and one shepherd.
• I am the vine and you are the branches. If you stay attached to me, you will bear much fruit – if you stay attached to me!
• I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even though they die, yet they will live.
• I am the gate for the sheep, the one who keeps the sheep safe by lying in the way of the predators who cannot then enter the sheep fold.
• I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.

It is that last statement that has stirred up discussion and controversy among people of faith. Is Jesus saying that he is the only way to know God? Does the Bible say that Jesus is the only way to know God? Let’s think about that carefully together. The Bible says in several places that we can know God in other ways. The revelation of God in the person, the event, the teachings of Jesus, the life and death and resurrection of Jesus – this is the decisive way and most important way to know God, but not the only way.

Paul the Apostle says in Romans that everyone has had a chance to know God, and therefore when we have failed to center life in God, we are all responsible and accountable. How have we had a chance to know God? By just being in and experiencing the wonder of God’s creation!! This is in Romans chapter 1.

When we ask people in membership orientation sessions when we have felt close to God, there are several typical answers: in the majesty of nature, at the end of life when someone we love is dying or has died, or at the beginning of life. When there is the birth of a child or grandchild and we realize the miracle that two people can help create a whole new individual, we know that God is present, we know that God is real.

Is Jesus the only way to know God? What about the other religions of the world – can we see a glimpse of God? One of the best answers to these questions is found in Adam Hamilton’s book on world religions on our bookshelves. I especially like his chapter on Judaism where he reminds us that we Christians are just latecomers when it comes to knowing and trusting in God, and that we are branches grafted on to the tree of Judaism.

But what about this statement in John’s gospel – the only place in the Bible – that says, no one comes to the father except by me? British scholar William Barclay has an innovative approach to this in his little pamphlet on our sermon wall entitled Who Is Jesus? He says we need to look at Jesus’ words carefully: Jesus does not say no one comes to God or to know God except through me. He says that no one comes to the father except through me. What Jesus does distinctively is offer an image of God as parent – a caring, accepting, seeking parent – as in the story of the Seeking Father/prodigal son. And Jesus refers to God when he prays by calling God Abba in Aramaic. It does not mean father, it means Daddy, a term of intimacy and closeness that is not very present in other parts of the Bible.

I am a follower of Christ because I believe that Jesus is the best way, the fullest way to know God. I believe that Jesus is the light of the world and the Bread of life. I want people to know the God that Jesus shows us in his teachings, his life, his death, his resurrection. I think people are missing something if they are not close to the God who Jesus points us to. I feel called to do what Andrew does in the Gospel of John – to invite others to come and take a look for themselves, because we believe this Jesus is the key to abundant life. Come and see for yourself.

The role of Andrew is the second point I want to lift up from our study of John’s gospel. Andrew, our congregation’s namesake, has more importance here than in any other gospel. In chapter one, Andrew spends part of a day with Jesus and goes hurriedly to his brother – you and I do the same thing – and says to his brother, I think we have found the messiah, COME AND SEE FOR YOURSELF!! Andrew sets the example for us. When we find something that is helpful to us, we want to share it with others – at least to invite them to take a look and decide for themselves. We don’t have to be pushy or manipulative; we are just inviting. That is what Andrew did and that is the first part of our church’s purpose statement-TO INVITE, RECEIVE, NURTURE, CHALLENGE AND SEND FORTH COMMITTED CHRISTIAN DISCIPLES!

I believe what John’s Gospel tells us – that following Jesus and centering life on God is the key to the best life possible: abundant life and eternal life STARTING NOW, this gospel says. Following Christ and trusting in Christ, living his way of compassion and integrity and justice and kindness is the way to LIFE.

Did you see the inspiring article a week ago in the Rocky Mountain News about new Broncos wide receiver Eddie Royal? He grew up in a family with a single mom and six siblings; he was the youngest. She taught her kids well and instilled in them faith and ethics and values consistent with that faith. She drove a school bus. She made sure that “church was a family staple.” She instilled integrity and character. He is kiddingly known as Mr. Clean to some of his teammates. This is a rare and inspiring story of a contemporary athlete who does not live a life of hedonism and greed. He has seen the truth of Jesus: that when we live a life of compassion and unselfishness and integrity, we find life at its best.

John’s gospel tells us that we find life at its best by following Christ. We want to invite each other and others to follow Christ-not to be admirers of Christ, but followers of Christ. That means that we will do what Christians have always done, the spiritual disciplines or habits in our list of Seven Habits of Highly Effective Christians: we will study with others, worship with others, pray for others, serve others, give generously to God, share our story of faith with others, and put God at the center of life.

We take those spiritual disciplines seriously in this church and we say in our membership orientation sessions: it is OK with us if you are not ready to follow these disciplines, just don’t promise to do them and then renege on your promises! We will be your church whether you join or not, but if you declare yourself to be a disciple of Christ, then God holds us to those promises! Let’s have integrity and follow through.

We are in touch with folks who are absent from worship every few months to see if there is a need that we have not been filling, but our United Methodist Book of Discipline says that membership and following Christ are so important that if people are not able to fulfill promises they have made, we need to be honest about that. What that means is that every November and December, we do a realignment of our membership rolls and if people have decided to be constituents instead of active members, we just get honest about that.

Following Christ is different from being admirers of Christ. Following Christ and having abundant life happens when we worship faithfully, study regularly, pray, serve, give, share our faith and put God at the center of life. It takes time and the rewards are living fully and abundantly. It takes time and sacrifice to go to school and get a degree but it is usually worth it. It takes time to plan to be in worship regularly just as it takes time to have a healthy marriage or a healthy family life or a good and lasting friendship – it takes us investing time in each other. But the rewards are there when we exercise the discipline and take the time.

September is a great time each year to renew or even to start a commitment to being a faithful follower of Christ and living by those spiritual practices. We can renew that promise or make that promise for the first time as we pray together this morning:

God I thank you for this One we meet in the Gospel of John who saves us from living on the surface of life, who saves us from our greed and our selfishness and our worship of the things that don’t matter. Use this worship service to renew our loyalty to Christ and our promise to follow him so we can enjoy the abundant life that you want for each of us! Amen.