March 26, 2006 (Jimmie Johnson)

Ephesians 2:1-10

You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-- not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

John 3:14-21

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.

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Sermon

One of the reasons I am sinfully proud to be with you here at First Pres is we know I am full of contradictions. Yet, I still get to be your pastor. We know I talk out of both sides of my mouth. We also know most of you are just like me! At First Pres, we readily admit our human condition and its fears.

It is just like John Chapter 3 Christianity. One minute, we are reading the beautiful religiously astounding words in verse 16: “For God so loved the world that God gave His only Son.....” And then verse 17 with the thrilling words: “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world....” Then, all of a sudden, we hear the words of verse 18: “Those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the only Son of God....”

There you go. There’s the contradiction that is true of us all. We say God loves all, and Jesus is the sign not of condemnation but of salvation. But then just as we say it, it is as if we are too afraid of such extravagant love, and we throttle back with qualifiers: “Well, God loves you and you won’t go to hell if.” In this case the “if” is: “If you believe the pure and truth faith that we believe concerning Jesus.”

Out of one side of our mouth we say, “God loves the world so much God gave His only Son... not to condemn but to save the world...” And then out of the other side we say, “Well, God’s love is based on your being able and willing to agree to a certain theological claim about Jesus and if you can’t, sorry, but you are toast.”

Let me ask you a hard question. We do this at First Pres in our worship. We ask hard questions that make us squirm. We don’t seek inspiration. That’s self-indulgent to us. We don’t come here to this assembly looking for “chicken soup” for our souls so we can feel warm, coddled and self-content.

We believe Christianity is more profound than such selfish displays and desires. We come here for something more substantial even it is rambunctious. We come here to get our minds changed and our hearts enlarged. And there will always been some pain in such “new birth.” Worship and the experience of the sermon here will always be like a good bar fight, with its sounds of glass breaking and furniture shattering and people being thrown out of windows. It’s no tea party. But if you can manage to get the right people to a tea party, it can get out of hand quickly, too.

So here’s the hard question: Is God’s love so weak that it cannot cope with a retarded child of wonderfully committed Christian parents, but a child who still is so mentally impaired he or she cannot make a religious decision to believe in Jesus? Is such a child going to hell because he or she doesn’t believe in Jesus? We are supposed to believe that?

Or, is God’s love so pathetic that it cannot find those who died before Jesus, or those who have lived after Jesus but never heard of Jesus?

Or, is God’s love so feeble that it cannot save those who intellectually refuse to believe without answers to their hard questions regarding the Bible, the doctrines, and the lousy historical track record of Christian churches to act ethically? Is God’s love that “iffy?”

I sure don’t think God’s love is so suspect and paltry. Look, it is my belief, and it could well be wrong and heretical, but I believe just as we put words in Jesus’ mouth today by what we say and do and how we select favorite verses and favor certain interpretations of the Bible, so did the first Christians!

Even those Christians who were “inspired” to write and edit and copy texts that eventually were chosen to become by the fourth century what we call the Bible --the big book we saw carried with honor into the sanctuary during the Processional.

At First Pres, we know we Christians still remain sinners. We know, as I say so often on behalf of us all, “On our best day, we are still nine-tenths fake.” We know it is spiritually important to stop pretending when it comes to God, life and ourselves.

We know it is important to laugh at ourselves and all our attempts at being God’s people. We know the pursuit of religious purity is an arrogant display of self-importance. And it is true of people in the Bible as well, including those who put it all together.

Holy Spirit inspiration is not so much about getting inerrant words on the pages of the Bible as much as it is getting the words off the pages and into our hearts and minds so our behavior is changed toward faith, hope and love.

It follows then that we practice self-criticism when it comes to the way we approach the sacred texts of the Bible. This is again where I am sinfully proud of you and want to brag on you. By being willing to distinguish between God and the Bible, we are practicing a form of critical thinking.
Only God is perfect. Yes, we believe the Bible is God’s Good Book, but we don’t believe it is equal to God. Perfection is a term we keep only for God.

There is a qualitative difference between God (the Creative Word which spoke creation into existence, the Living Word which became flesh and dwelt among us as one of us yet without sin and the Sustaining Word dwelling in us and refreshing us with the Holy Breath) and God’s Good Book we Christians call the Bible. There is a qualitative first-order difference between God and the Bible.

This is how we are different from fundamentalists of any faith -- Christian, Jewish or Islamic. Fundamentalists assume their sacred texts are perfect, and they are perfectly capable of imitating the texts. That’s part of their problem and their nasty little habit of making it our problem, either by killing us in some parts of the world or getting us fired or silenced in other parts of the world.

Here is the big enchilada rule: When it comes to interpreting the Bible, the texts must never be interpreted in a way that feeds or fosters our self-interest and our political power. If we are interpreting the Bible in a way that strengthens our self-interest and political power by making us look good and others different from us look bad, then we are participating in a form of religious wickedness. And this wickedness of fundamentalism needs to be denounced.

Denounced in Christianity. Denounced in Judaism. Denounced in Islam.

Never trust uptight, overly serious believers, their texts and interpretations. If they cannot laugh and smile at themselves and their foolishness, fear for your job and possibly your life.

Faith in Jesus should cause us to erupt with laughter at ourselves and any pursuit of purity on our part. And we should laugh as well at any human efforts to name the true holy people as compared to those who are godless. God’s gracefulness in Jesus Christ is the source of our great joy.

The laughter and light heartedness we share is born in the naming of our silliness and sinfulness. Yet at the same time being absolutely certain God is overflowing with generous love toward each and all in Jesus, who came as God’s unique Son to save the world.

What I think John 3 Jesus is saying is not a prediction of the future regarding who goes to heaven and who goes to hell when they die, but rather John 3 Church is saying if you believe in Jesus as the disclosure of God’s heart and release yourself into his good news of God’s love—you are going to live differently now, today.

Technically, it is called “realized eschatology,” which is a theological term that means God’s rule, God’s kingdom, is already and surprisingly erupting now. Though still on its way to fulfillment its unfinished quality both energizes us, while frustrating and puzzling the hell out of us as well.
And “realized eschatology,” interpreting the future as if it were now, is a big theme peculiar to John’s gospel.

John 3 Church is interpreting Jesus through a lens that sees the future as present.

John 3 Jesus is saying, “Today I am offering you the sweet taste of the future of God’s love. If you will be open to me more than you are closed in upon and wrapped around your own self interest, then this eternal life will begin to change you now. But, if you, my followers, put off the opportunity and turn even more inward toward your self-interest, you are condemning yourself to the smallness of your own hearts and minds.”
Jesus is not talking about Muslims and Jews and atheists and agnostics, Buddhists and Hindus and you and me dying and whether we go to heaven or hell. No, Jesus is wanting you and me to quit putting off deciding to passionately and wildly trust in God’s gracious, outrageous love that is wonderfully embracing us even while we are lost in self-interest and fear and full of contradictions.

John 3 Church is saying, “Lose your shyness, find your tongue, tell the world what God has done: God in Christ has come to stay. Live tomorrow’s life today!”***

I can get all excited about such good news, and I hope you can, too!

***Hooray for hymn writer and first-rate theologian Brian Wren, “There’s A Spirit in the Air,” Presbyterian Hymnal, #433