Sermon
Into the
Mystery
I started
a two part sermon two weeks ago that I’m calling Into the Mystery. My hope
is to remind us that we’re called to a walk of faith. There are answers; there
is evidence. Study is very good and the richness of truth found in Scripture is
remarkable; it is a treasure worth digging for. But there is more than we can
know, more than we can put in a book or in some plan of ours. This all started
with me thinking about the little phrase in 1 Timothy 3:16 that says “the
mystery of godliness is great.”
That, in
turn, got me thinking about this word mystery… and specifically how
uncomfortable I am with the whole idea of mystery. I don’t want mystery,
I want certainty. I’m comforted by answers. This word mystery also has had me thinking about the
Church (in general) and our Church (specifically)… and it
has me concerned that we may need an adjustment. I’m afraid that our churches,
and our church, are more about the pursuit of answers than the experience of
mystery.
So last
week we talked a bit about the experiential… today we’ll talk about the
relational.
For all sorts of reasons, putting this talk together
has been a real chore for me. Among the reasons for the difficulty is that I’m
no expert on relationships.
First off… I’m a boy. Generally, we know that when it
comes to building good relationships, girls are better than boys. Apparently
one of the side effects of the brain
damage we boys all suffer from the testosterone is that we don’t always do
what we could to build good relationships. We just have way too much to do to
be bothered with relationships… right?
Apart from being a boy, I’m just not naturally wired
for relationships. I wish I were more like my son Donny; he is way more wired
for relationships. He seems to have natural drives and abilities to be a good
friend… and we all know that when you are a good friend you have a lot of friends. Everybody
likes Donny and Donny likes everybody right back. He has a gift… a gift that
clearly came through his mother’s side of the family. Whatever relationship
skills I have, all seemed to be learned rather than natural ability.
When I think about it and work at it, I think I do OK… but it all takes a
certain amount of work; relationship building doesn’t come naturally for me.
Even as a pastor, I think I’m way better at the organizational
work (I know how to run things) and the theological work (I have some sense
about the Bible) and the communication work (my preaching isn’t all that bad)…
but I’m not the most cuddly pastor in town (I sure hope
I’m not the least cuddly pastor in town). Sometimes I let myself think that you
all will somehow be able to detect
that I love you by the way I run things around here… when I know that running
things well doesn’t replace a personal kind word, or even a hug (boy… I’m not
much of a hugger). Sometimes when I think that I might actually be the least
cuddly pastor in town, I remember that you people are all sensible, good, and
nice… you wouldn’t bother showing up if I
was all that bad! Thank you for your patience with me.
So… with this relationship
novice before you, this ought to be short! You’re probably asking yourself,
“If he doesn’t get it, why didn’t he
bring in somebody who does? Why didn’t he give himself a break and just pick
another topic?” I don’t have an answer for you… but I know that this is a
vitally important topic and we at least need to get started on it.
I may not get the whole relationship thing… but
business sure does. In business the bottom line, the profit, has a wonderfully
clarifying effect on the mind; it drives leaders to good business practice.
Business has figured out that relationships
are everything, and they cast their products that way. It doesn’t matter
what they are selling, watch the ads and you’ll see that most business, most
good businesses, are selling relationships.
·
Like a good neighbor… State Farm is there.
·
Need to trade stocks? The folks at Charles Schwab
think that you’d respond to their chummy new slogan “Ask Chuck.”
·
Are you dirty and smelly… soap isn’t about getting
clean (according to the ads); it is about attracting that hot babe.
Business practices demonstrate that relationships
are everything. When you get that spiffy new mobile phone, you can be assured
that the provider is taking a loss on the actual hardware so that they can get
at the real money… the monthly service. Ink jet printers are cheap because the
real money is in those ink cartridges. Car dealers settle for razor thin profit
margins in hopes of making their real money from the service bays.
Yesterday I stopped in at Discount Tire because I noticed that my front tires were showing
more wear than the back tires. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that
the tire rotation was free… because they want my life long customer
relationship… they forfeited the $10 or $20 I would have paid for the tire
rotation service so they could get the real money when I replace all four tires
(and they probably will).
Relationships (even virtual relationships) are big
business. You may have heard in the news that Yahoo.com is trying to buy
Facebook.com, a little website started a couple of years ago by a student at
Harvard. It is a social networking site targeted mostly at college aged
students, giving them a way to track and find friends. The Wall Street Journal
reported that this technology and pool of users (and their relationships) is so
potentially valuable to Yahoo that they may pay up to $1 billion.
Business gets it, that relationships are everything…
but I don’t know that our churches get it. Slip in/Slip out, face forward, take
notes, pay money, get your answers, participate if you want to, doctrine based
and program focused churches. I’m concerned that we church people have built
something for Jesus that is doctrine based and church program focused when
Jesus demonstrated something that was relationship based and world focused.
We Evangelicals get started right when we talk about a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ… but we soon get passed that
relationship focus and move right into rules and programs. Please don’t
misunderstand; I’m not necessarily against rules and programs… but I think it
is easy for us to think that the rules and programs are the point, when they
are supposed to merely be a means to an end getting us to the real point… and
that point being relationships.
We try to do some things here to help us not loose
site of relationships:
·
Prayer and praise together that encourages
participation
·
Focused times when we are encouraged to deepen our
relationship with God
·
Intercession when we take time to share one another’s
triumphs and joys as well as difficulties and sorrows
·
And… of course… we have treats!
But even with the intentional things we do around here
to help us focus on relationships, I think there is still the possibility that
we miss the mark. So let’s go to the Scripture; Theresa read for us from John
15.
There’s a new Christian political movement that you
may have heard about, or might soon hear about. They call themselves the Red
Letter Christians. I’m not sure that I’ll find myself agreeing with them (based
on the list of their leaders, they tend to be a bit to left leaning for my
personal liking)… but I like the idea behind their name. The idea of Red Letter
Christians refers to the way lots of Bibles print the words of Jesus in red.
Since the Red Letter Christians didn’t want to be known as the religious left,
or progressive Christians, they chose to name their group after the words of
Jesus. I like that idea; I’d like to be known as one marked by the words of
Jesus too.
John 15 is all red letters… 14-17 is pretty much all
red letters. This passage contains some of the most remarkable words ever uttered
in all of human history. Here our Savior, the Word, the Son of God, the King of
Glory, says to His followers…
I call you
(not servants, not subjects) friends.
This is truly remarkable. If we are going to call
ourselves Jesus worshipers, lovers of Jesus, Jesus followers, we cannot come to
any other conclusion other than relationship is everything.
We are God’s creation… created for the purpose of
relationship. Relationship with God, and His creation, and His creatures (one
another).
God made that relationship possible for us not with
rules and regulations, not with propositions or philosophies, but with a
relationship. God didn’t come as a rule book but as one of us.
Leonard Sweet wrote “Christianity wasn’t founded on a
proposition. God sent Jesus to deliver a proposal: Will you love me? Will you
let me love you? Propositions inform us, but God’s proposal of love in Jesus
transforms us. God doesn’t answer every question [of ours]; God invites us into
a mystery.”
The mystery starts from the basis of one of the most
wonderfully mysterious relationships: God in three persons, the Trinity.
As the Father has loved me
Said Jesus in v. 9. The basis of the relationship starts
with God.
so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.[1]
From the love shared between the Father and the Son,
the Son brings us into relationship with God by the power of His love for us.
God loves us; God loves you. He invites us to follow Him, to walk with Him, to
enjoy His love, remaining in His love, living in His joy.
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. [2]
Out of the vertical (God’s love relationship with us)
comes the horizontal, our love for one another.
13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends[3]
This is no casual relationship that Jesus calls us to.
He demonstrated precisely what he meant by friendship by laying down His life…
and He demands the same from us. That we would, indeed, lay down our lives for
Him… and for one another. Could that mean actual physical death? A sacrifice
for family and friends or martyrdom for our faith? Maybe. Does it mean complete
selflessness… how could it mean anything less?
15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.[4]
God chose us and appointed us to go and bear fruit.
Later, in John 17, Jesus makes it even clearer. That out of the base of the
Father’s love for the Son, the Son loves us, and we in turn love one another,
and from that love we can impact the world. Inviting the world into
relationship with God… and us His church.
Let’s get
to a so
what. Let’s make some specific application of this to our selves that
make a difference for eternity.
Think about it… relationship is the only thing we
have now that we’ll take into eternity.
Do we think like that? Do we really cherish and care
for the one part of our lives that will endure for ever and ever? Are we
building rich relationships?
We must,
of course, start with the primacy of our relationship with God. This morning we should allow ourselves to be reminded that our
God is a person. We are called not only to believe a set of ideas, we
are called into a faith walk… a relationship with God. Yes, a personal relationship with Jesus. We
can’t settle for book knowledge; we can’t settle for knowing a lot about God…
we have to know God a lot.
Our faith is not merely: history, politics,
transaction, philosophy, ritual. These are all good things, but they serve us
best when they deepen our relationship with God. Our faith in not merely
doctrine… and our faith is more than just salvation from sin. It is salvation
from sin… but more than that it is salvation to relationship.
If you’re just starting that relationship today, start
by talking to God… believe in Jesus and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal that Jesus
to you in new and rich ways. If you’ve been at this for a while like me,
remember that all this other stuff is a means to an end; ask God to help you
make all these good things tools to deepen a truly personal relationship with
God.
In regard
to our love for one another, I’ll ask you to consider this… I know that many of
you pray that God would express himself through you. You want to be ministers;
you want God to use you. That is a truly marvelous thing. You understand that
God uses people like us to express His love and care. More often than not, it
seems, God chooses to do His work through His people. We seem to understand
that when we ask God to use us. But consider this… do we look for God in those
around us? When we need God’s help, are we eager to receive it through the
hands of others?
I can’t say that I know exactly how you are… but I
pray every day that I’d be a vessel in God’s hand to express his love. I want
to be a good minister like we all can be… but I don’t pray that all that often
for God to express himself to me through others. I don’t really expect it… and
I think that because I don’t expect it, I may be missing it. We’d err if we
demanded it from others, but I think we miss it when we don’t expect God to
show up through others.
And finally,
the world.
Relationship is everything. It is a tremendous task to convince a skeptic that
we have all the answers, and it is pretty tough to convince a self-indulgent
secularist that they ought to give all that up to get something better. I don’t
think we really have a chance… it is the Holy Spirit’s work anyway. But we are
called to demonstrate God’s love by our love for Him, our fellow worshipers,
and our love for people. Relationship is contagious and we can give others an appetite
for the relationship we have with God by building relationships with others.
Now this is a giant topic, so let me just ask you to
consider one aspect of all this. We need God’s help to not think of people as
objects.
Earlier I said a lot about how business gets relationships…
but they generally really only get the idea of the power of projecting
something like a relationship. The guys at Discount
Tire don’t want to be my friends… they want me to be there customer. I
think the Church blows it when we think of people like customers. There are
books written about this, about how you can build a great church through
excellent customer service… but this isn’t a retail outlet looking for
customers. We’re not selling anything here. Jesus isn’t looking to us to
collect a commodity for Him… Jesus is looking for more friends.
We need God’s help, I certainly need God’s help, to
not look at people as objects. We can’t have a real relationship based on what
we can get from people, focusing on what they have for us… we need God’s help
to see people as He wants to see them, as friends. That takes time, and
patience, and forgiveness, and something truly supernatural… but it is worth it
and I believe it is God’s hope for us.
Let’s pray
together today, asking God to help us get beyond our questions and rituals and
programs and rules and all… and into the mystery of relationship with Him.