John 10:22-30
(shared with the people of Friendship Church, May 2, 2004)
The flight was running late and the passengers, which included many children, were becoming restive as they waited on the runway tarmac. The pilot thought about what he could do to make the wait easier, especially for the families involved, and remembered one of his airline’s corporate values: Break all the rules and don’t wait for permission to do it. So, the pilot contacted the McDonald’s in the terminal and ordered Happy Meals that were brought out to the plane for all the kids. Needless to say, that pilot became a hero to everyone on board the delayed flight. But he also has become a hero in the company for which he works, Jet Blue.
You know, it does no good for a company to have a value statement, or a family to have values they promote, or for churches to have creeds, doctrines, and statements of belief, if those values and beliefs aren’t lived out. What we’re really about is seen and heard less in our words than in our actions. The proof is in the people.
Jesus was once confronted by a surly group of His fellow Jews. It happened at a section of the temple in Jerusalem known as Solomon’s Portico or Porch. It was named after one of Israel’s kings, David’s son Solomon. It was a sensible place for Jesus to walk on a winter’s day just before Hanukkah because the way it was situated, Solomon’s Portico protected Him from the cold prevailing wind of the season. But it afforded Him no protection from nasty questions.
Our translation of the New Testament’s original Greek tells us that Jesus was asked, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” But there is good reason, based on examples from both the ancient Greek and the modern Greek language that the question was couched in an everyday phrase that really meant, “How long are you going to keep annoying us? Who do you think you are, the Messiah?”
Of course, Jesus had and would state plainly Who He was. He was and is the Messiah, God’s anointed Savior of the world. He was and is God in human flesh Who came to save everyone who follows Him from sin and death and pointless living, giving us forgiveness, life, and purpose. But Jesus doesn’t bother with words at this moment. He tells this bunch:
“I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s Name testify to Me; but you do not believe...”
They didn’t believe, Jesus said, even though it was as plain as the noses on their faces Who He was. They didn’t believe because they were unwilling to see themselves as sheep who had wandered far from God. They were unwilling to be sheep who listened and heeded the Good Shepherd’s voice.
The proof was in the people. Anyone who bothered to look at Jesus and what He did day in and day out, understood Who He was. And anyone who looked at the lives of His skeptical tormentors could see who they were as well.
But if people can see Who Jesus is by His actions—His life, His acts of compassion and miracles, His death, His resurrection, the question I constantly must ask myself is this: Can people see Jesus in me? Does my life give evidence that Jesus is alive and real and working in the life of one who professes to follow Him?
Now, as good Lutherans, we all know that there is nothing that we can do to earn God’s love or forgiveness. No work, no matter how wonderful, will allow us to buy our ways into the Kingdom of God.
But we also know, as Jesus’ earthly brother James said, that faith without works is dead. Faith that isn’t seen in the ways we live our lives, the choices that we make, the priorities we choose, the service we render, and the love we share isn’t faith. Faith in Jesus begins in complete surrender to Christ, daily repentance and renewal in His Name, and a commitment to be precisely what the New Testament calls the Church: the very body of Christ, working in the world. Faith makes us, in Martin Luther’s phrase, little Christs, who live, love, and die for the world.
Our faith in Christ will be visible to the world in at least three ways which I want to talk about this morning. First: It will be seen in our acts of love done in Jesus’ Name. Steve Sjogren, the senior pastor of the Vineyard Church in the tri-county area, is the person who re-invented and then popularized kindness outreaches in the contemporary church. In one of his books, Steve talks about an outreach the congregation did back in the 80s. A gathering of New Agers was happening in downtown Cincinnati at the convention center. Steve convinced folks from his church to go down there and give away cold cans of Coca Cola just outside the doors. These people, many of whom had long ago repudiated faith in Christ, were stunned to see these Christians reaching out to them without judgment or harshness or Bible tracts. The Vineyard folks even showed good humor as they did so. They’d say things like, “I’m channeling into the fact that you want diet instead of regular.” Jesus could be harsh and confrontational toward those who were part of His religious community. But He always demonstrated the greatest degree of flexible love toward those who stood outside the Kingdom and needed Him in their lives: the tax collector who watched longingly as Jesus walked into town, the woman caught in adultery, the hated foreigner. When Christ has come to live in our hearts, Christ’s love will be seen in us.
Another way in which our faith will be visible is in our service. This past week, Ann and I watched the new Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. God’s Name was never mentioned in the movie, so it really wasn’t meant to be “Christian.” Yet, it showed a community of people who were kind to each other as each dealt with adversities in their lives. A woman cared for her father, suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. A father, his marriage falling apart, looks out for his boys. An old woman, feeling alone and useless, reaches out to those same boys as they deliver her daily paper; she teaches them how to bake. Two confirmed bachelor ranchers take in a seventeen year old girl who is pregnant and rejected by her mother.
The title for this story was Plainsong. That’s a term borrowed from the worship music of the Church. A plainsong was the genre of simple chants used in worship that began with the Gregorian Chants. I liked this name for the movie because, over and over again the New Testament tells us that when we serve others, we really serve the God we know in Jesus Christ. Jesus said that whenever we serve the least important and most despised people in our world, we really serve Him. What we do here on Sundays is more a pep rally than worship. The service we render to others in Jesus' Name in our daily lives is our real worship. It is our plainsong. And it’s a sign to the world that Jesus is living in us.
Finally, it should be said that faith evidenced in our lives will gain us the right to tell others about Jesus. From my experience, whenever we love or serve others, eventually they will want to know why. Peter in the New Testament tells us that we need to be ready for such questions. “Be prepared always to give an account for the hope that is in you, but do it with gentleness and reverence.” I guarantee that whenever we serve and love others genuinely, not for our gain, but for their gain and Christ’s glory, we will be ready to tell them about Jesus. He will have come to live inside us and with us and He will give us the right words when they need to be uttered.
By the time she died (within days of Princess Diana), Mother Teresa was known around the world for her acts of love and service in Jesus’ Name. Everyone wanted to know what made this follower of Jesus tick. Once, she appeared at a Harvard University chapel service. Her love for all people allowed her to share the hope of Jesus...and even some uncomfortable counsel from God.
“I understand,” she said "there are lots of you students in this school who are doing things that displease God. You are harming yourselves and offending God. Some of you are drinking alcohol and taking drugs. Others of you are engaged in sexual sin of many sorts. I have a message for you from God: Repent, turn away from what you are doing.”
Probably not the smooth message that a PR guru would have told her to deliver! But the response of everyone there was amazing. The entire crowd rose to its feet and gave her thunderous applause for several minutes. Her life of authentic love and service in Jesus’ Name gave her the credibility to confront the sins that bedeviled that campus community and get applauded for it!
Today, all across America, there are churches that booming and offering all sorts of services. Friendship is growing. Christian books climb to the tops of mainstream best seller lists. Everyone was buzzing about Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ. But it troubles me that for all the popularity accorded Christian books, music, and movies, there seems to be no corresponding change in our society.
Our materialism, with its reliance on things rather than God, keeps getting worse.
Our culture of violence grows more pronounced.
Crassness and nastiness are on the upswing.
We watch an endless outpouring of so-called "reality TV" in part, so that we can watch others be humiliated and hurt.
I fear sometimes that we Christians are all blow and no show. I know that I can be that way! Who Jesus was could be seen in His actions of love and service. None of us is perfect and none of us will ever perfectly reflect Jesus’ goodness and power.
But I believe that if we will let Jesus be the Messiah Lord of every part of our lives, something amazing will happen. People will see something they have rarely glimpsed before: a real-life, genuine follower of Jesus. They’ll see Jesus working in us, even with our self-acknowledged imperfections, and like that crowd in the Harvard Chapel in their response to Mother Teresa, their defenses will be disarmed and maybe, just maybe, they’ll let Jesus take control of their lives too.
The proof is in the people and we are Christ’s people. Let’s live that and let the world in on all the blessings, forgiveness, hope, and power that comes from Christ!
[The source of the true story about the Jet Blue pilot is told in the latest issue of the business magazine, Fast Company.
[Steve Sjogren tells the story of his church's New Age outreach in his book, Conspiracy of Kindness. That book also is the source of the true story told about Mother Teresa. It originally appeared in a book by Tony Campolo.
[Hallmark has indicated that the DVD of Plainsong will soon be available.]
