Is Your Faith Worthless?
April 8, 2012
Easter Sermon - Jonathan Firme
Isn't
it wonderful that we are gathered this morning to celebrate the
resurrection of Jesus, on the first day under the care of our new
settled pastor? Before I begin my thoughts this morning, I have to
thank this congregation for giving me the confidence to get up here
and speak to you. It really is a privilege. I have said before, this
is not something I had ever envisioned myself doing. It is only
because of you that my faith has grown enough to do this. I thank
you all for all that you have given me.
Well,
I want to share something with you that has made me think long and
hard about my faith. I figured, heck, if I have had to look long and
hard, I might as well make you all do it too. Maybe a study group
will emerge from it. Of course, this self examination has caused
some difficulties and discomfort, but I think we can get through it.
A
friend sent me a picture in an email. I'll describe it for you.
Perhaps some of you have seen it, as it is making the rounds on the
internet. I think there are various versions out there. The one I
got was a newspaper headline, false, of course, that exclaimed,
“Easter Canceled – Jesus' Body Found!” Now, this was sent to
me, I believe, to insult my faith, and it worked as planned. I was
insulted! The false article had a couple sub headlines, one saying
that churches around the world were closing their doors, another that
Christians everywhere were confused, and feeling betrayed.
Did
I mention I got this email just a couple days after Melinda asked me
to fill the pulpit this Sunday.... Easter Sunday? I believe that the
Lord guides us, much like sheep. He guides us along, and lets us
graze. He protects us from dangers, still some of us fall to
predators. Eventually, we have to move to another pasture, or else we
will get lazy and fat. We will get too comfortable. So the Lord
moves us along. He does this with the help of sheep dogs, which nip
at our heels, making us uncomfortable, so that we move away to graze
somewhere else. This email picture was nipping at my heels. It
would not leave me alone. I was comfortable in my faith, but this
picture, it moved me. That picture made me wonder about my faith,
about all of our faiths. I was forced to move to another pasture.
The same way one may be moved by a book that argues there is no
actual place called Heaven, and not a real place called Hell. I
initially thought, “What! Christianity would not fall apart if they
found Jesus body!” And I set out to prove it.
I
want you all to pretend that Jesus' body has been found. Some
archaeologist out there actually found the body of Christ. There are
holes in his feet and hands. There was a crown of thorns on his
head. It has been proven, beyond any doubt, to be authentic. They
found Jesus' body. What does that do to your faith?
Paul
writes, in First Corinthians, chapter 15, verse 17, “And, if Christ
has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your
sins.” When I looked further into this, I found that most scholars
believe this, literally. If Jesus did not undergo a physical
resurrection, your faith is worthless. Well, I just told you, they
found his body. Is your faith worthless? Are you prepared to bank
your entire faith experience on an empty tomb? I am willing to bet
that most of you are thinking, “no way.” Some of you are probably
thinking, “Thank God we hired Kay, because Jonathan just went off
the deep end!” And, some of you simply are not able to pretend that
they found Jesus body. That is all okay, but I want you to think
about it.
Do
we need a physically resurrected Jesus to justify our faith? There
are ten distinct appearances of the resurrected Christ in the Bible.
They happen in a variety of places, at differing times. He appears
to individuals, small groups, and a crowd of 500. But he always
appears. He does not knock on the door of the house the apostles are
meeting in. He is not seen coming down the road, and recognized. He
isn't introduced to a group of 500 people. He appears. Jesus
certainly did not need a human body to transport himself around. He
was fully human, and fully divine. Jesus has risen above death, and,
I argue, above life itself. Why do we feel the need to restrict his
abilities with a human form. Christ has risen, above all.
Rather
than worry about the logistics of his resurrection, we are better off
examining the results of it. Jesus changed the lives of not only
those who saw him after his resurrection, but those who did not see
him as well. Have you ever seen Jesus? Has he changed your life?
The Romans knew full well that, if they killed Jesus, they would kill
this rebellious movement. Where did they get the courage to
continue? From an empty tomb? No! Their courage came from the stories
of people who were moved by Jesus, after his death.
So,
if you, like me, have never seen Jesus, what gives you your faith?
Do tired and aching people go to work at Broadway Bargains because
they know that the tomb was empty? Do people feel the power of our
prayers because a tomb was empty? Have we gathered up the strength
to get through the last 4 years as a congregation because the tomb
was empty? Did Kay leave family and friends, travel 1500 miles to
the middle of the desert because she knows, deep in her heart that
the tomb was empty? I should think not. I believe that all of those
things are a result of people knowing Jesus in their lives. Jesus
who, at the right hand of God, is fully divine.
Truly,
our faith cannot be based on emptiness. And, much to the dismay of
the friend who sent me this email and started me on this journey, my
faith this Easter is stronger than ever. I am quite sure that the
email was meant to cause me to doubt myself. To call faith in
general into question. But, such as is the case every time, when I
question God, he is not afraid. He welcomes the opportunity to
strengthen me.
God
raised Jesus so that Jesus could always be with each of us. That is
the truth of the matter. We are always searching for the truth, and
we often turn to the Bible to find it. The trouble is that the Bible
points us to the truth. The Bible is not the truth itself. Just
like your dearest friend, it has flaws, but it always points us
towards the truth. The truth about God cannot be captured in human
words. God is a truth that exists within us, written on our hearts.
We will always try to express that truth in words for others, but we
will always come up short. There are no words to fully explain
Jesus, to explain God. We buy books that purport to tell us the
truth, but they don't. We hire pastors to put it into words for us,
and we get upset when they can't do it either. So, we use words and
ideas like Christmas, and Easter, and Holy Week, and Resurrection,
and Santa Claus, and The Easter Bunny to help us understand and
explain. When these things are taken as the truth, instead of
understood as pointing towards the truth. We become lost and feel
disappointed. You cannot touch the truth of the resurrection. You
cannot read the truth, you cannot hear the rest of the story, but you
can do it. The truth has to be experienced. John wrote that Christ
came so that we can have life, and have it abundantly. That means
getting out of the tomb ourselves and experiencing Jesus in our
lives, so that others may experience the truth of Jesus through us.
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