Sermon “Chosen and Appointed” John 15:16
Lord, grant that we may hear and obey your heavenly calling, living and trusting in you. This we pray in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
How many of you got to choose your parents? Does that seem like an odd question? Then here's a question for you, since it's Mother's Day. How many of you got to choose who would be your mother? It doesn't work that way, does it? We don't get to choose our parents. We can respect them or not. We can trust them or not. We can rejoice in the blessings they give us, or we can choose to grumble gainst them. But we don't get to choose who is and is not in our family. Ultimately this life isn't about what we choose. It isn't about our ability. We do what we can, but it finally isn't about us. It's much more than that.
Today, possibly the saddest day of the year in some of your lives, the day when our society celebrates mothers and motherhood, the day when some people are wrenched with pain as they remember their abusive mothers, as they see that they are without husband or children, the day when they remember those children who they miscarried or aborted, or lost for whatever reason, the day our culture rubs salt into the wounds of some of its women, this very day is a day which our Lord has appointed for me to give you a message of healing and grace. This is a day when you can receive the joy of our Lord. This is a day that is appointed for God's glory and praise. This is a day when we look beyond our situation, beyond our past, beyond our pain and suffering. It is a day for us to rise up and look to the mercy of God shown in Jesus Christ.
I want to remind you what John chapter 15 verses 16 and 17 say about our lives and all their circumstances. Jesus says, “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. This is my command: Love each other.” Maybe we didn't get to choose our life, at least not much more than we got to choose our parents. We've come to this place with a lot of circumstances that have driven us here and there, to one thing or another thing. Sometimes we try to take charge of our destiny. Often when we do that we end up frustrated. Sometimes we see our circumstances ruling us, we know that's not quite right either, and we end up frustrated again. We'd like to rise above it all. We'd like to live that victorious life that the preacher on TV tells us will show God's blessing. But time and again something gets in the way. I want to remind you, and I want to remind myself, that it isn't about my choice. It's all about God's choice. It's all about what our God has done in sending His Son, Jesus, our Savior. It's all about Jesus' desire to take your sins and my sins upon himself. It's all about Jesus' love for us which goes above his love for himself. It's all about Jesus choosing to die rather than to let us die in our sin. Jesus chose us. I know it looks to those of us who are adult converts to Christ as if we chose him. Maybe then we should picture this Christian life like a sign board. You know how the signs at our church driveway have two sides. One side says one thing and the other side says another. But they go together. Here's the signboard. For those who do not believe on Jesus, the sign says, “Whoever will, come, believe, and receive life.” But do you know what the other side of the sign says? This is the side of the sign that you see by faith, by belief on Jesus. It says, “Chosen in Christ from all eternity.” Jesus chose his people. Jesus chose you. Your parents didn't get to choose you any more than you got to choose your parents. But if you are trusting in Jesus I want you to know you can have confidence. Jesus chose you. You aren't a Christian because I loved you or because your great aunt Sue loved you or because your parents prayed for you. You are a Christian because Jesus loved you. You are a Christian because Jesus chose you.
What does he then do with us? What does he do with his people he has chosen, loved, and called to himself? What's the destiny of the Christian? He has appointed us to go, to bear fruit, fruit that lasts. What is that fruit that lasts? It isn't our children. It isn't the work we are doing in our careers. It isn't that brilliant piece of legislation we persuaded our senators to pass. It isn't even the invention you've been tinkering with in your barn, you know, the one that . . . oh, I can't say or the secret might get out. That isn't the fruit that lasts. The fruit Jesus has appointed us to bear is fruit of godliness. It is the fruit of the Spirit. Recall from Galatians, all that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self-control. There's no law against that. And that's exactly the fruit Jesus has called us to produce. That's exactly the fruit he will produce in our lives as we live and grow in him. That's the kind of fruit that overcomes the world. Overcome evil with good! Jesus has chosen us and has appointed us to bear fruit, and that fruit is found as we follow his command to love one another.
What is the result of this faith? What does this life as a chosen one of God give? We see that the Father will give us what we ask in Jesus' name. Yet I think we need to unpack that a little. You see, the Jesus who gave his life to deliver you from sin and death has a particular will. there are some things we ask for. We ask in the name of Jesus for those things that are according to his will. And we know when we ask for Jesus to do his will he will do it. But what is his will? What has he promised in Scripture? That's why we need to be in the Word, day after day, looking at what our Lord has revealed to us. When we know his will we can ask it boldly. And we do, when we pray that his name will be hallowed, his kingdom will come, and his will should be done on earth as it is in heaven. But what is his will? He desires to forgive repentant sinners. He desires to cleanse his people and deliver them from death. He desires to bless his people with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. He desires to prepare us as a holy people, consecrated to him, presented as a pure and perfect bride to her bridegroom. Jesus is the one who desires to call us to himself in faith, believing that he is who he said he is and that he has done what he said he would do. Jesus' will is that all should believe in him, the one and only savior from sin, death, and hell. Are we asking this in his name? Do we believe that Jesus is the one who chooses us and calls us out of darkness into his marvellous light? Do we believe that in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form? Do we believe what we confess, that Jesus forgives our sins? Do we believe that Jesus can take the broken pieces of our lives, our backgrounds, our histories, even our families and make us bear fruit for his kingdom?
In fact, we can't do any of that. We can try a little bit. And we can gain from those efforts. One of our local church congregations is going to have a one-day marriage seminar in the next week. It may be good. I don't know. It will be good if it points people to depend on Jesus and to live at peace with one another in the context of their families. But finally we can't make ourselves worthy. We can't make the fruit of godliness. We don't choose the fruitful life any more than we choose Jesus. We don't choose Jesus any more than we choose our parents. We may accept or reject, we may delight or despise, but Jesus chose us, and he chose us to bear much fruit.
So where do we stand? Are we trusting him? Are we choosing to love him back as he has loved us? Are we ready to lay down our sin, that sin that he has already taken upon himself? Are we willing to bear much fruit, as he has appointed? Or do we wish to walk our own way, blaze our own trail, live our life as if he doesn't matter, just depending on that invention we're working on in the shop? Let us look to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the one who has laid down his life for us, showing us what true love is. Let us look to our Lord who has taken our sin and shame upon himself. Let us look to our Lord, who is the resurrection and the life. He has chosen us.
Pray with me, please. Our Lord, let us see you, the one who chose us, as the one who will lovingly guide our lives. Grant us repentance, and give us your forgiveness. Make us walk in your paths, bearing fruit for you, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Showing posts with label John. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John. Show all posts
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Monday, May 7, 2012
Sermon for 5/7/12
Sermon “Jesus Prunes Branches”
Lord, conform us into your image, in the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
I like growing things. Maybe you do too. Probably a lot of us enjoy seeing little plants and animals grow into big plants and animals. From the look of some of my garden spaces, you might think I concentrate on growing weeds. Well, they are interesting too, amazing survivors, and some of them are downright beautiful. But some of my emphasis on weeds has been due to an overloaded schedule, running here and there, doing this and that until it's been too long a day to think about pulling weeds and working the gardens.
Our Scripture passages here have a lot to do with both of those ideas, both growing things and running here and there. In fact, they are very closely related. The early Christian church was full of activity. The disciples were going here and there, bringing the Gospel with them, talking about Jesus wherever they went. During that time something was happening to them. Not only was the Gospel spreading and growing, like those weeds do as soon as we turn our back on them, but also the believers were changing. They were growing in Christ as they saw how God works through His Word. They were being pushed outside of their normal surroundings, going to places they had never intended, meeting people they would never have planned to meet, and seeing that our Lord can work through His Word in those other people as well.
This is at the heart and center of what Jesus is talking about when he says he is pruning the fruitful branches. It causes discomfort, there's no question about that. We who are fruitful, we who live out the Gospel, day after day we see Jesus coming at us with a big pair of scissors. He's trimming away the waste. But he's also simply making adjustments to us. What happens to that rose bush when you snip off a branch? Two branches grow from the place you cut. That makes it very difficult to get rid of a healthy plant. We cut it down and it grows back, bushier than before. Jesus sees us, he trims us, and we become more productive. Do we like the process of pruning? Do we like being pushed beyond our normal habits? Not at all. But like the athlete in training who knows he needs to go to the point of being tired and then continue a little farther, we see that our Savior pushes us just a little farther. He won't break us. He won't destroy us. But he's coming to trim us and change us.
How does our Lord do this? I'd like to bring you three ways the Lord makes us grow in him, all from today's Scriptures. These aren't the only three ways he works in us, but they are three we can use. First, he prepares us by having us read and understand the Bible. Second, he sends us to love and care for our neighbors. Finally, he makes us depend on him.
Philip was a man who knew the Scriptures. He had been appointed as a servant of the Church in Acts chapter 6. In our passage today he found himself helping a foreigner understand what the Bible said. Are we ready to take a passage of Scripture and explain it to others? It's my job, but it's your job also. I know there are people here who could explain the intricacies of their careers to me. Several people, for instance, work in industrial type settings. You could tell us all about safety shoes, the areas where you need to wear eye protection, how materials come and go, what kind of information is on the chemical safety data sheet, you could go on and on. Can you tell me from the Scripture about Christ crucified for you? Can you tell me from the Scripture how Jesus had to be completely man and completely God? Can you explain how a perfect human had to die in place of a sinful human or each sinful human would have to die on his own? It's all there in the Bible. Yet we often treat everything other than the Bible as more important. How are we going to live our Christian life knowledgeably without looking to the Word of God regularly and carefully? We need the Scripture, in large regular doses, changing our lives, changing our attitudes, changing our understanding of the world. That's why we're making as many opportunities for group Bible study as we can, not only in the children's and adult Bible classes on Sunday, but in the men's group starting in June, in teen Bible classes for this congregation and anybody else, starting soon in the evenings, in the Women of Life circles, in the after-school catechism class and Bible club, and any other time we can arrange for people to look into God's Word together. We depend on the Scripture. God changes us through His Word.
As we depend on the Word of God, though, we go and help our neighbors. Are there people in this congregation who don't have what they need? Are we helping those we are aware of? What about people who need jobs, do we rejoice with those who have found jobs, like we rejoice with LouAnn, who finally gets to go to work next week? Do we go out of our way to help those who are suffering physically, mentally, emotionally? Do we show love for our neighbors in Christ? Or do we come in and present ourselves as people who need no help, who have no help to give, and who arrive, do our time in church, and then disappear as fast as we can to get on with our lives? The Bible calls us one building, one family, one body. We depend on one another. And our world is going to judge us based on our care for one another and for the rest of the world. Are we concerned about people who are suffering and dying? There are plenty of those people right here in this county, right here in this city. What are we doing? Does the love of Christ motivate us to get out of our little groups and serve our community? Can we show this as a distinctively Christian concern for our community by doing things together, as Christ's people, as the Church which is coming to love and serve our neighbors? We have two committees, Evangelism and Faith in Action, which, I confess, I have not worked with very well. Let's gang up on them. Let's try to make them so busy loving and serving our neighbors along with us that we won't know what to do. There's plenty of need. And as we read in 1 John, people can tell Christians by their love for their neighbors.
What if we find that we don't have the time, resources, or talent to live this Christian life? It seems like a daunting task. Maybe you are like I am and have spent much of your adult life working sixty to eighty hours a week, much occupied with your business, your career, giving the rest of your time to your family. Maybe you find that you would like to have more involvement in the local church but don't know where it all can fit together. In all our readings today there was one underlying theme. Christians depend on Christ, the living God, their savior. We look to Jesus, who has given himself for us, who himself was consumed as a perfect sacrifice for our sins, on our account. We look to Jesus, who counted the cost, saw it would cost him his life, and that he who was perfect would have to bear the sins of the world in order to redeem us to God. And we depend on him. We depend on that redeeming love. We depend on his perfect righteousness. We depend on his grace to get the job done. Are we ready to trust in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to work through us, drawing our families, our friends, our neighbors, and our whole community to him? Do we realize that he can take our feeble offerings, our imperfect understanding, our commitment of a little time, a little money, and whatever else we have, and use them by the Holy Spirit to change the world?
I've challenged you before to think of a few people you will pray for and minister to. I want to keep that challenge in front of us week after week. Do we know people who need Jesus? Every one of us needs Jesus' love and forgiveness. But what about those people who aren't receiving from God's word? What about those people who need someone to care for them in Christ's name? What about those people who don't depend on Christ because they have never heard of their sin and their need for a savior? Do we love them enough to be God's hand of mercy extended to our world? Do we love them enough to invite them to receive from the grace of the Lord along with us? You see, doctrine matters. If we are going to say we are Christians, and if we are going to say that we confess this historic Lutheran faith that says salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, revealed to us sufficiently in the Scripture, we need to live that out. If Jesus is the savior of the world, then we'd better be busy showing that to our world. They need Jesus, just like we do.
It starts right here. It starts with confession of our sin. Maybe you've grown cold in your faith. Maybe you have never truly believed that Jesus is the savior. Maybe you've never thought about how he changes our lives from inside to out. Maybe you see those patterns of mistrust in your life, areas where you want to live your own way, not depending on Christ crucified for you. This is the time for repentance and forgiveness. It is the time to look to him in faith. It is the time to prepare ourselves to receive his body and blood, given and shed for us. It is the time to receive forgiveness, life and salvation. And it's all by grace through faith. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day that Jesus comes to you with those big pruning shears. Today is the day he takes your branches and makes them grow and flourish in him.What if we refuse? Jesus has warned us we will be cut off, cast out, dried up, and used for kindling. May it never be! Let us rather be the fruitful branches, by faith in our Lord.
Rise with me, if you can, to pray.
Our Lord God, you have promised in your Word that you would change us, that you would use us in this world, that you would make us fruitful in you as we depend on you. Give us grace to believe with our heart and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God. Forgive us our sin. Make us walk in your paths, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Sermon for 4/15/12 "Stewards of Christ's Resurrection"
Sermon Stewards of Christ's Resurrection
Lord of all, who gathers us and joins us together into one body, grant us your grace so we may hear your word, believe you, and be good stewards of the Gospel, this we pray through Jesus Christ, your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.
Stewardship Sunday – even hearing those words has been known to make me cringe in fright. And maybe it has the same effect on you. There's a habit in some churches of gathering everyone together, pointing out the budget to the congregation, discussing some of the goals we would like to accomplish to show our faithfulness to the Lord, and then pressuring people to make pledges which will cause them to give sacrificially, the more pain, the more gain. Give until it hurts! And the Scotsman in me says, “Aye, the very thought of givin' hurts.”
Today's readings, though, give us a different view of stewardship. The first reading, not Old Testament during this time of the year, is from Acts. It tells about the gathered Christians. How are they showing their stewardship? They are caring for one another out of the abundance that the Lord has blessed them with. Nobody twisted their arms. Nobody had to push any pledge cards at anybody. There was none of this, “You write on the card and I'll tell you what to write. Need me to steady your hand for you?” Not anything of the sort. We saw that “there were no needy people among them.” But does that mean that everyone was prosperous in business? No, it doesn't. We see that some people who had means occasionally sold an asset or made some other sort of profit and gave the proceeds to the apostles so they could distribute it as it was needed. There were needs, but the believers helped one another.
How has our church done with this? Are we being good financial stewards? Last year somehow went by without a very active stewardship committee. I'm probably not the only person who was at the council meetings and found it humorous that for several months there was no report from the stewardship committee. And we finished calendar year 2011 with an intriguing financial picture. You who have seen the 2011 annual report know that we wrapped up the budget year with offerings below budget and expenses even a little farther below budget. I wonder if anyone has been watching this year's numbers? We passed a smaller budget this year. So what would we predict? Nobody has been twisting anybody's arm for offerings. I even forgot about an offering at one of the midweek services this year, I think it was the Ash Wednesday service. Our budget is smaller. Does anybody know what's happened to the offerings? It sounds like we might be in big trouble, right? Actually, offerings this year are up compared to last year and we are right on track with the budget to date. Giving as of the end of March was above budget. That doesn’t mean that we should cut back on our giving. It means that the Lord is providing for you, his people, and you are bringing out of your abundance to meet the needs of others. If we have too much in the coffers we’ll be able to increase some of the mission giving we have for here and other places in our world.
But financial stewardship is not the do-all, end-all of stewardship. I don't know why we seem to have this idea that stewardship has to do with money and only money. It isn't the case at all. Throughout history, what has a steward done? The steward takes care of the master's possessions and household. There is an important role of money, but there's a lot more than that. The steward also guards the master's plans, his goals, his values, his priorities. It's a lot like being an ambassador. What other kind of stewardship do we see in today's readings?
In our epistle reading from 1 John we see that the believers are being encouraged to be good stewards of the resurrection. Their lives have been changed by the risen Lord. That change, the realization that Jesus is the one proclaimed to them, results in prayers, forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Jesus is the one who took our sins. He is the one who intercedes for us. He is the one who was a sufficient sacrifice for our sins, and not only ours but the sins of the whole world. We realize that no matter what our sin is, we can confess it before the Lord and he will forgive it. Jesus is in the business of cleansing us from all sin. What sin is it that you bear today? Is anything too difficult for our Lord? What kind of sin do you confront at your workplace, in your home, in your friends and neighbors? Are any of those sins that the Lord has not given himself for? We saw in 1 John 2:2 that Jesus gave himself for the sins of the whole world. And he is the sufficient sacrifice who makes peace with God. That word that the NIV translates as “atoning sacrifice” is a difficult one. There's some debate about how to translate it. And the reason is that it's an unusually meaningful word. It indicates the one who dies but whose death is sufficient to either take away the cause of offense or cover the cause of offense so that it can no longer be found, and who does it on the behalf of someone else. That's not something we want to pull into our translation of the Scripture in the places the word shows up. So the NIV editors made it an “atoning sacrifice.” Some translations have made it say “a propitiation.” And then some people argue with one another about the meanings of the words “atonement” and “propitiation.” They can be viewed theologically as opposite sides of the same coin. The fact is, when you believe Jesus, you get the whole coin. That's the great thing about coins, after all. When you get one side, you also get the other side. Jesus takes away our sin. Jesus also takes away the offense that our sin causes God. He does it all.
Through faith in Christ, we are made stewards of that news. We are representatives of Jesus in this world. We are the people who carry the news of the work of Christ on our behalf. And we do it, not through our own strength or righteousness but simply as we are made witnesses of Jesus. One of the ways we are his witnesses is through our generosity and care for others. As God has loved us, we love one another. As Jesus gave himself for us, we give ourselves for one another. And it isn't a matter of law-keeping. Nobody twisted your arm and made you give generously to meet the needs of God's people. Nobody twisted your arm and made you pledge more money for our missions program this year than last year. Not at all. It's a matter of being a steward of the message of the resurrection. Jesus has called us his children, his friends, his fellow heirs. We just act like the forgiven, cleansed, and renewed people that we are, and we walk in his paths, since he has laid them open to us.
But what of the times we are bad stewards? Maybe we find that we are too often like Thomas, that apostle who ran away and didn't believe Jesus was raised from the dead. Maybe we're like those people we've been reading about in Judges as we have followed the Bible reading challenge – the people who were rescued and then gladly returned to their old ways, the worship of idols, setting priorities that couldn't be distinguished from the nations around them. Knowing that God is the God of deliverance doesn't always get the message through to us, does it? What did Jesus do for Thomas? He came to Thomas. That's just what Thomas needed. Thomas was doubtful. Actually, Thomas was unbelieving. That's what Jesus says of him. He didn't believe the resurrection. But far worse, even if he did come to believe the resurrection, he didn't believe it was for him. What did Jesus do for Thomas? He did an astounding thing. He came to speak with Thomas. He knew what Thomas had been saying. Unless he saw the wounds and touched them he would not believe. This is a high standard of proof, isn't it? Can you show your friends and neighbors the wounds that Jesus bore for him? No, you can't and I can't either. And there are some people for whom no amount of proof of the resurrection will be adequate. When talking to someone who denies that Jesus could have risen from the dead sometimes we want to ask what information would be adequate. If the person we're talking to says that there's no way we can convince him that Jesus rose from the dead, the conversation is over. We may as well talk about lawn mowers or hybrid soybeans or Cajun cooking. That person is like unbelieving Thomas.
What got through to Thomas? The power of Jesus in his resurrection. Remember that Thomas would not believe unless he touched the wounds of Jesus? What did Jesus offer? “Touch my wounds, go ahead.” What did Thomas do? He believed. He didn't need to touch the wounds. He needed to know that Jesus was raised from the dead. He needed the Holy Spirit to grant him faith. He needed the powerful message of the resurrection. Do we have that message? Yes, we do. Jesus has made us stewards of the Gospel. He has made us stewards of the message of Christ, crucified for sinners, raised again from the dead as the firstfruits of the resurrection. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! We preach Jesus, the power of God. The POWER of God! Salvation is of the Lord. And Jesus has given his Church the message of the Gospel to be proclaimed. Notice I say “proclaimed” rather than “argued.” I can't argue you to faith in Christ, any more than Peter, James, and John could argue Thomas to belief. I can't do it. Even the lawyers we have in the congregation, who are professionally trained in arguing can't do it. There's no amount of reasoning that can give us the Gospel. It is the proclamation of Jesus' victorious death, burial, and resurrection that gives us the Gospel. This is the deliverance we need. And this is the message that we received and that we carry as stewards for our Lord. We proclaim the Gospel in Word through the liturgy, the reading of the Word, and the preaching, Sunday after Sunday. We proclaim the Gospel in the sacrament of baptism when we have the opportunity. One pastor I know refers to baptism as his opportunity to make Christians. It struck me as odd at first. But he's right. We confess that baptism saves you, giving you the pledge of a clear conscience before God. We confess that it washes sins away. This is the Gospel. We proclaim the Gospel in the sacrament of the altar, where we confess that Jesus is truly and bodily present to deliver the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation through his body and blood under the bread and the wine. We proclaim the Gospel in the Parish Education classes – Sunday school and adult Bible class and the other opportunities we have for training. Those are opportunities to see how the Gospel applies to us, to receive the encouragement that God’s Word gives us grace, to find out how we can bring the grace of our Lord to our world. Do we have open discussion? We sure do, especially in the Bible classes. But all in all, we don't argue it about the Gospel, we proclaim it. We let the Holy Spirit do the arguing and convince people. And we confess that we are recipients of all these promises of grace, given to us by one and the same Lord.
As recipients of the promises of God we then become stewards of his promises. May the Lord make us faithful stewards of his resurrection, looking in hope to the time when we will rise with him. Amen.
Lord of all, who gathers us and joins us together into one body, grant us your grace so we may hear your word, believe you, and be good stewards of the Gospel, this we pray through Jesus Christ, your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.
Stewardship Sunday – even hearing those words has been known to make me cringe in fright. And maybe it has the same effect on you. There's a habit in some churches of gathering everyone together, pointing out the budget to the congregation, discussing some of the goals we would like to accomplish to show our faithfulness to the Lord, and then pressuring people to make pledges which will cause them to give sacrificially, the more pain, the more gain. Give until it hurts! And the Scotsman in me says, “Aye, the very thought of givin' hurts.”
Today's readings, though, give us a different view of stewardship. The first reading, not Old Testament during this time of the year, is from Acts. It tells about the gathered Christians. How are they showing their stewardship? They are caring for one another out of the abundance that the Lord has blessed them with. Nobody twisted their arms. Nobody had to push any pledge cards at anybody. There was none of this, “You write on the card and I'll tell you what to write. Need me to steady your hand for you?” Not anything of the sort. We saw that “there were no needy people among them.” But does that mean that everyone was prosperous in business? No, it doesn't. We see that some people who had means occasionally sold an asset or made some other sort of profit and gave the proceeds to the apostles so they could distribute it as it was needed. There were needs, but the believers helped one another.
How has our church done with this? Are we being good financial stewards? Last year somehow went by without a very active stewardship committee. I'm probably not the only person who was at the council meetings and found it humorous that for several months there was no report from the stewardship committee. And we finished calendar year 2011 with an intriguing financial picture. You who have seen the 2011 annual report know that we wrapped up the budget year with offerings below budget and expenses even a little farther below budget. I wonder if anyone has been watching this year's numbers? We passed a smaller budget this year. So what would we predict? Nobody has been twisting anybody's arm for offerings. I even forgot about an offering at one of the midweek services this year, I think it was the Ash Wednesday service. Our budget is smaller. Does anybody know what's happened to the offerings? It sounds like we might be in big trouble, right? Actually, offerings this year are up compared to last year and we are right on track with the budget to date. Giving as of the end of March was above budget. That doesn’t mean that we should cut back on our giving. It means that the Lord is providing for you, his people, and you are bringing out of your abundance to meet the needs of others. If we have too much in the coffers we’ll be able to increase some of the mission giving we have for here and other places in our world.
But financial stewardship is not the do-all, end-all of stewardship. I don't know why we seem to have this idea that stewardship has to do with money and only money. It isn't the case at all. Throughout history, what has a steward done? The steward takes care of the master's possessions and household. There is an important role of money, but there's a lot more than that. The steward also guards the master's plans, his goals, his values, his priorities. It's a lot like being an ambassador. What other kind of stewardship do we see in today's readings?
In our epistle reading from 1 John we see that the believers are being encouraged to be good stewards of the resurrection. Their lives have been changed by the risen Lord. That change, the realization that Jesus is the one proclaimed to them, results in prayers, forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Jesus is the one who took our sins. He is the one who intercedes for us. He is the one who was a sufficient sacrifice for our sins, and not only ours but the sins of the whole world. We realize that no matter what our sin is, we can confess it before the Lord and he will forgive it. Jesus is in the business of cleansing us from all sin. What sin is it that you bear today? Is anything too difficult for our Lord? What kind of sin do you confront at your workplace, in your home, in your friends and neighbors? Are any of those sins that the Lord has not given himself for? We saw in 1 John 2:2 that Jesus gave himself for the sins of the whole world. And he is the sufficient sacrifice who makes peace with God. That word that the NIV translates as “atoning sacrifice” is a difficult one. There's some debate about how to translate it. And the reason is that it's an unusually meaningful word. It indicates the one who dies but whose death is sufficient to either take away the cause of offense or cover the cause of offense so that it can no longer be found, and who does it on the behalf of someone else. That's not something we want to pull into our translation of the Scripture in the places the word shows up. So the NIV editors made it an “atoning sacrifice.” Some translations have made it say “a propitiation.” And then some people argue with one another about the meanings of the words “atonement” and “propitiation.” They can be viewed theologically as opposite sides of the same coin. The fact is, when you believe Jesus, you get the whole coin. That's the great thing about coins, after all. When you get one side, you also get the other side. Jesus takes away our sin. Jesus also takes away the offense that our sin causes God. He does it all.
Through faith in Christ, we are made stewards of that news. We are representatives of Jesus in this world. We are the people who carry the news of the work of Christ on our behalf. And we do it, not through our own strength or righteousness but simply as we are made witnesses of Jesus. One of the ways we are his witnesses is through our generosity and care for others. As God has loved us, we love one another. As Jesus gave himself for us, we give ourselves for one another. And it isn't a matter of law-keeping. Nobody twisted your arm and made you give generously to meet the needs of God's people. Nobody twisted your arm and made you pledge more money for our missions program this year than last year. Not at all. It's a matter of being a steward of the message of the resurrection. Jesus has called us his children, his friends, his fellow heirs. We just act like the forgiven, cleansed, and renewed people that we are, and we walk in his paths, since he has laid them open to us.
But what of the times we are bad stewards? Maybe we find that we are too often like Thomas, that apostle who ran away and didn't believe Jesus was raised from the dead. Maybe we're like those people we've been reading about in Judges as we have followed the Bible reading challenge – the people who were rescued and then gladly returned to their old ways, the worship of idols, setting priorities that couldn't be distinguished from the nations around them. Knowing that God is the God of deliverance doesn't always get the message through to us, does it? What did Jesus do for Thomas? He came to Thomas. That's just what Thomas needed. Thomas was doubtful. Actually, Thomas was unbelieving. That's what Jesus says of him. He didn't believe the resurrection. But far worse, even if he did come to believe the resurrection, he didn't believe it was for him. What did Jesus do for Thomas? He did an astounding thing. He came to speak with Thomas. He knew what Thomas had been saying. Unless he saw the wounds and touched them he would not believe. This is a high standard of proof, isn't it? Can you show your friends and neighbors the wounds that Jesus bore for him? No, you can't and I can't either. And there are some people for whom no amount of proof of the resurrection will be adequate. When talking to someone who denies that Jesus could have risen from the dead sometimes we want to ask what information would be adequate. If the person we're talking to says that there's no way we can convince him that Jesus rose from the dead, the conversation is over. We may as well talk about lawn mowers or hybrid soybeans or Cajun cooking. That person is like unbelieving Thomas.
What got through to Thomas? The power of Jesus in his resurrection. Remember that Thomas would not believe unless he touched the wounds of Jesus? What did Jesus offer? “Touch my wounds, go ahead.” What did Thomas do? He believed. He didn't need to touch the wounds. He needed to know that Jesus was raised from the dead. He needed the Holy Spirit to grant him faith. He needed the powerful message of the resurrection. Do we have that message? Yes, we do. Jesus has made us stewards of the Gospel. He has made us stewards of the message of Christ, crucified for sinners, raised again from the dead as the firstfruits of the resurrection. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! We preach Jesus, the power of God. The POWER of God! Salvation is of the Lord. And Jesus has given his Church the message of the Gospel to be proclaimed. Notice I say “proclaimed” rather than “argued.” I can't argue you to faith in Christ, any more than Peter, James, and John could argue Thomas to belief. I can't do it. Even the lawyers we have in the congregation, who are professionally trained in arguing can't do it. There's no amount of reasoning that can give us the Gospel. It is the proclamation of Jesus' victorious death, burial, and resurrection that gives us the Gospel. This is the deliverance we need. And this is the message that we received and that we carry as stewards for our Lord. We proclaim the Gospel in Word through the liturgy, the reading of the Word, and the preaching, Sunday after Sunday. We proclaim the Gospel in the sacrament of baptism when we have the opportunity. One pastor I know refers to baptism as his opportunity to make Christians. It struck me as odd at first. But he's right. We confess that baptism saves you, giving you the pledge of a clear conscience before God. We confess that it washes sins away. This is the Gospel. We proclaim the Gospel in the sacrament of the altar, where we confess that Jesus is truly and bodily present to deliver the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation through his body and blood under the bread and the wine. We proclaim the Gospel in the Parish Education classes – Sunday school and adult Bible class and the other opportunities we have for training. Those are opportunities to see how the Gospel applies to us, to receive the encouragement that God’s Word gives us grace, to find out how we can bring the grace of our Lord to our world. Do we have open discussion? We sure do, especially in the Bible classes. But all in all, we don't argue it about the Gospel, we proclaim it. We let the Holy Spirit do the arguing and convince people. And we confess that we are recipients of all these promises of grace, given to us by one and the same Lord.
As recipients of the promises of God we then become stewards of his promises. May the Lord make us faithful stewards of his resurrection, looking in hope to the time when we will rise with him. Amen.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Sermon for 3/10/12 "Clear for Action"
Sermon “Clear for Action” (Exodus 20, John 2, 1 Cor. 1, Acts 1-10)
Lord, let us hear your word and respond with a whole heart, growing in grace and the knowledge of You, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Today we heard God's commands, his holy commands. There we have the first principles of the Christian faith. I recall when my older daughter was in third grade one of the songs her class sang at a school program was about the ten commandments. The teacher wanted to be sure that her students would learn God's commands so they could live a life in accordance with God's high calling. We were blessed to have a Christian school where God's word was taken seriously and where the teachers would encourage students in the faith. And this is a great blessing. I don't think it's a secret to anyone here that I'm wholeheartedly committed to Christian schooling, and am a supporter of home schooling. This is one way parents can work to nurture their children, showing them how all of life is centered on God's word, and how the Lord has created and sustains all things by his gracious command. So we teach our children God's commands. The perfect ten! God's commandments which will never pass away reveal some of his character to us. They tell us how to live an upright life in our society. As Lutherans we may well be familiar with the terms “curb” “guide” and “mirror.” The Law of God hinders evil. It's a curb. It shows us what is pleasing to God. It's a guide. And it shows us our sin, as we look at ourselves in light of the Word. It's a mirror. So we uphold God's commands. We teach them to our catechism class. Our adult class ran into them earlier this year as well, as I've been encouraging people who are not in confirmation class to consider a portion of the catechism each week, just like the confirmands. If we all nourish ourselves on God's Word and wise Christian teaching together we will find that we are able to encourage one another in the faith. So we hear the commandments. We strive to do the commandments. Like Mrs. Jones taught her third grade class, and may still be teaching them today, as far as I know, God's commands are good. They will not pass away.
Yet I need to ask you a question. Is that all there is to life? Is that all there is to the Christian faith? Keep God's commands? Where's the love of God in all this? Of course we could argue, and argue well, that God's love is shown as he uses his commands to guard us from evil and to show us what is pleasing to him. But then there's that annoying fact of the mirror. You know how the mirror works, right? I wonder how many of you have ever walked into a dance studio? You really find out what a mirror does there, because usually at least three walls of the rehearsal space are covered with mirrors. I know what the mirror does for me. They say a mirror puts ten pounds onto you. I'd like to think then that having a dozen mirrors makes me look a hundred and twenty pounds overweight and that I'm really skinny. Afraid that's not so. But you know it and I know it. The mirror shows our flaws. It points out to us what others might miss. And we tend to be more concerned about ourselves than others are. Married men all know this feeling. Our wives ask us if their hair is all right. Then they want to know if we looked carefully enough. The fact is, most of you aren't nearly as conscious of my hair, face, or clothes as I am when I look in a mirror. And I'm not as aware of your appearance as you are when you check yourself in the mirror. God's Law acts as a mirror, and it shows us our flaws. If God's law is all there is to life, we are in deep deep trouble. He turns on the light of his word and shows up all our faults, at least all that we can stand to see. This is why people come to me and look ashamed, telling me about sin before I ask. God's word shows our sin. And if we end there, we are condemned. We are hopeless. We realize that we are sinners. And we confess – thought, word, deed, commission, omission – it's all there. We're condemned.
Ah, God's perfect law. When we have a sermon title like “Clear for Action” we probably think the sermon will be about casting out sin, getting it out of the way, clearing the decks so we can do righteous works. But now we've spent about half the sermon (I know you're watching your watches, some of you decided not to have breakfast before church) talking about God's Law but not seeing how it prepares us to live a victorious life. That's actually exactly the problem I had with the third grade class and their song about God's perfect ten commandments. What were they prepared to do? Go and live according to God's commandments? How? Either they would be end up lowering their view of the commands so as to convince themselves they were obeying them or they would be driven by despair to see that they could never live a life pleasing to God.
So how are we going to clear the decks for action? We've got this burden of sin. It's weighing us down. If we can't get rid of it we're bound to capsize. We saw in our Gospel reading that the solution our Lord provided was that of sacrifice. He gives offerings which can carry our sin, releasing us. And as you read in the Bible this week, wrapping up the book of Numbers, release from sin is a messy process. It's full of death, the death of many animals on your behalf, again and again. So the people of Israel were engaged in this life of offering, of sacrifice, with the priest taking an animal and killing it before God on behalf of the sinner who needed release from sin. Out of kindness people had begun selling sacrificial animals at the temple. After all, some people had to come a long distance. Would their animals be acceptable when they arrived? So it is a good thing for people to be able to exchange money for an acceptable animal. Money travels pretty well. Yet once again, God's law, the law of sacrifice, did its work as a mirror. What did the people who sold sacrificial animals do? They agreed with the banking industry to accept only certain types of money, which would often have to come from the bank branch which they set up in front of the temple. They also agreed with the priests that the priests would accept only certain sacrificial animals, those sold in the temple courts. So a famer could count on the livestock he raised being rejected. Instead, he would have to exchange it for money where he lived, take the money, possibly exchange it and pay an ATM fee, buy an offering at the temple, and then make his sacrifice. The result? An expensive offering which may have been a substandard animal, and a profit for the money changer and the person who sold animals for sacrifice. Sin once again weighs us down. We need to be cleared of this. Thanks be to God, Jesus comes into the courts and condemns the selfishness of those people. They aren't enabling worshipers to come before God. They are hindering them.
All our works, all our attempts at obedience – are they evil? No, not really, but the sin in our lives makes our attempts, even our most faithful attempts corrupt. We are not able to save ourselves by any of our obedience. We need something different. We need the renewal of the Holy Spirit. We need a sacrifice substituted for us. We need Christ crucified for sinners. We need just what Paul was talking about in our reading from 1 Corinthians 1. We need just what we read about in the Bible reading challenge as we read the beginning of the book of Acts. Because what we saw there, in Acts 1:8, was that God promised he would recreate his disciples. He said they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they would be his witnesses.
So now is the time I tell you to clear the decks for action. Sweep out your sin and shame by the power of the Holy Spirit. Go and be witnesses! But there's still something missing. Leaving you like that would be, well, wrong. It would leave you with a command to keep those commandments. You can't make the Holy Spirit clean you. You can't make yourself be a witness. And what's more, when Jesus tells his disciples they will be witnesses, he is not making a command. So when the pastor of the independent church I used to belong to told us to obey this verse by going, he was wrong. So was the Assembly of God pastor. So was the pastor of the Evangelical Free church. So was the Southern Baptist pastor. So was the Presbyterian pastor. I hate to say it, but so was the Lutheran pastor. In Acts 1:8 there are no verbs which make commands. The verbs are descriptive. In grammar we call them “indicative” verbs. They indicate something that is happening. They are not “imperative,” verbs, which make commands. Those have a different form. Here's what Jesus is saying. He is saying to his disciples that they will be people who have the power of the Holy Spirit and that they will be people who can be described as witnesses. That's who they are. It isn't what he commands them to do.
In Acts 1:8, Jesus takes the burden off of the disciples. He says they are going to live their lives, and because of his work in them, their lives will be lives that testify to him. What happens? They receive the power of the Holy Spirit. They live out their Christian life, talking about what comes naturally to those who have been changed by God – they talk about God's wonderful works, about what the Lord says in the Scripture. They live lives together, doing good. And their lives are testimonies to the Lord. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1, he determined to know nothing but Christ crucified when he went to Corinth. This was a different message. It was the message of a life recreated by Jesus' love.
Does this mean we ignore God's commands? No, we've still got that curb and guide. It delights our Lord when we take his commands seriously. But salvation is not, and has never been, by the works of the Law. It has always been by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us. He is the one who recreates us. He is the one who fills us with the Holy Spirit. He is the one who makes us his witnesses. And he is the one who goes on through the book of Acts to do all those mighty deeds, turning the world upside down, brringing people to himself in faith. He uses his witnesses, people just like you and me. But he is the one who does it all.
Stand with me, if you can, in prayer. Lord, you have created a people for yourself. You have made witnesses in this community, and you have made them right here. Grant that we may walk as your faithful witnesses in our community, rejoicing in your word, seeing, knowing, and showing that it is by your grace that we are saved from all our sin and shame. Grant us repentance and faith, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Lord, let us hear your word and respond with a whole heart, growing in grace and the knowledge of You, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Today we heard God's commands, his holy commands. There we have the first principles of the Christian faith. I recall when my older daughter was in third grade one of the songs her class sang at a school program was about the ten commandments. The teacher wanted to be sure that her students would learn God's commands so they could live a life in accordance with God's high calling. We were blessed to have a Christian school where God's word was taken seriously and where the teachers would encourage students in the faith. And this is a great blessing. I don't think it's a secret to anyone here that I'm wholeheartedly committed to Christian schooling, and am a supporter of home schooling. This is one way parents can work to nurture their children, showing them how all of life is centered on God's word, and how the Lord has created and sustains all things by his gracious command. So we teach our children God's commands. The perfect ten! God's commandments which will never pass away reveal some of his character to us. They tell us how to live an upright life in our society. As Lutherans we may well be familiar with the terms “curb” “guide” and “mirror.” The Law of God hinders evil. It's a curb. It shows us what is pleasing to God. It's a guide. And it shows us our sin, as we look at ourselves in light of the Word. It's a mirror. So we uphold God's commands. We teach them to our catechism class. Our adult class ran into them earlier this year as well, as I've been encouraging people who are not in confirmation class to consider a portion of the catechism each week, just like the confirmands. If we all nourish ourselves on God's Word and wise Christian teaching together we will find that we are able to encourage one another in the faith. So we hear the commandments. We strive to do the commandments. Like Mrs. Jones taught her third grade class, and may still be teaching them today, as far as I know, God's commands are good. They will not pass away.
Yet I need to ask you a question. Is that all there is to life? Is that all there is to the Christian faith? Keep God's commands? Where's the love of God in all this? Of course we could argue, and argue well, that God's love is shown as he uses his commands to guard us from evil and to show us what is pleasing to him. But then there's that annoying fact of the mirror. You know how the mirror works, right? I wonder how many of you have ever walked into a dance studio? You really find out what a mirror does there, because usually at least three walls of the rehearsal space are covered with mirrors. I know what the mirror does for me. They say a mirror puts ten pounds onto you. I'd like to think then that having a dozen mirrors makes me look a hundred and twenty pounds overweight and that I'm really skinny. Afraid that's not so. But you know it and I know it. The mirror shows our flaws. It points out to us what others might miss. And we tend to be more concerned about ourselves than others are. Married men all know this feeling. Our wives ask us if their hair is all right. Then they want to know if we looked carefully enough. The fact is, most of you aren't nearly as conscious of my hair, face, or clothes as I am when I look in a mirror. And I'm not as aware of your appearance as you are when you check yourself in the mirror. God's Law acts as a mirror, and it shows us our flaws. If God's law is all there is to life, we are in deep deep trouble. He turns on the light of his word and shows up all our faults, at least all that we can stand to see. This is why people come to me and look ashamed, telling me about sin before I ask. God's word shows our sin. And if we end there, we are condemned. We are hopeless. We realize that we are sinners. And we confess – thought, word, deed, commission, omission – it's all there. We're condemned.
Ah, God's perfect law. When we have a sermon title like “Clear for Action” we probably think the sermon will be about casting out sin, getting it out of the way, clearing the decks so we can do righteous works. But now we've spent about half the sermon (I know you're watching your watches, some of you decided not to have breakfast before church) talking about God's Law but not seeing how it prepares us to live a victorious life. That's actually exactly the problem I had with the third grade class and their song about God's perfect ten commandments. What were they prepared to do? Go and live according to God's commandments? How? Either they would be end up lowering their view of the commands so as to convince themselves they were obeying them or they would be driven by despair to see that they could never live a life pleasing to God.
So how are we going to clear the decks for action? We've got this burden of sin. It's weighing us down. If we can't get rid of it we're bound to capsize. We saw in our Gospel reading that the solution our Lord provided was that of sacrifice. He gives offerings which can carry our sin, releasing us. And as you read in the Bible this week, wrapping up the book of Numbers, release from sin is a messy process. It's full of death, the death of many animals on your behalf, again and again. So the people of Israel were engaged in this life of offering, of sacrifice, with the priest taking an animal and killing it before God on behalf of the sinner who needed release from sin. Out of kindness people had begun selling sacrificial animals at the temple. After all, some people had to come a long distance. Would their animals be acceptable when they arrived? So it is a good thing for people to be able to exchange money for an acceptable animal. Money travels pretty well. Yet once again, God's law, the law of sacrifice, did its work as a mirror. What did the people who sold sacrificial animals do? They agreed with the banking industry to accept only certain types of money, which would often have to come from the bank branch which they set up in front of the temple. They also agreed with the priests that the priests would accept only certain sacrificial animals, those sold in the temple courts. So a famer could count on the livestock he raised being rejected. Instead, he would have to exchange it for money where he lived, take the money, possibly exchange it and pay an ATM fee, buy an offering at the temple, and then make his sacrifice. The result? An expensive offering which may have been a substandard animal, and a profit for the money changer and the person who sold animals for sacrifice. Sin once again weighs us down. We need to be cleared of this. Thanks be to God, Jesus comes into the courts and condemns the selfishness of those people. They aren't enabling worshipers to come before God. They are hindering them.
All our works, all our attempts at obedience – are they evil? No, not really, but the sin in our lives makes our attempts, even our most faithful attempts corrupt. We are not able to save ourselves by any of our obedience. We need something different. We need the renewal of the Holy Spirit. We need a sacrifice substituted for us. We need Christ crucified for sinners. We need just what Paul was talking about in our reading from 1 Corinthians 1. We need just what we read about in the Bible reading challenge as we read the beginning of the book of Acts. Because what we saw there, in Acts 1:8, was that God promised he would recreate his disciples. He said they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they would be his witnesses.
So now is the time I tell you to clear the decks for action. Sweep out your sin and shame by the power of the Holy Spirit. Go and be witnesses! But there's still something missing. Leaving you like that would be, well, wrong. It would leave you with a command to keep those commandments. You can't make the Holy Spirit clean you. You can't make yourself be a witness. And what's more, when Jesus tells his disciples they will be witnesses, he is not making a command. So when the pastor of the independent church I used to belong to told us to obey this verse by going, he was wrong. So was the Assembly of God pastor. So was the pastor of the Evangelical Free church. So was the Southern Baptist pastor. So was the Presbyterian pastor. I hate to say it, but so was the Lutheran pastor. In Acts 1:8 there are no verbs which make commands. The verbs are descriptive. In grammar we call them “indicative” verbs. They indicate something that is happening. They are not “imperative,” verbs, which make commands. Those have a different form. Here's what Jesus is saying. He is saying to his disciples that they will be people who have the power of the Holy Spirit and that they will be people who can be described as witnesses. That's who they are. It isn't what he commands them to do.
In Acts 1:8, Jesus takes the burden off of the disciples. He says they are going to live their lives, and because of his work in them, their lives will be lives that testify to him. What happens? They receive the power of the Holy Spirit. They live out their Christian life, talking about what comes naturally to those who have been changed by God – they talk about God's wonderful works, about what the Lord says in the Scripture. They live lives together, doing good. And their lives are testimonies to the Lord. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1, he determined to know nothing but Christ crucified when he went to Corinth. This was a different message. It was the message of a life recreated by Jesus' love.
Does this mean we ignore God's commands? No, we've still got that curb and guide. It delights our Lord when we take his commands seriously. But salvation is not, and has never been, by the works of the Law. It has always been by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us. He is the one who recreates us. He is the one who fills us with the Holy Spirit. He is the one who makes us his witnesses. And he is the one who goes on through the book of Acts to do all those mighty deeds, turning the world upside down, brringing people to himself in faith. He uses his witnesses, people just like you and me. But he is the one who does it all.
Stand with me, if you can, in prayer. Lord, you have created a people for yourself. You have made witnesses in this community, and you have made them right here. Grant that we may walk as your faithful witnesses in our community, rejoicing in your word, seeing, knowing, and showing that it is by your grace that we are saved from all our sin and shame. Grant us repentance and faith, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Bible Reading Challenge - Week 9 Day 1 - John 19-21, Numbers 1-2
Our reading challenge for the day is John 19-21 and Numbers 1-2. I’ll hit a few highlights. You make comments too and fill in the gaps. What strikes you as specially significant?
John 19 - See how Jesus does not defend himself as we would. He allows people to abuse him though he is gently plain with Pilate about his identity. This is humility. Also see how the pagan soldiers fulfill prophecies of the Christ. Compare Psalm 22.
John 20 - Jesus is found missing from the tomb and begins to show himself to his disciples. What are his highest priorities in his interactions with these people who are terrified of their future?
John 21 - Jesus restores his disciples, re-orienting them to his priorities for them. How often we stray from his priority and need him to direct us again.
Numbers 1 - The book of Numbers gains its name from the counts taken of Israel. But there’s much more than statistical information here. See how God is providing food and water in the wilderness for a large nation - over a half million men eligible for war, plus women, children, and the aged, as well as all their livestock. This is no small feat! See that the Levites are exempted from military duty as they are engaged in making worship accessible to all the people.
Numbers 2 - In their encampment the tribe of Levi with the tabernacle is surrounded by all the other tribes. God’s presence is to be central in the nation of Israel.
John 19 - See how Jesus does not defend himself as we would. He allows people to abuse him though he is gently plain with Pilate about his identity. This is humility. Also see how the pagan soldiers fulfill prophecies of the Christ. Compare Psalm 22.
John 20 - Jesus is found missing from the tomb and begins to show himself to his disciples. What are his highest priorities in his interactions with these people who are terrified of their future?
John 21 - Jesus restores his disciples, re-orienting them to his priorities for them. How often we stray from his priority and need him to direct us again.
Numbers 1 - The book of Numbers gains its name from the counts taken of Israel. But there’s much more than statistical information here. See how God is providing food and water in the wilderness for a large nation - over a half million men eligible for war, plus women, children, and the aged, as well as all their livestock. This is no small feat! See that the Levites are exempted from military duty as they are engaged in making worship accessible to all the people.
Numbers 2 - In their encampment the tribe of Levi with the tabernacle is surrounded by all the other tribes. God’s presence is to be central in the nation of Israel.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Sermon for 2/26/12 It's a Big Bad World Out There John 3:10-21
Sermon “It’s a Big Bad World Out There” John 3:10-21
Our Lord, grant that we may look to you and follow you, the beloved one of the Father, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.
It’s a big bad world out there, isn’t it? In our readings today we saw time and again that we face challenges, and they are big challenges. We run around doing our own thing, trying to work out the way we will live in the here and now, and we do it all only to realize that we were looking the wrong way. We try to trust our heart. We try to interpret our circumstances. We try to live each day like it’s a gift of God, but we find something goes wrong. Our heart deceived us. Our circumstances led us down a wrong path. Our days are a gift from God but we find we don’t know how to appreciate or use that gift. We thought we’d have a nice tiptoe through the tulips but we didn’t count on finding all those stinging nettle plants there, reaching out and biting us. We trust in luck, but then we have to confess that if it weren’t for bad luck we’d have no luck at all. Life is pretty rough. There are surely dragons in the land, and we aren’t ready, not ready at all.
Do you realize, though, that we aren’t the first generation to see this? Do you realize that it is not at all a new situation? Think back with me for a moment through our readings. Abraham received a great promise. He would be the father of many nations. There was just one problem. He had no children. And as time went on and on, he still had no children. Finally, when he was a hundred years old and his wife was ninety God gave him the promise again. Of course it sounded ridiculous. Nobody that old has children. But a year later they had their child, Isaac, the child of promise. So finally there’s a child. Now maybe there’s a chance that Abraham could be the father of many nations. But in our reading from Genesis today we saw Abraham receive God’s command to sacrifice his son. This is the one chance to see the blessing of God. This is the child of promise. But here God is telling Abraham to kill his child, his only child, the one whom he loves, the one who would be the heir of Abraham’s promise. What does Abraham do? He believes God. And God, rich in mercy and grace, provides a substitute, a ram who will take Isaac’s place.
What did we see in James? We saw that God’s promise is not what tempts us. We saw that we are tempted when we try to pursue our own evil desires. We are tempted when we trust our heart. We are tempted when we try to interpret our circumstances. We are tempted when we leave God’s loving promises out of the picture and run off about our own business. We are tempted when we try to make God’s promises come true rather than letting God be God. And what happens when we fall to that temptation? We enter into sin, following our father Adam, taking righteousness into our own hands, denying the grace of God. We are cursed, we are condemned, and we are able to do that all by ourselves. Then, just the way we would predict, trusting our heart, following the path our circumstances have laid out for us, we get ourselves more and more entangled in sin, leading to despair. We end up without hope in this world. Who is going to deliver us? Who will help us? We look to Jesus, who was blessed by God and who went immediately into the wilderness. And we who have been blessed by God run off into the wilderness where we are lost without a map, without companionship, without provisions, without a way to escape.
In the end there’s just one way out of this deadly situation. And that way out is through Jesus, who, blessed by the Father, endured temptation in the wilderness, then returned from the wilderness. But how are we going to receive the help we need from Jesus? Better not try to trust our hearts. That’s what got us here in the first place. So we go the route that Nicodemus did. If you were following along on our Bible reading challenge you came to John chapter 3 this week. Let’s look to verses 10-21 of that text to find how Jesus guides Nicodemus out of the wilderness. Read along with me if you’d like. Again, we’re in John chapter 3, starting at verse 10.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
What did Jesus just say about himself? He compared himself to the bronze serpent in the desert. I believe that comes up soon in our Bible reading challenge. The people of Israel were grumbling. They weren’t trusting God. They wanted to take matters into their own hands. God sent venomous snakes which would kill the Israelites. But as the people were realizing their failure, God also had Moses lift up a bronze copy of the snake on a pole. If the people would look at it in faith they would not be killed by the snakes. There’s our key. Just as Abraham looked to God in faith and trust, just as the Israelites looked to God in faith and trust, so we look to Jesus, the Son of Man, trusting that through him we receive eternal life. This isn’t trusting our heart. It isn’t following our circumstances. It isn’t doing what may seem the wisest thing in the eyes of our world. But it is precisely what Jesus says to do. We look in faith to the one who came from heaven, knowing that he is the one who gives eternal life.
This, after all, is why Jesus came in the first place. His intention was to give eternal life, to take our life which was falling apart, and give us his permanent version of life in exchange. He didn’t come to condemn us. He didn’t come to destroy us. He didn’t come to shut us out in the dark. He came to give us true, abundant life. He came to rescue us from the wilderness of our sin and shame. He came to bring us out of darkness into his light. And he did it by being raised up on a pole, just as the bronze serpent was. Jesus rescues us by his very death on our behalf. Jesus rescues us from sin by becoming sin for us. Jesus rescues us by being subject to the shame and condemnation that we by rights should have received. Jesus rescues us by replacing us in death, then being raised again to life, showing that he is the firstborn from the dead.
What do we find when we trust our hearts? We find out that it’s a big bad world out there. What do we find when we look to Jesus? We find that Christ has been crucified for sinners and that he richly and freely gives us his forgiveness, life, and salvation. Let us look to him today. May today be the day when we are delivered from our bondage in the wilderness. May today be the day of salvation. May today be the day when we see that the Son of Man was raised up in our place. May this be the day when we walk in the light again, knowing that he has delivered us from sin and death into his wonderful light.
So now may Jesus Christ, the light of the world, shine upon us, letting us see him clearly. Amen.
Our Lord, grant that we may look to you and follow you, the beloved one of the Father, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.
It’s a big bad world out there, isn’t it? In our readings today we saw time and again that we face challenges, and they are big challenges. We run around doing our own thing, trying to work out the way we will live in the here and now, and we do it all only to realize that we were looking the wrong way. We try to trust our heart. We try to interpret our circumstances. We try to live each day like it’s a gift of God, but we find something goes wrong. Our heart deceived us. Our circumstances led us down a wrong path. Our days are a gift from God but we find we don’t know how to appreciate or use that gift. We thought we’d have a nice tiptoe through the tulips but we didn’t count on finding all those stinging nettle plants there, reaching out and biting us. We trust in luck, but then we have to confess that if it weren’t for bad luck we’d have no luck at all. Life is pretty rough. There are surely dragons in the land, and we aren’t ready, not ready at all.
Do you realize, though, that we aren’t the first generation to see this? Do you realize that it is not at all a new situation? Think back with me for a moment through our readings. Abraham received a great promise. He would be the father of many nations. There was just one problem. He had no children. And as time went on and on, he still had no children. Finally, when he was a hundred years old and his wife was ninety God gave him the promise again. Of course it sounded ridiculous. Nobody that old has children. But a year later they had their child, Isaac, the child of promise. So finally there’s a child. Now maybe there’s a chance that Abraham could be the father of many nations. But in our reading from Genesis today we saw Abraham receive God’s command to sacrifice his son. This is the one chance to see the blessing of God. This is the child of promise. But here God is telling Abraham to kill his child, his only child, the one whom he loves, the one who would be the heir of Abraham’s promise. What does Abraham do? He believes God. And God, rich in mercy and grace, provides a substitute, a ram who will take Isaac’s place.
What did we see in James? We saw that God’s promise is not what tempts us. We saw that we are tempted when we try to pursue our own evil desires. We are tempted when we trust our heart. We are tempted when we try to interpret our circumstances. We are tempted when we leave God’s loving promises out of the picture and run off about our own business. We are tempted when we try to make God’s promises come true rather than letting God be God. And what happens when we fall to that temptation? We enter into sin, following our father Adam, taking righteousness into our own hands, denying the grace of God. We are cursed, we are condemned, and we are able to do that all by ourselves. Then, just the way we would predict, trusting our heart, following the path our circumstances have laid out for us, we get ourselves more and more entangled in sin, leading to despair. We end up without hope in this world. Who is going to deliver us? Who will help us? We look to Jesus, who was blessed by God and who went immediately into the wilderness. And we who have been blessed by God run off into the wilderness where we are lost without a map, without companionship, without provisions, without a way to escape.
In the end there’s just one way out of this deadly situation. And that way out is through Jesus, who, blessed by the Father, endured temptation in the wilderness, then returned from the wilderness. But how are we going to receive the help we need from Jesus? Better not try to trust our hearts. That’s what got us here in the first place. So we go the route that Nicodemus did. If you were following along on our Bible reading challenge you came to John chapter 3 this week. Let’s look to verses 10-21 of that text to find how Jesus guides Nicodemus out of the wilderness. Read along with me if you’d like. Again, we’re in John chapter 3, starting at verse 10.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
What did Jesus just say about himself? He compared himself to the bronze serpent in the desert. I believe that comes up soon in our Bible reading challenge. The people of Israel were grumbling. They weren’t trusting God. They wanted to take matters into their own hands. God sent venomous snakes which would kill the Israelites. But as the people were realizing their failure, God also had Moses lift up a bronze copy of the snake on a pole. If the people would look at it in faith they would not be killed by the snakes. There’s our key. Just as Abraham looked to God in faith and trust, just as the Israelites looked to God in faith and trust, so we look to Jesus, the Son of Man, trusting that through him we receive eternal life. This isn’t trusting our heart. It isn’t following our circumstances. It isn’t doing what may seem the wisest thing in the eyes of our world. But it is precisely what Jesus says to do. We look in faith to the one who came from heaven, knowing that he is the one who gives eternal life.
This, after all, is why Jesus came in the first place. His intention was to give eternal life, to take our life which was falling apart, and give us his permanent version of life in exchange. He didn’t come to condemn us. He didn’t come to destroy us. He didn’t come to shut us out in the dark. He came to give us true, abundant life. He came to rescue us from the wilderness of our sin and shame. He came to bring us out of darkness into his light. And he did it by being raised up on a pole, just as the bronze serpent was. Jesus rescues us by his very death on our behalf. Jesus rescues us from sin by becoming sin for us. Jesus rescues us by being subject to the shame and condemnation that we by rights should have received. Jesus rescues us by replacing us in death, then being raised again to life, showing that he is the firstborn from the dead.
What do we find when we trust our hearts? We find out that it’s a big bad world out there. What do we find when we look to Jesus? We find that Christ has been crucified for sinners and that he richly and freely gives us his forgiveness, life, and salvation. Let us look to him today. May today be the day when we are delivered from our bondage in the wilderness. May today be the day of salvation. May today be the day when we see that the Son of Man was raised up in our place. May this be the day when we walk in the light again, knowing that he has delivered us from sin and death into his wonderful light.
So now may Jesus Christ, the light of the world, shine upon us, letting us see him clearly. Amen.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Bible Reading Challenge - Week 8 Day 2 Leviticus 26-27, John 1-3
Our reading challenge for the day is Leviticus 26-27 and John 1-3. I'll hit a few highlights. You make comments too and fill in the gaps. What strikes you as specially significant?
Leviticus has an odd ending. After chapter 26 where God proclaims his blessing upon obedience and his curse upon disobedience, there is chapter 27 which seems rather like a price and valuation list for different offerings. The book then ends rather abruptly. In reflection on Leviticus we see over and over again that enabling people to come and worship God is at the heart and center of the text. God seeks people to worship him. He makes a way for us to approach his throne.
John 1 - John presents Jesus very boldly as the eternal Son of God who has come to his own people as the one who would take away their sins. As he is beginning his work he himself gathers disciples, counter to common practice where disciples seek out a teacher.
John 2 - John is all about Jesus being greater than nature, as well as Jesus being the one who provides purification. Notice the link at the wedding - the wine is created in jars used for purification. Jesus will later present wine as his blood which purifies us from sin.
John 3 - This theme of purification comes up again, as Jesus not only helps Nicodemus see that he needs cleansing from God as a rebirth, not of his own works or obedience but like a child being born. John continues to link baptism, purification, the Holy Spirit, and faith in Jesus together in his gospel.
The way that John ties in all his different elements always impresses me. Trying to comment on what he says is a little like trying to describe a great painting to a person who has always been blind.
Leviticus has an odd ending. After chapter 26 where God proclaims his blessing upon obedience and his curse upon disobedience, there is chapter 27 which seems rather like a price and valuation list for different offerings. The book then ends rather abruptly. In reflection on Leviticus we see over and over again that enabling people to come and worship God is at the heart and center of the text. God seeks people to worship him. He makes a way for us to approach his throne.
John 1 - John presents Jesus very boldly as the eternal Son of God who has come to his own people as the one who would take away their sins. As he is beginning his work he himself gathers disciples, counter to common practice where disciples seek out a teacher.
John 2 - John is all about Jesus being greater than nature, as well as Jesus being the one who provides purification. Notice the link at the wedding - the wine is created in jars used for purification. Jesus will later present wine as his blood which purifies us from sin.
John 3 - This theme of purification comes up again, as Jesus not only helps Nicodemus see that he needs cleansing from God as a rebirth, not of his own works or obedience but like a child being born. John continues to link baptism, purification, the Holy Spirit, and faith in Jesus together in his gospel.
The way that John ties in all his different elements always impresses me. Trying to comment on what he says is a little like trying to describe a great painting to a person who has always been blind.
Monday, January 23, 2012
"John"
"John" Carson & Moo pp. 225-284
John's Gospel may be variously separated into parts, but generally consists of a prologue (1:1-18), main body (1:19-chapter 20), and an epilogue (chapter 21).
AUTHOR
p. 229 "As far as we can prove, the title "According to John" was attached to it as soon as the four canonical gospels began to circulate together as 'the fourfold gospel.'" The author is not mentioned in the gospel itself but the title may have been recognized from the start.
External Evidence
p. 229 "the first writer to quote unambiguously from the fourth gospel and to ascribe the work to John was Theophilus of Antioch (c. A.D. 181)." However we do find quotes from other authors including Tatian, Claudius Apollinaris, and Athenagoras who do not specify the author but consider it an authoritative text.
p. 230 Irenaeus wote, "'John the disciple of the Lord, who leaned back on his breast, published the gospel while he was resident at Ephesus in Asia; (Adv. Haer. 3.1.1). In other words, the name of the fourth evangelist is John and is to be identified with the beloved disciple of John 13:23."
Authorship has been questioned in recent time. p. 233 "The fact remains that, despite support for Johannine authoriship by a few front-rank scholars in this century and by many popular writers, a large majority of contemporary scholars reject this view. As we shall see, much of their argumentation turns on their reading of the internal evidence. Nevertheless, it requires their virtual dismissal of the external evidence. This is particularly regrettable. Most historians of antiquity, other than New Testament scholars, could not so easily set aside evidence as plentiful and as uniform."
Among the external evidence the testimony that causes most doubt is that of Papias, who, as reported by Eusebius, suggests that there were two individuals named John, one of whom was an apostle and the other of whom was an elder, and that the elder, not the apostle, was responsible for the gospel. Recent scholarship has pointed to four reasons an appeal to Papias in this might not be appropriate.
p. 233 "In the terms of Papias, 'the discourses of the elders' means the teaching of Andrew, Peter, and the other apostles." Thus John the elder might well be an apostle.
p. 234 "It is worth noting that "apostle" and "elder" come together with a common referent in 1 Peter 5:1. Indeed, the Greek syntax Papias employs favors the view that 'Aristion and John the elder' means something like "Aristion and the aforementioned elder John.' Not only here but in H.E. 3.39.14 it is John and not Aristion who is designated 'the elder.' In choosing to refer to the apostles as elders, Papias may well be echoing the language of 3 John (on the assumption that Papias thought that epistle was written by the apostle John)."
p. 234 "It appears that the distinction Papias is making in his two lists is not between apostles and elders of the next generation but between first-generation witnesses who have died (what they said) and first-generation witnesses who are still alive (what they say).
Finally, we consider that Euesebius may have had an agenda himself. In his dislike for the apocalyptic teaching of Revelation he may have been wishing to suggest that Papias identified a non-apostolic author for revelation and possibly other writings which seem to be by the same person.
Internal Evidence (for authorship)
p. 237 "The traditional reason seems most plausible: the beloved disciple is non oether than John, and he deliberately avoids using his personal name. This becomes more likely when we remember that the beloved disciple is constantly in the company of Peter, while the Synoptics and Acts not to mention Paul link Peter and John in friendship and shared experience."
Carson and Moo detail several of the objections posed to authorship by John the apostle, most convincingly the objection that John was uneducated and therefore would not be capable of executing a literary work like the gospel. They observe that if he lived to a great age, as tradition seems to indicate, he would have had adequate time to build his skills in any way which would be necessary.
Stylistic Unity and the Johanine "Community"
Some scholars have suggested extensive redaction and source-gathering work prior to the release of John's gospel. The community would have identified the narratives which would be drawn into the gospel and would have modeled the narrative appropriately. Yet there do not seem to be the signs of such work in the gospel itself. There are some specific idiomatic ways of phrasing different concepts, but this is not unheard of within the work of a skilled author.
PROVENANCE
Geographically, we see suggestions that the gospel came from Alexandria, Antioch, Palestine, or Ephesus. Ephesus is the one location which has ancient testimony supporting it.
Conceptual Provenance
John's Religious World
Consider the conceptual world of Philo, the hermetic writings, Gnosticism, and Mandaism, all of which used a good deal of symbolism and allegory. There are many different movements available which could have influenced the thought life of John. p. 256 "Moreover, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 and their subsequent publication have shown that the closest religious movement to the fourth gospel in terms of vocabulary at least, was an extremely conservative hermetic Jewish community. This is not to say that John springs from the Essenes, thought to be represented by the Dead Sea Scrolls, but tha the appeal to strongly Hellenistic sources is now much less convincing than it was six decades ago."
John's Relation to the Synoptics
John is quite different in some respects from the synoptic gospels. He has more of a focus on Jesus' ministry in the sough than in the north. In John Jesus is very specifically identified as God, while the comparison is a little more oblique in the synoptics. However we find that the content and ideas of the gospels all are remarkably in unity. p. 258 "More impressive yet are the many places where John and the Synoptics represent an interlocking tradition, that is, where they mutually reinforce or explain each other, without betraying overt literary dependence." It appears quite clear that the four evangelists are writing about the very same events, but that they write about them differently. p. 259 "Conversely, numerous features in John are explained by details reported only by the synoptists."
Considering the relationship of John to Mark's gospel, on p. 260 Carson and Moo point out, "Granted the close friendship that Peter and John enjoyed, would it be very likely that either of them would long remain ignorant of a publication for which the other was responsible? Considerations of date then become important. For instance, if Mark was written about A.D. 64, and John within a year or two of that date, then the likelihood of mutual independence is enhanced. But if Mark was written sometime between 50 and 64, and the fourth gospel not until about 80, it is very difficult to believe that John would not have read it. The idea of hermetically sealed communities is implausible in the Roman Empire anyway, where communications were as good as at any time in the history of the world until the nineteenth century."
Do we need to assume an inter-relationship among the different gospels? p. 261 "On its own, John's account makes good historical sense. . . it is John who most persistently catalogues how much the early disciples did not understand, how much they actively misunderstood."
DATE
People have suggested a wide variety of dates, from before 70 to the last quarter of the second century. It does make sense that based on chapter 21 we can assume that Peter's death in 64 or 65 was before the composition. There are people who suggest composition very late in the first century, suggestion various reasons why the historical events in Domitian's reign (81-96) would fit well. Tradition says that John lived a very long time. Yet this does not require that the composition bet at the end of his life. Carson and Moo suggest (p. 267) a date between 80 and 85, though they are quite tentative about the dating.
DESTINATION
There is no clear destination for this gospel.
PURPOSE
While many scholars have suggested many purposes for the gospel of John, the purpose seems to be stated in chapter 20, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah."
TEXT
The text of John, except in a few places, seems quite solid and well documented. The narrative of the woman caught in adultery does not seem to be original, at least not original in its location. Aside from that there are very few passages with significant disputes, none of which cause any overall theological difficulty.
ADOPTION INTO THE CANON
All four canonical gospels were accepted quite solidly by the end of the second century.
JOHN IN RECENT STUDY
John has been subject to many studies of different themes over the generations. In recent years scholars have sought to do literary, social-scientific, and postmodern philosophical studies on the text, or rather on the community which created the text.
THE CONTRIBUTION OF JOHN
John adds a great deal of depth to the picture of Jesus which we receive from the synoptists. The overall picture of Jesus as a fully-functioning person who lives in perfect obedience to the Father so as to die as a substitutionary atonement gives us a more three-dimensional picture of Jesus than we find elsewhere. John is also always concerned with eschatology as well as the work of the Holy Spirit in Christ's people.
John's Gospel may be variously separated into parts, but generally consists of a prologue (1:1-18), main body (1:19-chapter 20), and an epilogue (chapter 21).
AUTHOR
p. 229 "As far as we can prove, the title "According to John" was attached to it as soon as the four canonical gospels began to circulate together as 'the fourfold gospel.'" The author is not mentioned in the gospel itself but the title may have been recognized from the start.
External Evidence
p. 229 "the first writer to quote unambiguously from the fourth gospel and to ascribe the work to John was Theophilus of Antioch (c. A.D. 181)." However we do find quotes from other authors including Tatian, Claudius Apollinaris, and Athenagoras who do not specify the author but consider it an authoritative text.
p. 230 Irenaeus wote, "'John the disciple of the Lord, who leaned back on his breast, published the gospel while he was resident at Ephesus in Asia; (Adv. Haer. 3.1.1). In other words, the name of the fourth evangelist is John and is to be identified with the beloved disciple of John 13:23."
Authorship has been questioned in recent time. p. 233 "The fact remains that, despite support for Johannine authoriship by a few front-rank scholars in this century and by many popular writers, a large majority of contemporary scholars reject this view. As we shall see, much of their argumentation turns on their reading of the internal evidence. Nevertheless, it requires their virtual dismissal of the external evidence. This is particularly regrettable. Most historians of antiquity, other than New Testament scholars, could not so easily set aside evidence as plentiful and as uniform."
Among the external evidence the testimony that causes most doubt is that of Papias, who, as reported by Eusebius, suggests that there were two individuals named John, one of whom was an apostle and the other of whom was an elder, and that the elder, not the apostle, was responsible for the gospel. Recent scholarship has pointed to four reasons an appeal to Papias in this might not be appropriate.
p. 233 "In the terms of Papias, 'the discourses of the elders' means the teaching of Andrew, Peter, and the other apostles." Thus John the elder might well be an apostle.
p. 234 "It is worth noting that "apostle" and "elder" come together with a common referent in 1 Peter 5:1. Indeed, the Greek syntax Papias employs favors the view that 'Aristion and John the elder' means something like "Aristion and the aforementioned elder John.' Not only here but in H.E. 3.39.14 it is John and not Aristion who is designated 'the elder.' In choosing to refer to the apostles as elders, Papias may well be echoing the language of 3 John (on the assumption that Papias thought that epistle was written by the apostle John)."
p. 234 "It appears that the distinction Papias is making in his two lists is not between apostles and elders of the next generation but between first-generation witnesses who have died (what they said) and first-generation witnesses who are still alive (what they say).
Finally, we consider that Euesebius may have had an agenda himself. In his dislike for the apocalyptic teaching of Revelation he may have been wishing to suggest that Papias identified a non-apostolic author for revelation and possibly other writings which seem to be by the same person.
Internal Evidence (for authorship)
p. 237 "The traditional reason seems most plausible: the beloved disciple is non oether than John, and he deliberately avoids using his personal name. This becomes more likely when we remember that the beloved disciple is constantly in the company of Peter, while the Synoptics and Acts not to mention Paul link Peter and John in friendship and shared experience."
Carson and Moo detail several of the objections posed to authorship by John the apostle, most convincingly the objection that John was uneducated and therefore would not be capable of executing a literary work like the gospel. They observe that if he lived to a great age, as tradition seems to indicate, he would have had adequate time to build his skills in any way which would be necessary.
Stylistic Unity and the Johanine "Community"
Some scholars have suggested extensive redaction and source-gathering work prior to the release of John's gospel. The community would have identified the narratives which would be drawn into the gospel and would have modeled the narrative appropriately. Yet there do not seem to be the signs of such work in the gospel itself. There are some specific idiomatic ways of phrasing different concepts, but this is not unheard of within the work of a skilled author.
PROVENANCE
Geographically, we see suggestions that the gospel came from Alexandria, Antioch, Palestine, or Ephesus. Ephesus is the one location which has ancient testimony supporting it.
Conceptual Provenance
John's Religious World
Consider the conceptual world of Philo, the hermetic writings, Gnosticism, and Mandaism, all of which used a good deal of symbolism and allegory. There are many different movements available which could have influenced the thought life of John. p. 256 "Moreover, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 and their subsequent publication have shown that the closest religious movement to the fourth gospel in terms of vocabulary at least, was an extremely conservative hermetic Jewish community. This is not to say that John springs from the Essenes, thought to be represented by the Dead Sea Scrolls, but tha the appeal to strongly Hellenistic sources is now much less convincing than it was six decades ago."
John's Relation to the Synoptics
John is quite different in some respects from the synoptic gospels. He has more of a focus on Jesus' ministry in the sough than in the north. In John Jesus is very specifically identified as God, while the comparison is a little more oblique in the synoptics. However we find that the content and ideas of the gospels all are remarkably in unity. p. 258 "More impressive yet are the many places where John and the Synoptics represent an interlocking tradition, that is, where they mutually reinforce or explain each other, without betraying overt literary dependence." It appears quite clear that the four evangelists are writing about the very same events, but that they write about them differently. p. 259 "Conversely, numerous features in John are explained by details reported only by the synoptists."
Considering the relationship of John to Mark's gospel, on p. 260 Carson and Moo point out, "Granted the close friendship that Peter and John enjoyed, would it be very likely that either of them would long remain ignorant of a publication for which the other was responsible? Considerations of date then become important. For instance, if Mark was written about A.D. 64, and John within a year or two of that date, then the likelihood of mutual independence is enhanced. But if Mark was written sometime between 50 and 64, and the fourth gospel not until about 80, it is very difficult to believe that John would not have read it. The idea of hermetically sealed communities is implausible in the Roman Empire anyway, where communications were as good as at any time in the history of the world until the nineteenth century."
Do we need to assume an inter-relationship among the different gospels? p. 261 "On its own, John's account makes good historical sense. . . it is John who most persistently catalogues how much the early disciples did not understand, how much they actively misunderstood."
DATE
People have suggested a wide variety of dates, from before 70 to the last quarter of the second century. It does make sense that based on chapter 21 we can assume that Peter's death in 64 or 65 was before the composition. There are people who suggest composition very late in the first century, suggestion various reasons why the historical events in Domitian's reign (81-96) would fit well. Tradition says that John lived a very long time. Yet this does not require that the composition bet at the end of his life. Carson and Moo suggest (p. 267) a date between 80 and 85, though they are quite tentative about the dating.
DESTINATION
There is no clear destination for this gospel.
PURPOSE
While many scholars have suggested many purposes for the gospel of John, the purpose seems to be stated in chapter 20, "that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah."
TEXT
The text of John, except in a few places, seems quite solid and well documented. The narrative of the woman caught in adultery does not seem to be original, at least not original in its location. Aside from that there are very few passages with significant disputes, none of which cause any overall theological difficulty.
ADOPTION INTO THE CANON
All four canonical gospels were accepted quite solidly by the end of the second century.
JOHN IN RECENT STUDY
John has been subject to many studies of different themes over the generations. In recent years scholars have sought to do literary, social-scientific, and postmodern philosophical studies on the text, or rather on the community which created the text.
THE CONTRIBUTION OF JOHN
John adds a great deal of depth to the picture of Jesus which we receive from the synoptists. The overall picture of Jesus as a fully-functioning person who lives in perfect obedience to the Father so as to die as a substitutionary atonement gives us a more three-dimensional picture of Jesus than we find elsewhere. John is also always concerned with eschatology as well as the work of the Holy Spirit in Christ's people.
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