It seems that the Republican Party finally has decided upon
a candidate. The race between Rick
Santorum and Mitt Romney has been tightly contested, but the past weeks has
consistently shown a front runner. it
was announced this past week that Santorum would put his campaign on hold
effectively conceding the race to Romney.
Through these months of campaigning there has been much
debate in the media as to which candidate would get the party nod. Santorum seemed to have the values vote with
strong convictions on many of the key social issues. Romney has a better economic track
record. The thing Romney was said to
have going in his favor was something called
"electabillity". Romney
just seemed more like the kind of guy that people would vote for.
Ronald Reagan famously said that "politics is
entertainment". Politicians these
days try harder to create impressions than they do to define positions. TV news gives us sound bites and twitter
feeds instead of position papers. And
why not? That is what most Americans want.
They vote for political candidates the same way they vote for their
favorite TV talk show host. They sit
down in front of the tv. Watch a few episodes, and decide which one they like
the best. What's the criteria? Electability.
People just seem to know what they like.
The point of bringing up politics is not to talk
politics. The goal is to point out that
it has become common these days for people to make important choices based, not
on information, but on impression.
Whether it be politics, a career choice, enrolling in a university, or
even choosing a spouse. If we make these
decisions based on impressions, I wonder if we make important religious and
even theological decisions the exact same way.
Religious content, theological content is no longer that
important. People just care that you are
Christian or that you call yourself Christian, what you believe doesn’t
matter. Confession of faith doesn’t matter. We decide they are all about the same and we
just take a little from this, a little from that, mix it all together and away
we go. If choosing a president or spouse
without taking the time to understand what you are getting into can be bad,
choosing a religion or a theology just based on impression can be disastrous –
even deadly.
If we want to know where to begin in understanding Christian
theology, our text from 1 John gives us a place to start. John begins with what was from the beginning,
what he heard and what he saw and what he touched with his hands concerning the
word of life, what he heard and saw and touched concerning Jesus.
John was an apostle of Jesus Christ. John was Jesus' disciple during his earthly
ministry. John sat at his feet while he
walked from village to village, town to town, teaching and preaching about the
Kingdom of God. John saw and John heard a
lot, specifically a lot that came out of the mouth of the Son of God who was
begotten from the Father from the
beginning. John saw this Jesus, the
Son of the Most High God, This Word of God incarnate be arrested and
tried. John was in the courtyard of the
High Priest and witnessed his trial.
John walked with him as he carried his cross to Golgotha. John stood at the feet of his cross as he
suffered and died. John ran to the tomb
ahead of Peter and saw the place where he lay on Easter morning. John talked with Jesus and ate with Jesus
after he had been raised. John watched
Jesus ascend into heaven. John was in
the upper room with Jesus when he sent the Spirit. John taught in the temple. John saw his eyes "that which was from
the beginning". He saw him die, saw
him be raised and touched with his hands the author of life and redemption of
our souls from death. And John shared
what he touched and saw and heard; John
shared Jesus with those whom Jesus came to save.
The thing that is important here for us to notice is that
John begins with the testimony about Jesus.
John begins with those things that he saw from Jesus, heard from Jesus,
even those things that he touched – after all the resurrection was a physical
event, the fact that it occurred meant John had something to touch. And these
things about which John testified are those things that create fellowship. Because that is what John talks about next. He
talks about fellowship; Fellowship with God and fellowship with each other.
Now fellowship, being joined as one together with God is a
significant thing. It is fellowship with
God that was the key benefit of living with God in the Garden of Eden.
- It was fellowship with God that was lost when Adam and Eve sinned against God in the Garden.
- It was fellowship with God that was regained when God lived in the camp of the Israelites in the Tabernacle and then in the temple, although this was a fellowship that required blood and sacrifice.
- It was fellowship that was made perfect when God was incarnate, taking on human flesh and blood to walk and talk with the people who disobeyed him.
- It was fellowship that was rebuilt when Jesus stood in for us and the propitiation for our sin so that God's just anger was satisfied with the necessary blood of sacrifice.
- It is fellowship then that is offered to people who receive the blood of that sacrifice as their own - his death is my death and through that death I have life.
- The Christian faith is all about fellowship with God. Fellowship lost. Fellowship restored. First with God and then with one another. How much do you know about that fellowship?
John, together with all the Apostles and Prophets writes to
you about that fellowship.
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to
you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have
fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the
truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship
with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If
we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness
The message, the Fellowship message, has to do with sin,
with confession & absolution, with the truth, with forgiveness, with
satisfaction, with restoration - to God and to each other. How much do you know about that message? How much do you study that message?
As was said before, we tend to live our lives by our
impressions, make decisions based on things we feel or think we know without
really taking the time to test those things.
Yet for all those impressions, we still have one or two things that we
make to be our priorities. We all have “our
thing”. We all have our hobbies and interests and
goals and priorities. What's yours?
Maybe we can approach that question with this one: What do
you start your day with? What’s the most
important thing you have to do, that you have to get to, that you need to get
in your head and fill up you day as you go about your day? What occupies your time and your
thought?
- Is it Politics - whose running for president, the latest thing Obama said or did or did not do, the supreme court, obama care?
- Maybe its Sports - Urban Meyer, Thad Matta, Jared Sullenger, or perhaps even Tom Izzo?
- Finance - the stock market, the economy, the price of gasoline, the price of feed?
- Entertainment - Smash, American Idol, The Hunger Games, Brad & Angelina, Leno or Letterman?
These things are not bad things. But not one of them can offer you life. Not one of them will cleanse you from sin.
Not one of them will offer you salvation. The daily news cycle changes at a
breakneck pace. We feel like we have to consume every piece of news that is
printed or produced or we will be completely out of the game. But do you even
remember what was in the papers a month ago let alone a week ago without
stopping to really think hard to remember. What about Jesus? What about the word of god. What about that
unchanging truth that hold steady and immovable even in these uncertain times.
What about the love of God that is real every single day? What about the objective and true body and
blood of Jesus given to sinners to eat and to drink for forgiveness life and
salvation?
Jesus gives us more.
Jesus us gives us things that are
better. Not just impressions. Not just to appease. Not just entertain. Not even just to inform. Jesus gives words of life.
For the word of God is
living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division
of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and
intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12
ESV)
Having purified your
souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one
another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of
perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of
God; for “All flesh is like grass and
all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower
falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good
news that was preached to you. (1 Peter 1:22-25 ESV)
Jesus said to them
again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending
you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive
the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you
withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” (John 20:21-23 ESV)
We are products of our time.
The age in which we live conditions us to decide without even
considering any criteria. We move
through life existing on our impressions.
But into this age God has breathed his Word of life. Let’s not just leave it to an
impression. Let’s grab hold of it. Take it.
Receive it. Digest it. Study it.
Pray over it. Meditate on
it. Pray for God to work in you through
it. Not just because it is
important. Not just because it is
information. But because it is life. It is Jesus.
It is His Spirit whispering in your ear. He won't let you down and he
will tell you what you need to hear.
That which we have
seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship
with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus
Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
Complete our Joy. Receive the fellowship god offers in the
words he has inspired for you.
Amen.
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