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Sermons at St. John’s Presbyterian Church Life’s
Tough Questions: Is Jesus the Only Way? Transcribed from the sermon preached May 30, 2010 The Reverend Max Lynn,
Pastor St. John’s Presbyterian Church 2727 College Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94705 Telephone 510-845-6830 Fax 510-845-6837 http://www.stjohnsberkeley.org Scripture
Readings: I John 4:7-12 I John 4: [7]
Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God,
and he who loves is born of God and knows God. Is Jesus the Only Way? This is the latest in our series of life’s tough questions. I have barrowed the idea for this series and some of the questions from Erwin McManus, Pastor of Mosaic Church, but we differ a bit on how we answer the questions. Who is and was Jesus? Is Jesus the only way? The quick answer is yes, and no. John records Jesus saying, “I am the way, the truth and the life, there is no way to the Father except by me.” With this in mind, the question then becomes, what is the way, the truth and the life that is Jesus? Jesus is clear about an emphasis not on doctrine or right belief, or even outward appearance of religious piety, but on a way of living. This way of Jesus is the way of love and grace. In I John this morning we hear that “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.” Now there is a tendency in this world to reject love, to see the way and truth of life as survival of the fittest, to seek personal gain, pleasure and power at the expense of others. One of the easiest ways to justify such conduct is to see ourselves as holders of the truth, and others as bearers of falsehood. If we are right and they are wrong, this train of thought goes, then we do not have to love them, we do not have to share our resources with them, we do not have to share life with them. If we are certain that we hold the truth then we do not have to really listen to them, we need not assume that they might have a perspective that is worthy of consideration; we can set up simplified versions of their faith simply for the purpose of showing we are right. There are too many people, too many who call themselves Christians who do this; who make right belief and doctrine an idol, and then sacrifice the children of God on the altar of their false god. Ode to you scribes and Pharisees, for you love the best seats in the synagogues, and tithe mint and rue, yet neglect justice and the love of God. The love of Jesus is not relativism; it is not whatever anyone wants to do is fine. Love stands against what love is not. It is not weak but strong. Yet the strength of love, if Jesus is the way, is not violent. Christians believe that Jesus embodied love in such a sublime and powerful way that he was and is the very light of God, the Son of God. And part of our problem as human beings is that we fall short of the glory of God. Buddhist and Hindus say that all life is suffering. Christians say that though God created us good, we have fallen and now live in a suffering and sinful world. We suffer and we are sinful. In fear and greed, lack of trust and lust for power we grasp for control of our lives. Yet we are doomed to fail in this grasping, in this attempt to work our way to salvation. People tend to respond to the difficulty of earning salvation in one of two ways. We narrow our understanding of what God’s love requires, and then work like dogs to prove our worthiness. Or, assuming we are a lost cause, we give up trying to love truly, to earn God’s love. In turn, giving up may take two forms: We may reject love as the source and goal of life and fight for all we can get before we die, or, believing we are unlovable, we may resign ourselves to our miserable lot. We give up, or let ourselves go down the black hole, to be swallowed up in the storm of this dark life. Now we might be tempted to think that God would be justified in condemning us to the fate we have chosen, but God is love so God’s integrity does not have the option of not loving us. We see this truth in Jesus, who did not falter or sway from the ways of love, even to the point of death. And so he showed us the love of God, the forgiveness of God, the way, the truth and the life of God. [9] In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. [10] In this is love, not that we loved God but that God loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. We should not understand Jesus the way as a threat, but an offering, an offering of God’s love. After all our trials and tribulations, when we have filled ourselves with knowledge and struggled to make our own way, and yet find ourselves still lost, Jesus offers a lifeline of grace and love. We die to the ways of the world, and we are born again. Now what about people who do not call themselves Christian? Jesus says that when the Lord comes in all his glory he will separate the sheep from the goats; saying, “Well done my good and faithful servant. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was sick and you cared for me… and those who he is speaking to might respond, “Lord, when did we do such things to you?” And the Lord will say, “When you did it to the least of these you did it to me.” In other words, God is present in all and therefore we are to love all, whether they are Christians or not, whether they are American or not. And those who love, regardless of whether they call themselves Christian, are following the way, the truth and the life of Jesus. All love is God’s love. All love comes from the same source. This means that Mahatma Gandhi, or Rabbi Michael Lerher, for instance, are a followers of the Way of Jesus. And that Muslims and Hopi, pagans with penultimate tribal gods and atheists who love, and open themselves to humility and grace, whether they call it that or not, are followers of the Way and truth of Jesus. Since we all fall short of the glory of God’s love, grace is a necessary component to the love of the God who saves. And this understanding may separate us from other faiths, but not necessarily. For again, the main thing is that grace is embodied, felt, expressed and lived in relationship, not that we have the right language, the right culture, the right prophet or mountain, as Jesus said, but that we worship God in spirit and in truth. Buddhist and Hindus speak of not grasping, about letting go of our hold and packaging of things, and letting the divine light graciously show us the love, freedom and beauty of life. Philippians 2 says “Have the same mind that was Christ Jesus, [6] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, [7] but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. [8] And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. [9] Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name, which is above every name. [10] that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [11] and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. |