A Secret Faith is No Faith At All

My sermon yesterday focus on today’s reading from John 19 and the role of Joseph and Nicodemus in the burial of Jesus. Both men were “secret disciples” of Jesus. John tells us that Joseph of Arimathea followed Jesus “secretly because he feared the Jews.” (John 19:38). He identifies Nicodemus as “the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night” (John 19:39). Of course, there are plenty of reasons that Nicodemus may have come at night—maybe he worked during the day or just wanted to avoid the crowds. But it seems possible if not likely that he came to Jesus during at night because he didn’t want to be seen talking with Jesus. In John 7, when Nicodemus did speak up to defend Jesus, he was shouted down with charges of being a disciple, “Are you from Galilee, too?” (John 7:52)

It was these secret disciples who came forward to claim the body of Jesus. They may have stayed incognito during Jesus ministry, but they were willing to risk identifying themselves as the disciples of Jesus by coming forward to ask for the body of Christ and taking charge of his burial. That was a risk in two ways. Romans tended to see the associates of insurrections as enemies of the state; going to Pilate to request the body of Jesus would have painted a target on Joseph and Nicodemus. And they also would have painted a target on themselves in the minds of their Sanhedrin associates who went to so much trouble to have Jesus killed. But they were willing to take the risk in order to serve Jesus in this last (so they thought) way. It would have been a lot easier and safer to keep their faith secret, but then a secret faith is really no faith at all.

I wonder if we too often try to keep our faith secret. We live in a world that is becoming increasingly antagonistic to faith. It is just a lot easier on the job and out in the community to keep quiet about faith. We might not realize that we have become secret disciples, but that is in effect what some of us are. Consider the following questions—

• Do the people you spend time with know about you favorite sport, music or movie, but don’t know anything about your faith? We do tend to talk about things about which we are passionate and interested, right? People know about our kids or grandkids, our favorite music or movies or that we are fans of this team or that. Do the people around you know all these things but not that you are a believer in Jesus? If so, maybe you have a secret faith… which is really no faith at all.
  
  
• Do you get into conversations about political issues and current events, but then you find yourself shying away from issues of faith? Do the people around you know all about what you think on healthcare reform, immigration law, the bank bailouts and the BP oil spill, but they have never heard you talk about faith? I’m not expecting anyone to preach at people from soap box; that kind of thing does more harm than good. But if you tend to avoid faith discussions, then maybe yours is secret faith— which is no faith at all.
  
  
• Are those that you work with or go to school free to sin around you? I have to be careful here, because I’m not suggesting that we should be self-righteous critics who constantly criticize those around us. But if the people we’re around feel free to take God’s name in vain, tell dirty jokes, brag of their latest sexual conquest or how they got wasted over the weekend, then maybe its because they have no inkling that you would disapprove of such. Maybe you’ve never let them see by your example that you believe there is a better way. If any of this gets close, then maybe your faith is a secret faith… which is no faith at all.

The cross served to jolt Joseph and Nicodemus into acting on their secret faith. The cross should give us that very same jolt!

Famous Last Words

Famous last words. If you know you are going to die, then you want to make sure that your last words are something significant. At least you want to make sure that your last words are about something that is important to you

• Thomas à Becket did that when he said, “I am ready to die for my Lord, that in my blood the Church may obtain liberty and peace.”
  
  
• P. T. Barnum didn’t do nearly as well when he said, “How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?” I guess that is what was important to him.
  
  
• Beethoven is reported to have said, “Friends applaud, the comedy is finished.”
  
  
• Francisco “Pancho” Villa couldn’t think of anything profound. His last words were reportedly, “Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something”

Most people don't realize that they are about to die, so their last words usually aren't profound. Union General John Sedgwick yelled his last words to his troops as they dove for cover from rebel snipers, “They couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist…”

Famous last words. Today’s reading from John 17 aren't really Jesus LAST words. His actual last words are a series of seven different sayings spoken from the cross. But John 17 is the last prayer that Jesus prayed on his last night of freedom. The prayer begins, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” Jesus clearly knows that he is about to die. He had lived under the shadow of the cross His entire life, and now that destiny was upon him. Jesus had earlier said to his enemies, “But this is your hour—when darkness reigns” (Luke 22:53).

In effect, John 17 stands as Jesus’ famous last words, the request of the condemned man. It is not surprising that Jesus prays for Himself (John 17:2-5) and for his closest friends (John 17:6-19). What is surprising is that He also prays for you and I, and what he prays for is our unity. Look at John 17:20-23 (NLT)

I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message.I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one.I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.

Jesus final hours of freedom were spent in prayer, and a big part of His prayer was that we would have unity. So you and I have a part in deciding whether or not His last prayer is answered!

There are a lot of things that people have done for Jesus for which He never asked. He never asked for a holiday honoring His birthday. He never asked that all time be measured from His birth. He never asked that great cathedrals be built in His honor. But His dying prayer, His last request, has largely been ignored by His people— the plea for the unity of those who would follow Him. His last request was that we who would wear His name would live together in peace and harmony. Unity must have been important to Our Lord. Is unity important to us?

In This World You Have Trouble

In our reading today, Jesus is preparing the apostles for his coming death. He tells these good men who had left their jobs and families to hitch their wagon to the star of faith in him as Messiah. They thought that this would bring power and prestige when he came into his kingdom. But now he tells them that he is going to a cross. They would suffer great pain and trouble even while the world rejoiced in his death

‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. (John 16:19–20)

He does promise that their grief would be turned to joy, but he also promises that they will experience grief. And they would experience that grief while the world rejoiced around them. He ends this section by re-stressing this dual truth that his disciples would suffer trouble and that their trouble would turn to victory—“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, NIV)

James Watkins tells about the Sunday that he preached from this verse. He encouraged his church to have faith in the victory Jesus gives but warned them that it also comes with struggles and difficulties. The next week, we promised never to preach on that verse again. Why? Because the lesson was illustrated too clearly—

Right after the closing prayer, one family went out into the sub-zero weather to find that they had left the van’s lights on and their battery was dead. Another family discovered their four-year-old had gotten into their van, turned it on, and backed over a parking bumper. The worship leader went home to find her husband gone with a note telling her he wanted a divorce. That night the church’s hot-water heating pipes froze up and the parsonage’s furnace broke down. A parishioner offered to thaw out the church’s pipes with a blowtorch and caught the building’s subflooring on fire. Then things got worse!

Many Christians today are convinced that the life of faith is a means to financial success and physical well-being. Jesus promises us just the opposite. As long as we are in the world, there will be struggles and trials and difficulties. Our faithfulness will eventually be rewarded, both in this world and the world to come. But faithfulness was not for the apostles a guarantee hat they would have no struggles. On the contrary, faith meant that they would go through more struggles—while the world rejoiced, they would mourn. Jesus promise to them and to us is one of eternity. We can face whatever it is that we face with the certainty that Jesus has overcome the world.

Does the World Hate Us?

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. (John 15:18–21)

The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard once said, "If everyone is a Christian, then no one is a Christian." The Christianity of the first century was a "counter-culture" that existed as opposed to and opposed by the existing world and its power structures. Jesus disciples were called to be "in the world but not of the world." Christianity in its original form did not fit seamlessly into the culture of the day. Jesus warned the apostles that they would not be treated by the world any better than he had been treated—they opposed Jesus, so they would oppose the disciples of Jesus. We see that coming true in the book of Acts. The same power structures that went after Jesus also went after Peter, Paul and the rest of the church.

Is there a war against Christianity today? Well, there was a story today in the news about a public campaign in Chicago sponsored by "The Freedom from Religion Foundation" that mocks people of faith. The group has taken out ads on the sides of city buses to say things like “Sleep in on Sundays.” Other signs feature quotes from atheist Richard Dawkins (author of The God Myth), "The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction.” (I might suggest to Dr. Dawkins, “You don’t want to tick off the God of the New Testament either.”). Would I find it annoying to read signs like that on a city bus? Sure. But that’s not really the persecution that Jesus warns us about here in John 15 or that Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 11:22-29.

Have Christians gotten a little spoiled? Do we really believe we have the right to exercise our religion without fear of molestation by our culture or our government? Jesus didn't have that right. Neither did Paul. Neither do we. Maybe the reason we haven’t been really persecuted because of our faith is because we have allowed our faith to fit too snuggly within the culture around us. Maybe the reason the world doesn't hate us is that we seem to belong to the world rather than to Christ.

While Jesus Is Gone

We were greatly blessed when raising our children by the fact that we lived so close to grandparents. Of course, that used to be the way that everyone raised their kids, but the world has gotten bigger and now most people live far away from extended family. But we had reliable and (usually) willing babysitters that allowed us to get away by ourselves and concentrate on being a husband and wife without being a Mommy and Daddy. The first time we left Tressa with my parents to out to dinner wasn't very pleasant… for anyone. We left a couple of bottles with new nipples that we had forgotten to poke holes through. So Mom was trying to feed an increasingly angry baby with a bottle that wasn't helping at all. That evening out didn't last even close to a whole evening!

Fortunately, babies and grandmothers have short memories, and it was a blessing to us all to have two sets of grandparents so close. Anytime we left the girls, whether for a night or for a longer time, we always gave the same two-part speech--

• We told them “We’ll be back soon.” Sometimes there was separation anxiety, especially when the girls were little. We didn't want them to think we were abandoning them so we assured them that we'd be right back and that everything would be OK. They did not have to be afraid because “We’ll be back soon.”
  
  
• We also told them “Be good while we’re gone.” We wanted the time to be pleasant for both their grandparents and for them (because we wan’t to keep this free babysitter deal). We didn't want the fact that we were gone to let them think that all our expectations would also be gone as well. So we insisted that they “be good while we’re away.”

In our reading today from John 14, Jesus gives the same parental speech to his apostles. He was preparing them for his coming departure, and he wants to reassure them. He begins with, “Everything is going to be OK.”

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. (John 14:1–4)

The crucifixion would be a traumatic event, but Jesus wants them to understand that they don’t need to be afraid because he was coming back. But Jesus gives them the second part of the parental speech—they were to behave while he was gone.

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. ” (John 14:10–13, NIV)

They were to continue to do the things they did while Jesus was with them. Just because Jesus was gone didn’t mean that His expectations of them would be gone as well. They were to continue to do what Jesus had been doing.

Jesus gives us the same speech—we don’t have to be afraid because He is coming back. But do have to behave; we must continue to do the things that he has left for us to do. Why? Because he is coming back!

It Is So Hard to Believe...

“Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him” (John 12:37).

Jonas Salk was the doctor who pioneered polio research and discovered the polio vaccine. Over the course of his research, he also discovered something interesting about the nature of criticism and doubt.

• First, people will dismiss you and tell you that you are wrong.
  
  
• Second, when they'll start to accept that you may be right, they will suggest that what you're doing really isn't that important.
  
  
• Finally, when they must admit that you are right and that what you are doing is indeed important, they will claim that they knew it all along anyway!

Sometimes we can find it very hard to embrace new ideas... and then admit that we have embraced them. It is a lot easy to stay comfortably where we are than it is to reach toward the

unknown possibilities of the future. Years ago, a preacher was talking with a friend about man and the possibility of flight. He said that he doubted that God would ever permit man to fly; only the angels were allowed that privilege. That preacher's last name was Wright; his two sons were named Orville and Wilbur! When it come to the new and the unique, we are by nature doubters.

In our reading today from John 12, Jesus comes face to face with doubters. No matter how many miracles he performed, the Jewish leaders would not believe. And even when some did believe, they so feared the wrath of the Pharisees that they refused to confess Him. They believed in Christ, but they did not want anyone to know. John says sadly, “For they loved praise from men more than praise from God” (12:43). Remember, Jesus had already asked them, “How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God? ” (John 5:44).

Kierkegaard said, "It is so hard to believe because it is so hard to obey." God intends Christian faith to be a matter public record. But living as a believer will put you at odds with an doubting world. So many Christians take the same tact as these Jewish leaders—they believe, but they keep their faith quiet. It’s one thing to confess Christ within the safety of the church; it is another to risk retribution by confessing him out in the world. But secret faith is no faith at all!

Are you living your faith boldly before the world… or do you try to stay as incognito as possible? Jesus said in John 12:46, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” Let’s live as people of faith who both embrace the light of God and who radiate that light to the world around us!

When "Hosanna" Is Only a Word

Our reading for today includes John’s version of the “Triumphant Entry” of Jesus into Jerusalem (John 12:12-16). This story reminds me of one of our worship services-- people waving their arms, excitedly standing to shout “Hosanna!” and joyfully appropriating praise verbiage from the Psalms, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” OK, so maybe it doesn’t exactly remind me of one of our worship services. But this is a great worship text.

Most of the pictures I have seen depicting the triumphant entry are similar to the one here. The people are all excited and joyful (like the little boy in the foreground) while Jesus looks detached and maybe even sullen. Maybe he looked exactly like that because he knew what was about to happen. The same voices that shouted his praise would be shouting “Crucify him!” in only one week. The worship and praise didn't mean much when the very people doing it would turn around and betray him.

I wonder if Jesus has a flashback (can an omniscient God have a flashback?) during our worship services today. Is there the same detached look on God’s face because he knows the same voices singing his praise on Sunday will be shouting curses, inventing lies, telling off-color stories and spreading gossip during the next week? Does what we say on Sunday conflict with how we live the rest of the week?

Ans what about our witness to the world? I came across the following quotation on Richard Beck’s “Experimental Theology Blog.” The paragraph actually comes from an article by Glenn Greenwald on Salon.

As is so often the case, the Traditional Marriage movement is led by people who discard their wives and get new, younger replacements the way most people change underwear. That's how so many Americans sit on their sofas next to their second and third spouses, with their step-children and half-siblings surrounding them, and explain -- without any recognition of the irony -- that they're against same-sex marriage because they believe the law should only recognize Traditional Marriages. And it's how Rush Limbaugh can hide from his followers that, by demanding state recognition for his fourth "marriage," he himself believes "that traditional marriage should not have privileged status." As usual, all of the actual rules of Traditional Marriage are casually discarded when it comes to the law (all that dreary, annoying stuff about "till death do us part" and "in sickness and in health" and "for as long as we both shall live") and the only one that's maintained is the one that is easy and cost-free for most Traditional Marriage proponents people to fulfill (the one about needing "a man and a woman").

Can the church's talk about "Traditional Marriage" ring rather hollow unless our lives demonstrate that commitment? I’m certainly not advocating homosexual marriage, but the church has certainly compromised its right to stand on the high moral ground when we are weighed down by the millstone of a divorce rate that is as high and higher than that the secular culture. Our talk is drowned out by our walk. Greenwald's article points to the ironic (or maybe moronic) truth that two of the loudest cheerleaders for "Traditional Marriage" (Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich) have seven marriages between them!

If the church is going to point people to God, we are going to have to lead them with our lives before they will listen to our words. We don’t have to be perfect. We do need to be a bit more consistent than we’ve managed up to this point!

That One Man Die

47 “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” (John 11:47-50)

This text from our reading today follows Jesus' most dramatic miracle-- raising Lazarus from the dead. The reaction of the Jewish leaders provides us a powerful object lesson in unbelief. The Jewish leaders were so sure that Jesus was not from God that they were willing to ignore this dramatic miracle. They did not deny the power of the miracle itself. They didn't even try to assign it to Satanic power as they had in Matthew 9:34. They simply called together their war council and decided that the only way to silence Jesus was for him to die. One of their own members had earlier told Jesus, "We know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." (John 3:2). But now with the most incontrovertible evidence before them, their only response was to plot his death so that He would not threaten their system or their power.

But they didn't that God was working through their unbelief. The death that they were plotting would be God's instrument to save humankind from their sin. In fact, John says that the very words that Caiaphas uses here to suggest Jesus' death were actually God's prophetic voice--

51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. (John 11:51-52)

Jesus would indeed die, not only for the Jewish nation, but for the whole world. But this was not due to the savvy leadership of Caiaphas. It was not because of the plan the Sanhedrin was hatching in their secret enclave. It was because God was working behind the scenes to accomplish His will, even to the point of using the opposition of these wicked men as part of His holy plan.

So it is with the difficulty, trials and opposition that we must suffer as we walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Our suffering may be due to the sinfulness of others. Or we may rather be victims of the random chaos of our broken, fallen world. Or perhaps we suffer due to our own bad decisions or sinful choices. But no matter the reason for our suffering, God can use it for His glory and our blessing. Just as God used the wicked plots of evil men to accomplish His will in Christ, so God joins us in our suffering and works in ways that we cannot understand to accomplish his will. The very people that seek to hurt us can be used by God as instruments of his peace and grace. Rather than feel that God has abandoned us when difficult times come, we should look for the finger of God reaching out to touch us!