Come to the Light
Sunday, March 26th, 2006
Lent 4B
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton
John 3:14-21
I really didn’t realize how fast I was going.
Honestly.
I was in our minivan, and had, over the previous few months, pretty much ONLY been driving the Mazda; you know, the smaller, older, NOISIER car.
That morning I had been contacted by a sister church in the association that had let us know that they’d collected donations for the Hispanic ministry, and they wanted to know if they needed to run them down to us or could I come by and pick them up. I told them I could be there in just a few minutes. It wasn’t until a few minutes LATER that I actually walked out of the house to head up there.
I pulled out of the driveway and headed up route 3. The dip here down to Folley Neck Road is sort of like the take off ramp for a rollercoaster ride. You get up to speed REALLY quickly, and if you’re riding in a car that you’re not used to being in, and IT rides much smoother and quieter than the one you ARE used to riding in, well … it makes it really easy to lose track of just how fast you are going.
Radar guns are great at detecting just how fast THAT is.
It’s all about choices. I chose to accelerate pretty quickly that morning. I chose to not look too closely at the speedometer once I got to the top of the rise on the other side of the dip. I chose to let the car just cruise along, enjoying the smoothness of the ride and the quietness of the functioning muffler.
*******
Our passage this morning speaks to choices as well, both human and divine. As we’ve moved into and through this season of Lent, we’ve had opportunities to choose … to select what to dwell on … whether it has been to dwell on the fallen-ness of the nature that surrounds us, thus producing a world that is full of pain and conflict, or on the brokenness of a world at large, that would take a man who has dedicated himself to be a literal peacemaker in the name of Christ and kill him, only to turn around just a few weeks later and release his fellow team members relatively unharmed, or on our own fallen nature, that which is within us against which we struggle on a daily basis, sometimes with greater success than at others … but an ongoing struggle nonetheless … that gives us an idea of just what it was that Paul was speaking of when he spoke of the thorn in his flesh which he asked God to remove … a request that went unanswered, save for the admonition that God’s “grace is sufficient”.
What we are faced with in the passage, here now, today, but in truth, every single day of our lives, is the choices we make. It is not a one-time, set in stone rule that we will always make the best choice.
We know that third verse in by heart … how many of you repeated it with me in the King James version as I read it earlier? I was tempted to switch TO the KJV as I read it myself … I could even recite it to you in the Reina Valera Spanish version … but what does it MEAN???!!! That verse is probably the SINGLE most memorized verse of the New Testament, after ‘Jesus Wept’, maybe, but still … it would appear to be one of the most famous verses of the Bible. The reference – the name of the book along with the chapter and verse number, were made famous in conemporary American culture – or notorious, by a man who wore a rainbow wig and went to sports arenas back in the 70’s and 80’s – and made it a point to hold up a big sign that read ‘JOHN 3:16” – you could usually catch a glimpse of him at some point during the program if you watched the entire show … it was his way of witnessing to his faith in Christ. Whether you agreed with what he did or not, who can say how many people’s curiosity was piqued just enough to go look up the reference … and ultimately led to a relationship with Christ? The point is, to folks who’ve grown up in the church, that particular verse is not an unfamiliar one.
That carries its own risks, however, insofar as what is familiar to us also loses its power over us – we become immune to it. A very present example in our own congregational life is, perhaps, our congregational benediction … ‘to risk something big for something good’ … ‘too dangerous for anything but truth, and too small for anything but love’ … those are truly powerful statements if you stop and think about their implications, but we’ve been hearing them or saying them for the last two and a half years … maybe it’s time that we changed them up a bit … not that what they are saying isn’t valid, or true, or important … it’s a recognition that we can so easily be lulled into a sense of complacency about where we are and where we’re going that we lose sight of the fact that that road involves sacrifice. It will likely involve conflict, and trial, and tribulation … and may even involve the loss of something precious … something valuable, in exchange for the good that results … perhaps even the good that we have yet to discern …
The writer of John makes it clear, we choose, and God chooses. Light has come into the world, in the form of Christ. And the light is the light for all humanity. But does humanity, HAS humanity … taken the step to turn TOWARD the light? In some cases yes, thankfully. We see it, blessedly, every day, if we look for it … in the helping hand, in the gracious word, in the welcoming hug. In many, many, other cases, unfortunately, Christ has had little influence in the way people live their lives, in the daily living … in the moment-by-moment choices that ultimately determine the outcome of that particular life. We see it in the harshness, in the coldness, in the disconnectedness that can seem to be so prevalent today. The attitude of ‘that’s not MY problem’ … or … ‘and I should care because … ?’ it is in the compartmentalization of the human species as a whole that we lose sight of the fact that we are called to care for each other – whether the ‘other’ is across the room or across the border or across the globe -- that is actually irrelevant – we are still to express and practice the care of our fellow human beings.
*****
Have you ever wondered what the different colors of traffic signs are for - the yellow background with black lettering, versus the white background with black lettering? The yellow background is a warning of potential hazards … usually a curve or curves in the road, or an upcoming intersection – and the sign color is to advise that what it is saying is a recommendation – usually it is a speed indicator – 35 MPH or 45 MPH – as a RECOMMENDED safe speed … it is a suggestion, not a statement of law. That is reserved for the black and white signs. That’s how I made it click in my head when I saw a speed limit sign – if it is in black and white, I can tell myself – black and white, black and white. Force of law, force of law. Three words and three words. There’s a connection there that triggers a response, and … more often than not … I slow down. I remember that the sign isn’t just saying ‘this is a good idea, if you’d like to try it.’ – it is saying ‘this IS the LAW … follow it or ELSE you’re looking at $75.00 plus court costs, or a Saturday in traffic school.’
That day in December of 2003 I happened on an instance where my choice brought about a fairly quick consequence, but it’s not always that clear in other areas of our life. Some of our choices do present themselves in black and white – the options are that far apart – but in others, it’s not always that simple. We’ve heard others tell that life IS black and white. Life is lived in a universe where there is up or down, here or there, yes or no, and there’s never an allowance for the complications derived from living in a world that is experiencing both the pains of separation from God while at the same time groans towards a reconciliation that is in the making even as we speak. I would propose this morning that it is in SOME cases, an option to make a clear-cut decision, but not across the board. We’ve all been faced with situations where we’ve had to make distinctions between what would appear to be the lesser of two evils … or where the options we’ve had to struggle with have been so close together that the distinction really only comes into play internally – we long for the simplicity of being confronted with a choice as easy, as two-sided as observing the speed limit, but we are not promised that ease by Christ.
What does that mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?
There’s an ultimate choice to be made. There are principles at stake, and we can BASE our decision-making on the principles that will carry us through the process. We find that principle spelled out by Moses, at the end of his life, in Deuteronomy 30:19 & 20 -
Jerusalem will be celebrating 175 years of life next year, and this challenge still holds true today – it is the life we as a family of faith choose TODAY that will determine how we will live into the next 5, 10, 20, or 175 years as a people of God. Will we live an existence based on LIFE, and BLESSING or of death and curses? When our community thinks of us as members of this congregation, as a church, are we considered a blessing? Are we considered a place of grace, or a place of bitterness? Do people associate Jerusalem with conflict, or with healing, with exclusion or with a welcoming spirit?
I spoke at the beginning of both human and divine choices – we must base our choices on the choice that God made – to become flesh and to dwell among us as Jesus. Our decisions, our choices will all stem from the way we respond to God’s choice in Christ – to give God’s self for us.
Will we indeed choose life?
Let’s pray.
Sunday, March 26th, 2006
Lent 4B
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton
John 3:14-21
14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. 20 For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. 21 But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”
I really didn’t realize how fast I was going.
Honestly.
I was in our minivan, and had, over the previous few months, pretty much ONLY been driving the Mazda; you know, the smaller, older, NOISIER car.
That morning I had been contacted by a sister church in the association that had let us know that they’d collected donations for the Hispanic ministry, and they wanted to know if they needed to run them down to us or could I come by and pick them up. I told them I could be there in just a few minutes. It wasn’t until a few minutes LATER that I actually walked out of the house to head up there.
I pulled out of the driveway and headed up route 3. The dip here down to Folley Neck Road is sort of like the take off ramp for a rollercoaster ride. You get up to speed REALLY quickly, and if you’re riding in a car that you’re not used to being in, and IT rides much smoother and quieter than the one you ARE used to riding in, well … it makes it really easy to lose track of just how fast you are going.
Radar guns are great at detecting just how fast THAT is.
It’s all about choices. I chose to accelerate pretty quickly that morning. I chose to not look too closely at the speedometer once I got to the top of the rise on the other side of the dip. I chose to let the car just cruise along, enjoying the smoothness of the ride and the quietness of the functioning muffler.
*******
Our passage this morning speaks to choices as well, both human and divine. As we’ve moved into and through this season of Lent, we’ve had opportunities to choose … to select what to dwell on … whether it has been to dwell on the fallen-ness of the nature that surrounds us, thus producing a world that is full of pain and conflict, or on the brokenness of a world at large, that would take a man who has dedicated himself to be a literal peacemaker in the name of Christ and kill him, only to turn around just a few weeks later and release his fellow team members relatively unharmed, or on our own fallen nature, that which is within us against which we struggle on a daily basis, sometimes with greater success than at others … but an ongoing struggle nonetheless … that gives us an idea of just what it was that Paul was speaking of when he spoke of the thorn in his flesh which he asked God to remove … a request that went unanswered, save for the admonition that God’s “grace is sufficient”.
What we are faced with in the passage, here now, today, but in truth, every single day of our lives, is the choices we make. It is not a one-time, set in stone rule that we will always make the best choice.
We know that third verse in by heart … how many of you repeated it with me in the King James version as I read it earlier? I was tempted to switch TO the KJV as I read it myself … I could even recite it to you in the Reina Valera Spanish version … but what does it MEAN???!!! That verse is probably the SINGLE most memorized verse of the New Testament, after ‘Jesus Wept’, maybe, but still … it would appear to be one of the most famous verses of the Bible. The reference – the name of the book along with the chapter and verse number, were made famous in conemporary American culture – or notorious, by a man who wore a rainbow wig and went to sports arenas back in the 70’s and 80’s – and made it a point to hold up a big sign that read ‘JOHN 3:16” – you could usually catch a glimpse of him at some point during the program if you watched the entire show … it was his way of witnessing to his faith in Christ. Whether you agreed with what he did or not, who can say how many people’s curiosity was piqued just enough to go look up the reference … and ultimately led to a relationship with Christ? The point is, to folks who’ve grown up in the church, that particular verse is not an unfamiliar one.
That carries its own risks, however, insofar as what is familiar to us also loses its power over us – we become immune to it. A very present example in our own congregational life is, perhaps, our congregational benediction … ‘to risk something big for something good’ … ‘too dangerous for anything but truth, and too small for anything but love’ … those are truly powerful statements if you stop and think about their implications, but we’ve been hearing them or saying them for the last two and a half years … maybe it’s time that we changed them up a bit … not that what they are saying isn’t valid, or true, or important … it’s a recognition that we can so easily be lulled into a sense of complacency about where we are and where we’re going that we lose sight of the fact that that road involves sacrifice. It will likely involve conflict, and trial, and tribulation … and may even involve the loss of something precious … something valuable, in exchange for the good that results … perhaps even the good that we have yet to discern …
The writer of John makes it clear, we choose, and God chooses. Light has come into the world, in the form of Christ. And the light is the light for all humanity. But does humanity, HAS humanity … taken the step to turn TOWARD the light? In some cases yes, thankfully. We see it, blessedly, every day, if we look for it … in the helping hand, in the gracious word, in the welcoming hug. In many, many, other cases, unfortunately, Christ has had little influence in the way people live their lives, in the daily living … in the moment-by-moment choices that ultimately determine the outcome of that particular life. We see it in the harshness, in the coldness, in the disconnectedness that can seem to be so prevalent today. The attitude of ‘that’s not MY problem’ … or … ‘and I should care because … ?’ it is in the compartmentalization of the human species as a whole that we lose sight of the fact that we are called to care for each other – whether the ‘other’ is across the room or across the border or across the globe -- that is actually irrelevant – we are still to express and practice the care of our fellow human beings.
*****
Have you ever wondered what the different colors of traffic signs are for - the yellow background with black lettering, versus the white background with black lettering? The yellow background is a warning of potential hazards … usually a curve or curves in the road, or an upcoming intersection – and the sign color is to advise that what it is saying is a recommendation – usually it is a speed indicator – 35 MPH or 45 MPH – as a RECOMMENDED safe speed … it is a suggestion, not a statement of law. That is reserved for the black and white signs. That’s how I made it click in my head when I saw a speed limit sign – if it is in black and white, I can tell myself – black and white, black and white. Force of law, force of law. Three words and three words. There’s a connection there that triggers a response, and … more often than not … I slow down. I remember that the sign isn’t just saying ‘this is a good idea, if you’d like to try it.’ – it is saying ‘this IS the LAW … follow it or ELSE you’re looking at $75.00 plus court costs, or a Saturday in traffic school.’
That day in December of 2003 I happened on an instance where my choice brought about a fairly quick consequence, but it’s not always that clear in other areas of our life. Some of our choices do present themselves in black and white – the options are that far apart – but in others, it’s not always that simple. We’ve heard others tell that life IS black and white. Life is lived in a universe where there is up or down, here or there, yes or no, and there’s never an allowance for the complications derived from living in a world that is experiencing both the pains of separation from God while at the same time groans towards a reconciliation that is in the making even as we speak. I would propose this morning that it is in SOME cases, an option to make a clear-cut decision, but not across the board. We’ve all been faced with situations where we’ve had to make distinctions between what would appear to be the lesser of two evils … or where the options we’ve had to struggle with have been so close together that the distinction really only comes into play internally – we long for the simplicity of being confronted with a choice as easy, as two-sided as observing the speed limit, but we are not promised that ease by Christ.
What does that mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?
There’s an ultimate choice to be made. There are principles at stake, and we can BASE our decision-making on the principles that will carry us through the process. We find that principle spelled out by Moses, at the end of his life, in Deuteronomy 30:19 & 20 -
19I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
Jerusalem will be celebrating 175 years of life next year, and this challenge still holds true today – it is the life we as a family of faith choose TODAY that will determine how we will live into the next 5, 10, 20, or 175 years as a people of God. Will we live an existence based on LIFE, and BLESSING or of death and curses? When our community thinks of us as members of this congregation, as a church, are we considered a blessing? Are we considered a place of grace, or a place of bitterness? Do people associate Jerusalem with conflict, or with healing, with exclusion or with a welcoming spirit?
I spoke at the beginning of both human and divine choices – we must base our choices on the choice that God made – to become flesh and to dwell among us as Jesus. Our decisions, our choices will all stem from the way we respond to God’s choice in Christ – to give God’s self for us.
Will we indeed choose life?
Let’s pray.
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