The Truth Is …

Pastor Kyle Clark

Gospel Lesson: John 3:(1-13) 14-21

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Fourth Sunday in Lent

 Believe it or not, Debbie has on occasion accused me of having selective hearing, of only hearing what I want to hear. Now, nobody likes having their negative qualities pointed out, but the truth is she’s right. I admit it. I do, on the rare occasion, select what I want to hear and ignore the rest. But, I think all of us are guilty of this on occasion – I mean we’re only human, right?  Because the Church is filled with humans, we are also guilty on the rare occasion of selective hearing when it comes to hearing what the scriptures say.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a member of the religious establishment of the day, an establishment made up of folks who are quick to condemn and judge those outside their particular tradition. He comes to Jesus secretly in the night. Jesus tells him that in order for a person to see the kingdom of heaven he or she must be born again. Nicodemus asks how this can be and Jesus begins to teach him about the God’s plan for the salvation of the world. I’m not sure if Nicodemus really didn’t understand or if he really didn’t want to hear what Jesus was telling him. Regardless, Nicodemus wasn’t really getting it.

I can almost see Jesus reaching over and tapping Nick on the forehead [tap yourself on the head] and saying, “You’re just not getting it. This whole birth thing … well, it’s a metaphor.  And we cannot control our own spiritual birth, being born from above, any more than we can control our own physical birth.” Then he taps a little harder, “The wind blows where it will, when it will. You can’t control it. The movement of God’s Spirit is out of our control. It’s a gift. Got it?”

Sometimes we don’t get John’s words here because, I think, many of us may not want to hear them. These words take salvation out of our hands. We want to be in control. We talk about being born again like it is something we can choose. And if we can choose and control it for ourselves we act as if we can choose and control it for others, like the Pharisees. Guess what? We don’t. We can’t. Because of Jesus, this new birth has already happened. What he did, he did for all. All we can do is choose how we live this new life we’ve been gifted with.

Several years ago, upon reflecting on the state of the organized church and what he saw as pettiness in the church, the late long time youth minister and pastor, Mike Yaconelli, offered this insight:

"The problem is…blatant pettiness…. Churches are so preoccupied with the petty, they can’t spend the time required to do what matters…

"Petty people are ugly people. They are people who have lost their vision. They are people who have turned their eyes away from what matters … and the result is the rest of us are immobilized by their obsession with the insignificant…Pettiness is a cancer that has been allowed to go untreated; a molehill that has turned into a mountain; a disease which continues to result in terminal cases of discord, disruption, and destruction. "

While Mike was speaking about some of the petty and ugly things that go on within the walls of the church, I think that his scathing remarks can also be directed to how many of us in the church relate to many of those outside the church.

One of my all-time favorite cartoon series has to be Peanuts. Poor Charlie Brown! It seems he is always catching grief from Lucy. In one episode Lucy remarks to an obviously dejected Charlie Brown, “ Discouraged again, eh, Charlie Brown? You know what your whole trouble is? The whole trouble with you is that you’re you!”

In another conversation Lucy continues with her problem analysis, “You know what the whole trouble with you is Charlie Brown?”

Charlie says, “No, and I don’t want to know! Leave me alone!” and he begins to walk away.

Lucy calls out after him, “The whole trouble with you Charlie Brown is that you won’t listen to what the whole trouble with you is!”

I have heard and read a lot about people, leaders in the church, shaking a finger at people outside the church saying, “You know what your problem is?” Then they proceed to tell them. The church, it seems, or at least some in the church, are forever condemning the world and pointing out all the sins and imperfections of the world.

The message all too often is, “If you don’t listen to us there is a big, bad God out there ready to smite you down for all your evil, wicked ways.”

“Turn or burn,” is the battle cry. “The trouble with you is that you’re you and not us. The trouble with you is that you won’t listen to us when we tell you what the trouble with you is and God is gonna get cha!”

That’s the height of arrogance. That’s the epitome of pettiness. Is it any wonder that people are rejecting the church when Christianity is presented this way?

Consider the words Jesus spoke to Nicodemus. “This is the way God loved the world; he gave his one only Son that everyone who believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” This is perhaps the most familiar promise in all Scripture. But look at the verses that follow. Jesus came to save, not to condemn, the world but to save the world. I don’t read anywhere in the gospel where Jesus said, “I’ve come to give you a message from my Father: Boy, is he ever mad at you!”

God’s motivation is not about punishment and condemnation. The purpose of God’s action in and through Jesus is to save, to heal.  Remember Jesus’ meeting with the woman at the well. She was caught in the act of adultery (where the man was I don’t know – that’s another sermon). Adultery for some in that time was the most heinous of all the observable sins, deserving of condemnation and death. But without condoning her action, Jesus intervened to save her. Do you remember his words when he asked where her accusers were and none could be found? “Then neither do I condemn you.”

Or what about the Samaritan woman Jesus met at the well? She had had several husbands and was now living with another man – not an acceptable way of life in that day. Once again, without condoning her choices, Jesus gives no sign of condemnation.

Jesus, the Son of God, the very Mind of God, the very heart of God, the very Wisdom of God, takes the same non-condemning attitude toward us. Jesus did not condemn them for their obvious sins; neither does he condemn us for equally obvious sins.

But, you say, what about accountability? Surely Jesus isn’t saying, “Do whatever you want and come get forgiveness later.” No! Jesus did not, does not condone sinful choices. “Go and leave your life of sin,” is Jesus’ declaration to the adulterous woman. Jesus doesn’t condone her life style; neither does his condemn her. Jesus doesn’t leave her in her sins. Jesus doesn’t leave us in our sins. He leads us out of sin. God doesn’t leave us the way we are when we encounter the divine – we can never be the same after we experience Christ.

If Christ did not condemn, then how can those who follow Christ be so arrogant as to condemn our theological opponents to damnation, or to disregard those with whom we don’t see eye to eye? Protestant, Catholic, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, agnostic or atheist; diseased, forgotten, rich, poor, gay, straight, shacked-up or divorced – all have acted in ways that Jesus may not condone but none of these does Jesus condemn. Neither should we.

There is judgment, however. The gospel message always carries both the elements of salvation and judgment. From our study last week on the Ten Commandments we remember that God sets us free to make choices, specifically to choose whom we will serve. This idea of choice is reiterated today. Look at the words in the text. God doesn’t condemn – we condemn ourselves. All who believe have life; those who don’t believe stand condemned already. You see, the condemnation is self-inflicted. God did not send the Son to condemn. Yet to reject the Son is to bring condemnation on oneself. We choose. We take the responsibility for ourselves. While controlling God’s grace will never be our decision, the decision for or against Christ, the truth, always is our decision. After facing Christ, you cannot simply have an opinion about him. You can only accept or deny. Jesus did not come to condemn; we do that to ourselves.

In Christ, life is renewed and lived in truth (NIV). To live in truth is to live a life centered in Christ. It is a way of being, a way of living in which our actions are genuine and not manipulative, not coercive, not condemning. We live, love, and act because Christ lived, loved and acted on our behalf. Believing is not some holy hoop that we jump through to get to the other side; it’s more like going on a long journey with Christ as our guide leading us through this life and into the next.

We have a mission in the world – to proclaim, by what we say and what we do, the good news that Jesus came to the world to save, not condemn. The truth is there is a lot of pettiness in the way the church deals with people outside the church. While it is true that some will desire the darkness more than the light, it is not for us to condemn or to judge; we are to simply live the truth, to proclaim the Gospel through our actions. It is also true that out of our pettiness and our agendas we drive people away from the church. Any proclamation that a particular group of people are going to heaven while the rest are not and that we somehow can determine who is in each group suggests a superiority that Jesus never intended.  Any message that denies a person or group of people from coming to the table in this church is a denial of the purpose of Christ who came for, who died for, who rose for, and invites all.

Jesus is telling Nicodemus and us that it’s not us against them (whoever “them” are). It never has been and never will be.

The truth is that all are sinners and estranged from God, even you and me.

The truth is that God sees all the pain and misery, the murder and violence, the hatred and bitterness, the greed, oppression, abuse, famine, death, tears and depression in the world. God sees things that people often try to ignore, even you and me.

The truth is that God sees we are the cause of all the agony we feel and ignore, even you and me.

The truth is that all are loved by God, that God is waiting for us not with a big stick behind his back but with arms open wide, ready to embrace everyone – even you and me.

The truth is that God could have chosen any means to bring reconciliation and salvation to the world; the means He chose was Christ.

The truth is that Christ was lifted up on a pole and died not in spite of sin but because of sin; Christ died for all people, even you and me.

This hard truth of Lent anticipates the joyous truth of Easter.

The truth of Easter is that all people – all people – are accepted just as they are, where they are, even you and me.

The truth is that we are not to condemn others because Christ does not condemn anyone, even you and me.

The truth is the Spirit of God, like the wind blows where it will, that new birth is a gift over which we have no control, that all who believe this have eternal life, even you and me.

This is the truth we are to proclaim.

This is the truth we are to live, even you and even me.

Amen.