Ascension
Sunday!
Prayer
I
John 5:6-13
Focus
Statement: This passage says
that those who have the Son have life, and it is written so that we can have
assurance that we have life.
Function
Statement: Because of this
message, the congregation will feel the assurance of salvation based on faith
in Christ.
1st Movement:
When I went to my
first full-time church in Indiana in 1989 and started visiting among my
parishioners, I soon detected a tension between my two deacons. They have both since passed. In the tradition that I was in at that time,
the deacons were kind of like our lay leaders. It seems that sometimes when the
new pastor arrives there are those who want to talk to the pastor and get them
on their side, such was the case here, and a new pastor has to be very careful
and proceed with caution. I tried to not
let them pull me to one side or the other because I felt that in their own way,
both were right; as pastor, it is best to stay as neutral as possible;
sometimes that is difficult. I wanted to
be pastor for both of them! The one
deacon was a very hard worker in the area of evangelism. He was one who visited the unchurched a lot
in the community, and I found him to be a very good source for finding the
unchurched in the community and for working along with me in trying to get them
into the church. The other was a good
man who was more into teaching Sunday School classes and etc. but hadn=t had much success in
bringing others to Christ; he was haunted with the fact that his son-in-laws
were not in church and his daughters had all had divorces, which in that
tradition was looked upon very legalistically.
He was a deep thinker and had put a lot of thought into the scriptures.
I appreciated them both in their own ways, but
the two had been into it over our scripture for today. They had a running
debate that they always tried to pull you into.
As a part of his “scriptural road to salvation,” the more evangelistic
one used the scripture, AI write these things to you who
believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have
eternal life,[i]A
as a final proof-text, if you will, of salvation. If you were saved, you would know it he would
say, and if you didn=t
know that you were saved, maybe you aren=t. The deep thinker found so much uncertainty
about things in the scripture that he had trouble with you have got to know,
and if you do not know, you aren=t
saved. I tried to console him without
getting pulled into the argument and saying the one was wrong, but I found that
to be a hard task.
2nd Movement:
Today is Ascension
Sunday, and our text for today doesn=t
really deal with the ascension, but as the time of the ascension had come and
gone, the disciples were left with the task of trying to pull all that Christ
had said and taught them together into a belief about who Christ was and what
it meant to be saved. I think our text
for today is part of John=s
attempt to do that. Christians had
studied the letters and had heard the apostles teach. They knew of the teachings of Christ. As always happens when we study the word,
they had heard different opinions as to what we should and shouldn=t do. This tends to create doubt as to what we
should do and what it takes to be saved such as one of my deacons was
experiencing. How do we discern between
law and faith? John is attempting to
simplify it here; he says, AIf we receive human testimony,
the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has
testified to his Son.1 . . . .
And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in
his Son. Whoever has the Son has life;
whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.@ The bottom line was for John, ADo you have the Son?@ Do you believe in what God has done in
Christ? Then relax; God has taken care
of the rest! That is what John is saying
here, he is writing these things so we can relax and know that God has taken
care of it all.
This isn=t meant to be a last
requirement for salvation, that being that we Aknow@, beyond the shadow of a
doubt, that we are saved. That is what
my one deacon and many others, especially in that tradition, try to make this
passage say. It isn=t meant to be that; it is
meant to be words of comfort. It is
meant to focus us on exactly what the requirements are for starting our life in
God! This isn=t to say a Christian shouldn’t follow through
and want to do something else to exercise their faith, not believe and do
nothing else! It isn=t to say that a Christian
will not love their neighbor and do what they can to help them as a part of
exercising their faith! It isn=t to say a Christian will
not want to be baptized or take communion and that God does not act through
these means of grace. It isn=t to say that a Christian
shouldn=t constantly
look at their life and see if there are things that God would have them change
to make them better reflect the image of God which is to fully love as God
loves. It isn=t to say a Christian shouldn=t read the Bible. It isn=t
to say that a Christian will not want to or doesn=t
need to attend Church, but it is to say that the bottom line for salvation is
what do we do with Christ? All these
other things are not requirements for salvation! They are responses to what God has done for
us in Christ, but not requirements!
Also, John wants to say that if we have accepted what God has done in
Christ we can rest assured we are alright!
We tend to make it so complicated and apparently they did in John=s time too; John says,
Bottom line, What are you doing with Christ?
If you have Christ, you are okay!
God testifies to that! Having
said all of this, if someone says to you, do you “know” you are saved, say Yes;
I trust in what Christ has done for me!
God made a way, and I believe in what God has done for me! Don’t let anyone argue that you need more or
that cannot ever have any doubts! This scripture is to alleviate those doubts
when they come! All you need is
Jesus! You can count on that!
3rd Movement:
In closing this
morning, Bottom Line, what have you done with Christ? According to John, God tells us what we need
to do with Christ:
AIf we receive human testimony,
the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has
testified to his Son. 10 Those who believe in the Son of God have
the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God c have made him a liar by not
believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. 11 And
this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever
has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.@
Do you have the Son this morning? Jesus is the Testimony of God! Do you believe that God has done in Christ
what you can’t do for yourself to make you right with God? Do you know in whom you believe? If you do, this passage says you are
alright! You can have confidence in
that! If you do not, won=t you come to Christ as we encounter Christ at the table
this morning? That is all it takes to start your life in
God!
Brothers and sisters, if you have received the Son, take
assurance, God will take care of the rest!
According to John, there is no hidden requirement that you are
missing! That is the testimony of God! Thanks be to God!
Prayer of
Confession
Service of
Communion
No comments:
Post a Comment