Real People
1 John 5:6-13[1]
We live in a world where it’s getting increasingly more
difficult to live as “real” people. By that, I mean taking the risk of being
vulnerable enough to show others your true self. Hopefully we all have family
and friends with whom we can share who we really are and do so with the
confidence that they will love and support us. The sad truth is that’s not the
case for everyone. But outside that circle of family and friends, most of us
keep our “guard” up. We don’t really show most people our true selves. Instead,
we hide behind the “appearance” that our lives are all “put together” and
everything is “just fine.” But when we do so, we also make it more difficult to
build relationships. And it’s through relationships that we share the “hope
that is within us.”
Of course, there’s wisdom in not telling everything about
yourself to everyone you meet. And when you run into a stranger in public and
they ask “How are you?” it’s perfectly acceptable to answer “Just fine, thank
you.” But the problem is that we get used to hiding behind the effort to keep
up appearances that everything is “just fine.” So when we have an opportunity
to share who we truly are or what we’re really dealing with in life, even with
a trusted family member or friend, we may instead stay hidden behind that wall.
And when we do so, we miss out on the opportunity to give them a chance to show
just how much they truly do love and support us, just as we are, no matter what
we may be dealing with in life.
At the same time, that’s a problem for us as followers of
Jesus Christ. The only way we can share our faith with others is by taking the
risk of being vulnerable enough to reveal who we really are and what we’re
actually dealing with in life. Of course, part of the problem is that many of
the people we meet are doing the same thing as we are. They’re hiding behind
their own efforts to “keep up appearances.” And when we take the risk of
sharing who we really are with them, it may make them feel awkward. We live in
a world where it’s difficult to live as “real” people. But if we’re going to
live as witnesses to the new life in Christ, we’re going to have to find a way
to take that risk.
I think our lesson from 1 John addresses this issue. As I
mentioned last week, the community of believers to whom the Elder John was
writing was going through something very much like a “church split.” The point
of disagreement was over how to understand the idea that Jesus was both fully
God and fully human. Some insisted that he was so fully God that he couldn’t
possibly “die” on the cross. After all, how can God “die”? But the author of 1
John knew that affirming Jesus’ very real death as a part of his full humanity
was essential to the good news. So he insisted that part of the testimony to
Jesus as the Son of God was his very real death on the cross.
In our lesson for today, the Elder says that “those who
believe in the Son of God have this testimony in their own heart” (1 Jn. 5:10, NLT).
There’s some debate about what it means to have the “testimony” to Jesus “in your
heart”, but I think it means that when someone’s faith in Jesus is real you can
see the new life that is in them. It’s obvious by who they are and how they
live. You can’t miss it. They “have the
witness in their own hearts.” The most effective way we as believers in Jesus
have of drawing others to faith in him is demonstrating this “witness” we have
by living as “real people.” We have to show others who we truly are.
Some of us may be feeling like that’s just not something we
can do, and certainly not on our own. We may think we’re not worthy, or we’re
not capable, or perhaps we’re just not comfortable putting ourselves out there
as witnesses to faith in Jesus Christ. I understand and resonate with that
feeling. Bearing witness to faith in Jesus Christ is a big task, and it’s one
that none of us can do on our own. But it’s not meant to be a “do-it-yourself”
project. We can only bear witness to our faith as Jesus Christ himself enables
us to do so through the power of the Holy Spirit. We’re called to share our
faith by sharing our lives with others. If our sharing actually leads them to
faith, that “miracle” happens because of what Jesus Christ is doing through us
by the power of the Spirit.[2] It’s not
something we can do on our own. For me, that’s a relief, because it means I
don’t have to do on my own.
Of course, the hard truth is that it’s difficult for all of
us to be truly genuine all the time. Many are afraid to let others see too much
of themselves. Being “real” people can mean letting others in on our flaws and
weaknesses and failures. Truth be told, most of us have some sort of dirty
laundry, and we’re not eager to let everyone see it. Of course there’s room for
some discretion here. We don’t have to share everything we’ve ever done that we
regret in order to be basically genuine people. We don’t have to put every
mistake we’ve ever made on public display to bear witness to the new life we have
through our faith in Jesus Christ. Even though we’re all flawed and fallible
people, we can still be “real.”
Part of the power of the “Twelve-Step” movement is that it
creates an environment of confidentiality that makes it a place where people feel
more comfortable letting others see who they really are. One of the sayings in
Twelve-step meetings is “Who you see here, what is said here, when you leave
here, let it stay here.” That promise of “safety” makes it possible for
participants to share their “experience, strength, and hope” by taking the risk
of being vulnerable enough to show others their true self.
I think the challenge for us as believers in Jesus is to do
the same thing. Sharing our faith is not something that comes easily. But it’s
something we’re called to do. And we can share our faith, even when we feel
inadequate or unworthy. We do so by taking the risk of being “real” people. I
think the most effective way to draw others to faith in Jesus Christ is to be people
of whom Jesus can say, “my life is on display in them” (Jn 17:10, The Message). That means showing the new
life we have through faith in Jesus by living as “real” people. We do that by
sharing our lives with others. That’s all we’re called to do: to share our
lives with others. And we leave the results to Jesus Christ, who is the Savior
of us all!
[1] © 2024 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 5/12/2024 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] Cf. Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 4.3.2: 609: “The Christian is called to be the accompanying and confirming sign of the
living Word of God. It thus follows that he must indicate and attest this Word
in the act of his whole existence. … And if the Christian has the power to make
perceptible the self-witness of Christ as its echo in the world, this power is
Christ’s and not his human power. To the Christian and his fellow-men it is
always a miracle when his witness has this power.”
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