The Waking Dreamer: Witness

Showing posts with label Witness. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 06, 2024

Billboards

Ephesians 4:1-16[1]

I’m not a fan of billboards personally. I know they serve a purpose in our advertising-driven world. But I’ve been in places where people can’t just put up a billboard wherever they want, and I like the ability to appreciate the scenery without all the clutter. Many of us have experienced the evolution of billboards. These days we have LED screens for billboards. But some billboards are still simple hand-painted signs. For a long time, the sight of workers pasting up the printed strips of a billboard was a common one. In those days, it was also fairly common, at least where I lived, to see a billboard that had some of the strips peeled off. Apparently the contract ran out! The funny thing was that you could still make out the gist of the original ad. And sometimes you could also make out the one underneath it!

In a very real sense, we are all living and breathing billboards for faith in Jesus Christ. Whether we like it or not, and for better or for worse, our lives are all constantly “on display” for Christ. In the time when we were supposedly a “Christian” nation, everyone was assumed to be a person of faith, and perhaps it didn’t matter as much. To be quite honest, I’m not sure any nation can ever truly claim to be “Christian.” But now we live in a time when more people in our society explicitly reject any and every religion. In my mind, that makes it all the more important that we are aware that our lives are constantly “on display” for Christ. The language of the New Testament is that we are “witnesses” to what Christ has done for us and for all people. And one way in which we bear that “witness” is by the way we live.

This is an important part of our lesson from St. Paul in Ephesians for today. As in the case in some of his other letters, after laying out the message of the Gospel and what that means for our “hope of salvation,” he turns to the practical implications for how we live our lives. Here, he urges those who know Jesus Christ to “lead a life worthy of your calling” (Eph 4:1, NLT). If you asked ten people what it means to live in a manner “worthy” of the salvation we have been given through Jesus Christ, I think you might get ten different answers. Some would point to particular religious or spiritual practices you should do on a daily basis. Some would say that it’s about choosing a special “vocation” like devoting your entire life to Christ. Others would insist that you have to agree with certain very specific beliefs.

But St. Paul takes a very different direction in answering this question. To him, “leading a life worthy of your calling” means to “Always be humble and gentle.” It means being “patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” It means making “every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace” (Eph 4:2-3, NLT). In other words, we demonstrate the quality of our faith in Jesus Christ by the way we treat one another. I would add that this applies to how we treat all people, whether or not they are one of “us”!

One of the things I have always found to be a bit surprising about this passage is that St. Paul says that we display the quality of our faith by the quality of our relationships! And the quality he was looking for is the ability to remain “united in the Spirit, binding ourselves together with peace.” He said we display the quality of our faith when we practice patience with one another, when we bear with one another, or “make allowance for each other’s faults” as the New Living Translation puts it. And we do so because of the love we have for one another. It reminds me of Jesus’ statement to those who followed him that “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (Jn 13:35, NLT).[2]

There was a time when church “unity” was based on denominational structures—Presbyterian, Lutheran, Episcopalian, Methodist, or Baptist. There was a time when church unity was based on shared doctrinal convictions. Although many would have denied it, it was also based on being on the same side when it came to politics. That was the case for many centuries. But the kind of unity that makes the church truly live does not come from human institutions, or shared doctrinal convictions, or even from political agreement. It’s the unity that God creates.[3]

That’s why Paul adds the statement that “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all” (Eph 4:5-6, NLT).[4] True unity in the church is the unity that God creates—the church is the one people of the one God. It’s the unity that Jesus Christ creates—the church is the one people of the one Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It’s the unity that the Spirit of God creates—the church is the one people of the one Holy Spirit. Here Paul places special emphasis on the unity created by the presence and powerful work of God’s Spirit in all our lives. That’s what makes the church really live. At least according to St. Paul!

So, how do we develop this unity in order to help our church thrive? For one thing, it’s something we have to “grow up” into. St. Paul sees the Christian life as a process by which we are all constantly “growing in every way more and more like Christ” until we “measure up” to “to the full and complete standard of Christ” (Eph 4:13, 15, NLT)! If you’re like me, and you’re aware of how often you fall short of that standard, you may be thinking that’s impossible. How can anyone every live up “to the full and complete standard of Christ”? That’s a natural response, I think. But St. Paul insists that this whole process is not something we do on our own. It’s the “new life” that the Spirit of God creates in us. It’s what God is doing in all of our lives through Jesus Christ.

If we’re all “billboards” meant to display this astounding work that God is doing in all of our lives, we may struggle with feeling like we can never live up to that kind of scrutiny. We may feel like those old billboards that have part of the “new” message, but there are some strips missing and some of the old underlying truth still visible. That’s an uncomfortable truth for us, but it may be reassuring to remember that it’s true for all of us. We all have a mixture of the new life and the old truths that make up who we are as real-life followers of Jesus Christ. That’s why we “grow up” into the “full stature of Christ” precisely by practicing gentleness, humility, patience, forbearance, and love in our relationships with one another and with all people. Those qualities don’t always come naturally to us, but the more we put them into practice, the more we will be able to practice them in our relationships. As we do so, even our flawed lives can be billboards bearing witness to the new life that God gives us all through Jesus Christ!

[2] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, 345, where he insists that the church “is not ‘one’ for itself; it is one for the peace of divided [hu]mankind in the coming kingdom of God.”

[3] Cf. Moltmann, Church in the Power, 347: “Can political enemies ‘remain one under the gospel’? How long can they do this? And what does it mean for their conflict itself? Does this not make ‘the gospel’ an abstract and ineffective power?” His answer is that what counts in the midst of these conflicts is the “fellowship of Christ.” In other words, it is our mutual faith, and the presence of the living Christ among us through the Spirit, that creates unity in the real conflicts of human life.

[4] Cf. Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics 4.1:668: “In all the riches of His divine being the God who reconciled the world with Himself in Jesus Christ is One. Jesus Christ, elected the Head of all men and as such their Representative who includes them all in Himself in His risen and crucified body is One. The Holy Spirit in the fulness and diversity of His gifts is One. In the same way His community as the gathering of the men who know and confess Him can only be one.”

Tuesday, May 14, 2024

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!

[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.”

Sunday, May 23, 2021

The Spirit of Truth

John 16:12-15[1]

Sharing our faith is something that can be difficult for most of us. In fact, I would say that the vast majority of Christians in this country never say a word about their faith outside a church building. There are a variety of reasons for this. We don’t much like to talk about our faith in public. In fact, I think we’d prefer to do just about anything other than having to talk about our faith in public. For many of us, our convictions are something very personal to us, and we hold them dear. For others, it just seems like there’s so much about our faith that we don’t understand. And for that reason we don’t think we’re capable of talking about our faith.

But sharing our faith is something essential. All of us learned faith in Jesus because of someone who talked to us about him. It may not have happened in a “public” place. For most of us it probably happened either in church or at home or both. But sharing our faith remains the primary means of passing it along from one person to another. More than that, as we saw last week, the “truth” that Jesus has brought us is the truth of a relationship with God whereby we experience God’s love and we put into practice God’s ways and purposes in this world in our daily lives. In order to do that, many of us may feel like we need to know more about that “truth.”

Our lesson from John’s Gospel for today addresses this problem. As we’ve seen already, in this section of the Gospel Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure. But they are confused. They cannot fathom the idea that the Messiah would abandon them. In response, Jesus promises to send them “an Advocate” from the Father (Jn 15:26). The word “Advocate” here could also be translated “Comforter,” “Counselor,” “Helper,” or “Friend.” I think the main point is that the one Jesus was sending to them would be with them in the same way that he had been with them. Of course, he’s referring to the Spirit of God, the one who makes our relationship with God “real” for us, and the one who makes Jesus’ presence real in our lives.

Jesus calls this helper “the Spirit of Truth.” As such, he says that “the Spirit of truth” will guide the disciples “into all truth” (Jn 16:13). That would consist of “teaching” them “everything,” and “reminding” them “of all I have said to you.” Jesus goes on to say that the “helper” will “glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (Jn. 16:14). It would seem, then, that the role of the “helper” is not only to enable them to remember Jesus’ teachings, and beyond that to understand Jesus’ teachings. It would seem that the role of the “helper” was to give them further “truth” that they had not yet received. I think we find that “further truth” in the books of the NT, none of which were written when Jesus lived.

But the “Spirit of Truth” has another role in our lesson for today. I think it’s important for us to see that the main work of the Spirit would be to enable Jesus’ disciples to “testify” to him. In our lesson for today, Jesus promises that the Spirit would testify to him, and that would enable his disciples to testify also (Jn 15:26-27). That follows a pattern in John’s Gospel: just as Jesus did the work God sent him to do, so they would also do the work Jesus sent them to do (Jn. 14:12). Just as Jesus taught what God had given him to teach, so the Spirit would continue to teach them, and in turn they would teach others (Jn. 16:13).[2] They would discover the “truth” as they put into practice the things Jesus taught them in their daily lives.[3]

So the “helper,” or the “Spirit of Truth” would not only lead them into “all truth.” The Spirit would also lead them into all the truth they would need to carry out their work of testifying to Jesus and to the new life they had through him. That’s what the Spirit does in our lives: the Spirit brings the word of Scripture to life so that it calls forth our faith and service to others in love. The Spirit works in our lives constantly to shape us into the image of Christ, producing the “fruit” of character traits that resemble Jesus’ own character. The Spirit empowers every aspect of our lives as Christians, everything we do both individually and together as the Body of Christ. The Spirit teaches us, equips us with gifts, calls us, and perhaps most importantly, pushes us out of our comfortable ruts so that we will indeed “testify” to Jesus and the new life he has given us.

On this day we commemorate the first Pentecost of the early church. Before that day, the first Christians typically gathered behind locked doors out of fear of being caught and arrested. But when the Spirit came upon them, they seemed to lose their fear and became bold witnesses to Jesus Christ. This is precisely what Jesus says the Spirit would do for the disciples in our lesson from John’s Gospel for today. Jesus promises that the Spirit would testify to him, and that would enable them to testify as well. That’s how sharing your faith works. It’s not something any of us can do alone. Even the Apostles affirm time and again in the NT that the only way they were able to do the amazing things they did was because the Spirit of God empowered them to do so. The same is true for us. We can only share our faith as the “Spirit of Truth” “glorifies” Jesus in and through our lives. We can share our faith as the Spirit reminds us, guides us, teaches us, and empowers us to put our faith into practice in our daily lives.

[2] cf. Eugene Peterson, “The Story Behind the Story: John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15,” Journal for Preachers 26 (no. 4 Pentecost) 2003:6-7.

[3] Cf. Gail R. O’Day, “Gospel of John,” New Interpreters Bible IX:749.

Monday, June 10, 2019

That They May Be One

John 17:20-26[1]

A few weeks ago I mentioned some of the ways in which the church is perceived by our culture—not necessarily positively. I think another problem with the perception of the church at large in our society is the idea that there’s supposed to be “one, holy, catholic, apostolic” church. Of course, we could spend a sermon on each one of those marks of the church, but I’m thinking about the first: we say we believe that the church is “one.” But the reality is that, despite our best efforts, if you look at the church today as a whole, you would be hard-pressed to say that we are “one.”^{^[2]} Even when it comes to individual congregations, it’s hard to find a church where everyone is on the same page.

There are so many different approaches to living out the Christian faith. Some are traditional, some are not. Some are conservative, some are middle of the road, and some are very liberal. There is so much “difference” out there, it can leave us wondering whether there is anything that unites the church in any meaningful way. Of course, some churches don’t want to be united with those who do things differently. And while most of us may not agree that “difference” means “heresy,” practically speaking we tend to divide ourselves into groups based on our cultural, political, and social views.

This situation is not for lack of efforts at promoting (or enforcing) unity. Many churches use agreement regarding what they believe to achieve unity. Other churches seek unity through organizational uniformity, through a ladder of authority that works from the top down. In our context, we seek unity through what is essentially a policy manual, the Book of Order. I would have to say that these well-intentioned but misguided efforts at promoting (or enforcing) unity have in reality been ventures in missing the point. They really haven’t succeeded at producing the intended result—a church that is one.

I think part of the problem is that we’re looking in the wrong direction for unity. We think somehow that we can find unity through our own efforts. But in our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus pointed us toward a very different source for unity. Jesus called his disciples to a unity that is grounded in the unity of love between the Father and the Son. Jesus prays, “Father, just as you are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us” (Jn. 17:21). He says it in several different ways, but essentially Jesus prayed for the disciples “that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me” (Jn. 17:22-23). Clearly, what creates a real and lasting unity in the church is the love that unites Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I guess the real question, though, is how we promote the love of God among people like us, who hold very different opinions about what we deem important in life. How do we promote the love that unites Father, Son, and Holy Spirit among people like us who get very attached to our opinions, and who can be stubborn at times about holding onto differing viewpoints? I think what it takes is a unity that is deeper and stronger than anything we can create ourselves. What really makes the church one is the unity that God creates—the church is the one people of the one God. It is the unity that Jesus Christ creates—the church is the one people of the one Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is the unity that the Spirit of God creates—the church is the one people of the one Holy Spirit. This is the unity that makes the church live.

I don’t believe this kind of unity is about the absence of difference. As I’ve said before, I believe that one of the signs of the health of any human community is that it has the ability to disagree. The bond created among us by the presence of the love of God in Christ through the Spirit doesn’t eliminate the differences among us. It means that the differences don’t divide us, they make us stronger. And I think that the way that happens is when we respond to our differences by practicing acceptance, gentleness, humility, and patience. These are ties that bind us together and help us to thrive in the love we share with one another, a love that originates in God’s love for us.

I believe that living out the unity we share in God’s love is one of the most important ways that we can bear witness to our new life in Jesus Christ.^{^[3]} In our day and time, the church is divided by race, divided by class, divided by politics, divided by dogma. All of these divisions contradict what Jesus said should be our defining trait: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn. 13:35). Because we come from different perspectives and backgrounds, the kind of love Jesus commanded us to show one another is difficult. It takes all that we have to give. But in a world that seems increasingly lacking in love, I would suggest that demonstrating the love that makes us one may be the most important way that we can show the world that the church is a place to find new life.

[2] Cf. Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 4.1:677: “The disunity of the Church is a scandal.”

[3] cf. Barth, Church Dogmatics 4.3:235-36, where he argues that the essential revelation in the Gospel of John is the mutual love between the Father and the Son which Jesus demonstrates as a love that draws the world into this fellowship.

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Honoring Jesus

Acts 3:12-19[1]

It seems to me that “honor” is one of those words that has lost some ground in our society. To be sure, there are places where honor still plays a role, like the military. And Scouts pledge on a weekly basis “on their honor” to do their best. But the scandals that have rocked our society in recent history have diminished the honor we attribute to our leaders and those who serve our country. After Watergate, Iran-Contra, Whitewater, Tailhook, and others, the honor with which we esteem leaders even at the highest levels in our society has seriously eroded. The fact that many of our leaders are to be addressed as “honorable” may stick in our throats when we try to say it.

On the other hand, there are aspects of our life where honor still plays a role. We seek to honor our parents, especially when they get older and need help. We honor those who retire from positions after many years of faithful service. Around here, we honor those who have served our church faithfully for many decades. We also have a tradition of honoring those who work behind the scenes with little public recognition with our annual “Church Mouse” award. Of course, there are also other community leaders that we respect and honor for their integrity, their devotion, and their passion for their work. It’s a joy to be able to hold those who serve and lead in our communities in honor.

I find it interesting that the story of the early church in Acts is recounted in a way that essentially honors Jesus as the source, the inspiration, and the driving force behind everything they did. Many of the amazing things that they did they attributed to the power of Jesus’ name. In our lesson for today, Peter says it this way: “by faith in [Jesus’] name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you” (Acts 3:16). When the people tried to honor the Apostles for their astounding deeds of mercy, they consistently pointed the crowds to Jesus.

It may be difficult to understand this theme, but I think essentially they were talking about the fact that, as our lesson for today puts it, “the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus” (Acts 3:13). Again, the idea of “glorifying” someone is not all that common in our world today. If we use the concept at all, it has a negative connotation, as in someone who is only interested in glorifying themselves. In my mind, however, what was going on in our lesson is that through the early Church God was publicly honoring Jesus, whom the Jewish leaders had subjected to a humiliating death.

This is but one way in which the Church saw themselves bearing witness to Jesus as our Savior and Lord. When you read the book of Acts closely, I think it becomes clear that their witness was a combination of words and deeds that promoted the new life in Christ as well as a lifestyle that publicly demonstrated the reality of that new life. The gospel they proclaimed was that through Jesus Christ God was in the process of bringing new life to all people.^{^[2]} And those first believers saw themselves as a community that was already experiencing the new life of the resurrected Jesus. What made their witness so effective at honoring Jesus was the combination of their message with their life.

Our lesson for today recounts a story in which that new life took a very tangible form. It is a story of the Apostles Peter and John healing a man who was crippled from birth, so that he “jumped up” and began “walking and leaping and praising God” (Acts 3:8)! Obviously that kind of thing would make a great stir. But what we should not overlook is the fact that everything about the first Christians’ life together demonstrated this gift of new life. When they devoted themselves to their fellowship with one another, it enhanced their experience of the new life in Christ. When they shared their possessions with one another help the needy, it made God’s promise to renew all things a reality. When they lived and worked in the harmony of “one heart and mind,” it demonstrated the new life the Spirit had given them.

Many will debate the truth of a miracle story like this. But I think to do so is to miss the greater truth: everything about the early Church’s life together bore witness that in Jesus the Christ God was fulfilling all the great promises of restoration and renewal and new life. The quality of their life and work served as evidence that the “wonderful times of refreshment” were already coming “from the presence of the Lord” and that “the final restoration of all things” that “God promised long ago through his prophets” was already in the process of being fulfilled (Acts 3:20-21, NLT). And all of this was intended to honor Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

I think one of the most important ways we can demonstrate honor in our personal lives is by seeking to line up our lives with our faith. It’s a matter of doing what St. Paul said when he urged us to “lead lives worthy of the Lord” (Col. 1:10). He put it a little differently when he said, “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col. 3:17). As I tell the confirmation class every year, if we truly seek to live out the question “What would Jesus do?” I don’t think we’ll go too far astray. Again, the idea here is that by our words as well as our actions we are to bring honor to Jesus. We are called to show forth by our whole lives the new life we have received. And as we do so, hopefully we do it in such a way as to bring honor to our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.

[2] Cf. Diana Butler Bass, Christianity for the Rest of Us, 110-111, where she speaks of shalom as “God’s dynamic wholeness” that is the “central vision” of the Bible.

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Working the Fields

Matthew 9:35-10:7[1]

I’ve never worked in a field of corn or beans. I grew up in sorghum and cotton country. So I don’t know what it’s like to work at de-tasseling a corn field or weeding a bean field. I have, however, had my share of manual labor. I spent many a day with my Order of the Arrow chapter cutting weeds at the Scout camp with a swing blade. And I had the blisters on my hands to show for it. I worked at a variety of Summer jobs during my education—including moving potted plants at a wholesale plant nursery, pulling parts at an auto salvage yard, and building and installing wooden playground equipment. I think what they all had in common with working the fields was that it was hard, hot, dusty work.

I don’t know if Jesus’ disciples had experience with working in fields. We know that some of them made their living by fishing with nets. They apparently worked at night, and I would think that hauling their nets could be back-breaking work. But I doubt that all of them had that kind of background. Nevertheless, I’m not sure they saw following Jesus as a path that would lead them to hard work. If they saw him as the Messiah, they may have thought that by joining with him they would have the privilege of ruling with him when he revealed himself. That’s a very different prospect from working the fields.

In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus clearly calls his disciples to work that he compares to that of a harvest. If you think de-tasseling is work, imagine what it would be like to spend the day cutting wheat and bundling it for gathering. The kind of harvest that took place in Jesus’ day was hard, hot, dusty work. You spent the day swinging a scythe, covered chaff from the wheat mixed with sweat. And you would work from sunup to sundown that way. There was nothing glamorous about that kind of work.

And yet, it’s clear that the work Jesus called his disciples to carry out was urgent. One reason is because the “harvest” they were to work had to do with people. And the people of Jesus’ day were, as Matthew’s gospel says, “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36). The disciples’ calling to work the fields was urgent because the people needed someone to point the way for them. They needed someone to help them trust that God was there for them to comfort and deliver them. They needed someone to give them hope that they wouldn’t always be suffering under the oppression of the powerful. And so Jesus sent his disciples to work the fields.

Another reason why it was urgent for them to work the harvest was because no one else was doing the job. Jesus says it this way, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” (Matt. 9:37). That might seem perfectly natural to our ears, but in Jesus’ day, it would have sounded strange. Jerusalem was a hive of religious activity with the priests and Levites who attended the worship at the temple. One estimate suggests there were as many as 18,000 priests in that day.[2] There may have been as many as another 30,000 Levites. Then there were the scribes and the Pharisees, who taught primarily in the synagogues scattered throughout Judea. It doesn’t sound much like “the laborers” were “few.”

But part of what was going on here was that Jesus was criticizing the religious professionals of his day. Remember that Matthew says that to Jesus the people were like “sheep without a shepherd.” This was very likely a not-so-veiled rebuke of the priests and Levites, as well as the scribes and the Pharisees. Later in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus outlines the many ways in which the religious leaders of his day were leading the people astray, or were simply oppressing them. But Jesus wasn’t the first to make the observation that those who were supposed to be caring for the needs of the Jewish people had failed to do so. Prophets like Ezekiel had announced their failure centuries before. Despite the fact that there were many people working in the religious centers of Jesus’ day, he could still say that “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”

The solution to this problem was to “ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:38). While that might seem a rather safe thing to pray, I think Jesus must have known better. It may be easy to assume that we can pray this prayer without having it really affect us. But the truth of the matter is that if you pray this prayer from the heart, it’s not a “safe” prayer at all. It’s very likely that this prayer is one that will lead you to feel compelled to say, “Send me!” That’s exactly what happened with the disciples. In the very next verses Jesus sends them out to do the work of the Kingdom he had been doing.

We may be tempted to think, as Jesus’ disciples may have been, that the “harvest is small and the laborers are many.” After all, there are churches in just about every town and scattered throughout our cities. This part of the country seems to have more churches per capita than anywhere else. Just about everyone you run into around here seems to already have some affiliation with a church. And yet, just as Jesus intended for his disciples to be moved to work the fields by praying for the Lord to send laborers to the harvest, so we too are called to engage in the work of the Kingdom. We might wonder how we’re supposed to do that. The answer is in the Gospels—Jesus sets the example; he shows his own disciples how do work the field by giving them a role model to follow. And his example still stands as the best approach to serving and working for the Kingdom in our day. As we follow his example, we can join all the many laborers throughout the ages who have answered Jesus’ call to work the fields.

[2] See Joachim Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus.

Telling Our Story

Telling our Story

Acts 1:6-14[1]

At Easter time, it’s common to see the phrase “It’s not about the Bunny.” As it turns out, that might not be entirely true. The image of a rabbit or a hare is an ancient one, and its original meaning is difficult to discern. But there is abundant evidence that the image of “three hares” was given Christian meaning as early as the 13^th Century.[2] It was associated with the Trinity in many contexts. But the “Easter Bunny” originated in the German Lutheran churches as a counterpart to Nikolaus, who comes to bring gifts to children who have been good and lumps of coal to those who have not. The first reference to an Easter Bunny playing a similar role is found in the 17^th century.

While the tradition of gift-giving at Easter as well as Christmas may have originated in the church, I think I would have to say that Easter is the celebration of our faith that death could not hold Jesus in the grave. Rather, God raised him up to new life as a demonstration that God is in the process of granting new life to us all. That is the true gift of Easter. And yet, as foundational as that is to our faith, I would have to say that the point of Easter is not just about the gift. It’s also about the astounding task that Jesus gave to all of those who follow him: to bear witness to the new life we have through his death and resurrection to the whole world.

The story that the book of Acts tells about the early church is a story of witness—the witness to the resurrection of Jesus and the new life that comes out of it. As soon as the church receives the power of the Spirit, they begin to bear witness to the resurrection of Jesus. In fact, from then on, they rarely mention the events surrounding Jesus’ resurrection without adding, “We are witnesses of these things.” One of the amazing features of this story is that, despite all obstacles, against all odds, the early church’s witness to Jesus’ resurrection is a great success. It is natural to wonder what made the witness of the early church so successful. I think it was the fact that their message was demonstrated by their life.

The message of the early church was that Jesus had been raised from the dead by God, who vindicated Jesus’ claim to be our Savior. They proclaimed to all who would listen that the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is a sign pointing us to God’s new creation that is already working to transform us all. They proclaimed that the resurrection validated Jesus’ claim to be the bearer of the kingdom of God, the realm of compassionate justice and joyful new life. And they proclaimed the hope that, just as God has restored Jesus to life, so also God will restore all creation to life.

But perhaps just as important a factor in the early church’s witness was that their message was backed up by their life.[3] They lived out the good news by their mutual acceptance of one another and by extending God’s gracious welcome to all. They sought God’s guidance in prayerful discernment by asking questions together and listening together for the answers. They lived out the joy of the resurrection in worship that opened their hearts and minds to a genuine experience of God. They shared their faith and their experience of God’s love with one another by sharing their testimony. They integrated the good news into every aspect of their lives through open and humble study. And they went out from their prayer and worship and study seeking to put into practice the compassion of God’s kingdom in every facet of life.

Some who study these matters would say that it was these practices that made the early church’s witness so powerful. I think I might put it a little differently—what made them so successful was that their witness came out of the experience of being radically transformed in their own hearts and minds and lives. They were bearing witness to that which they had experienced first hand! One of the early Christian leaders put it this way: what they spoke about was “something which … we ourselves actually saw and heard: something which we had an opportunity to observe closely and even to hold in our hands” (1 John 1:1, Phillips).

This new way of living is the true gift of Easter. And it is a gift that is for everyone, everywhere. I’ve used the analogy of an immunization before to illustrate the power of this gift. Like a vaccination spreads protection against disease throughout the body, so Jesus’ death and resurrection spreads new life throughout the whole creation. Where the analogy breaks down is that a shot usually takes effect fairly quickly to protect us from illness. On the other hand, the new life Jesus “injected” into this world through his death and resurrection has been working to transform all things and all people for over 2000 years.

In part, that transformation is something only God can accomplish. And yet, one of the means God has chosen to carry out this work is through people like you and me. As we live out the faith, hope, love, and joy of the new life in our lives, we contribute to the spread of this healing power in our world. But at the end of the day, we also have to speak. We cannot carry out the task of bearing witnesses to the new life of Easter silently. We are called and commissioned and empowered by the Spirit to share the message of Easter with those we encounter. If the new life is truly a reality that makes a difference for us, we are charged with the task of telling our story to others. It can be that simple: as we tell our story, we too are witnesses to the new life that Easter brings to us all.

[2] See “Three Hares” at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_hares .

[3] Cf. William H. Willimon, Acts, 52; cf. also Anthony B. Robinson and Robert W. Wall, Called to Be Church: The

Book of Acts for a New Day.

Sunday, June 11, 2017

We are Witnesses

Acts 2:22-32[1]

We Presbyterians get pretty nervous around words like “witness.” It reminds us of people who go door-to-door, rather too confidently professing their own faith and assuming those they are “visiting” are spiritually “lost.” When I was a Seminary Professor, a young lady came to my door one night to ask me, “If you died tonight, are you sure that you would go to Heaven”! Of course I was polite with her, but I found it ironical that someone who was just starting her faith journey presumed that I needed “saving.” At the time I had been serving the gospel in a wide variety of ways for over twenty years! I give her credit for her effort, but I think that’s the kind of “witness” that makes us cringe.

I would say part of our problem is that is the only model we have for what it means to bear witness to our faith. We assume we have to go door-to-door behaving in a way that is at least disrespectful and perhaps worse. From another point of view, we may think that only those who have had an exceptional spiritual journey actually have something that’s worth sharing. When we think that’s what “bearing witness” to the gospel means, we may assume that we don’t have much to say. Or at least we don’t think that what we have to say counts as bearing witness to the gospel. For whatever reason, we don’t feel comfortable with the idea that “we are witnesses” to the gospel.

When we look at our Scripture reading for today, at first glance we may think it confirms our hesitation. Our lesson from the Book of Acts is part of Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost. In this part of the sermon, he talks about “deeds of power, wonders, and signs” (Acts 2:22) that they saw Jesus perform in order to demonstrate that he truly was sent from God. He also speaks fairly confidently about God’s “definite plan and foreknowledge” demonstrated in Jesus’ death and resurrection. All of this makes it sound like his witness to the good news about Jesus is way out of our league. Surely he must have some kind of insight that we are not permitted to attain. When Peter says “we all are witnesses” (Acts 2:32), he must be referring to a select group of Christians here.

But if you look at the passage a little more closely, Peter is doing something fairly common. He’s interpreting the events of Jesus’ death and resurrection in light of Scripture. In this case, it’s one of the Psalms. Peter quotes from Psalm 16 to make the point that it was God’s intention to raise Jesus from the dead all along. I think that makes sense, because Psalm 16 was a declaration of hope for anyone who trusted that their life was in God’s hands. The faith expressed in the Psalm was that nothing, not even death, could snatch them from the safety and joy they had in God’s presence.

In Peter’s case, the Psalm provided him with the language to bear witness to his experience that Jesus had in fact been raised from the dead. More than that, it helped him to give words to his conviction that this was God’s plan all along. So from one point of view, you could say that Peter’s witness was rather ordinary. By that I mean that in his “witness” Peter was not claiming some supernatural revelation. He was simply sharing his own experience as he understood it in light of Scripture. He was bearing witness to what he had seen and heard. That’s really all any of us can do: share our experience as we understand it in light of Scripture.

Of course, Peter and the others whose witness serves as the basis for our New Testament did have some extraordinary experiences. Peter’s “witness” in our lesson for today is part of his sermon on the day of Pentecost. We know that what made Peter’s “witness” so effective that day was he was “filled with the Spirit.” And we would say that it was the Spirit who empowered the testimony of the all the Apostles. Most of us would be uncomfortable claiming that we are “filled with the Spirit.” I doubt that we would say that our words of witness to the gospel are empowered by the Spirit. But I think this is an example of how we tend to take ourselves for granted. The Scriptures tell us that the Spirit has been poured out on us all. The Spirit is working to empower every one of us in whatever we may do in service to God and one another. And that includes our “witness.” The Spirit is at work when we share our experience of Christ with others.

I realize that, to many of us, our own faith journey may seem too “ordinary” for us to be able to “bear witness to the gospel.” It may seem like sharing our experience doesn’t count as a “witness” for Christ. But while our experiences may be similar, no two people have the same journey. That means each of us has insights into what it means to be a Christian that are unique. And it is our calling to share those experiences with those around us. They may seem insignificant to us, but we never really know what people are dealing with and how our words of encouragement might help them. Our very simple and ordinary “witness” might make all the difference in the world.

The truth of the matter is that “bearing witness to the gospel” is an entirely ordinary aspect of the Christian life. It’s as simple as telling the story of what you have seen and heard, as you understand it in light of Scripture. It’s as ordinary as talking about how God has worked in your life. The truth is we all have a story to tell, the story of our own faith journey. If nothing else, we all can relate to someone how we have experienced God’s love in our lives. Bearing witness to the gospel doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that. As Peter said so long ago, “We all are witnesses” (Acts 2:32).

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Light for the World

Matthew 5:13-20[1]

Most of us are private people. We tend to keep what is most personal very close. Many of us don’t even want to feel our emotions, let alone talk about them. Even when it would do us good to do so, we prefer to keep them private. We don’t easily share our deepest problems, because we don’t want other people to know our business. We certainly don’t want others to know about our health problems, because we find it embarrassing. In some respects, this tendency to keep some things private can be healthy. There are some aspects of our lives that simply aren’t meant to be shared in public.

Unfortunately, we carry that privacy over to our faith. For example, it has been generally agreed that we don’t talk about religion or politics in polite company. We may find that to be especially true at large family gatherings, like Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Most of our families are diverse enough that they represent a range of political and religious convictions. And some of us know by experience how uncomfortable it can be to get into a “discussion” of religion or politics with our extended families. So we talk about sports, or the weather, or anything else that’s “safe.” Unfortunately, this tendency toward privacy also means that we don’t talk about our faith much at all. Except at church, because that’s where you’re “supposed” to talk about those things.

The problem with this is that our faith was never meant to be kept private.[2] We cannot simply set it aside when we walk out the doors of this building. The kind of commitment that the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ seeks from us is one that is by definition public. It affects every area of life. There is no line that separates what is sacred from what is secular, that separates our faith from our lives. Our faith is meant to be lived out in our lives—and that means every facet of life.

I think this has something to do with what Jesus was saying in our lesson for today. If you pay close attention, Jesus did not shy away from talking about topics that were controversial. His teachings upset the political and religious status quo. That’s what got him killed. Think about it—people don’t get riled up enough to execute someone for simply telling them to love God and to love other people. Jesus got into trouble with the political and religious leaders because he spelled out what that was supposed to look like in a way that exposed their hypocrisy. In the words of Isaiah, they acted “as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness” but the reality was that they had forsaken God’s ways (Isa. 58:2).

In our lesson for today, Jesus proclaims that those who follow him and embrace the values of God’s kingdom of justice, mercy, peace, and freedom as laid out in the Beatitudes are “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” It’s a little hard to tell what Jesus meant by saying that we are “the salt of the earth.” One use for salt that I think of in this connection is to purify that which is contaminated. We still use saline rinse to cleanse wounds. I wonder if Jesus didn’t intend his followers to be the “salt of the earth” in that sense: to live in such a way as to “cleanse” society of the prejudice and hatred and injustice and violence that plagues the human family. It may be painful, like salt in a wound, but the goal is to promote healing.

Jesus also said that those who follow him are the “light of the world.” I think this also has a dual emphasis. Light shining in the darkness exposes that which we would like to keep hidden. Most of us don’t parade our wrongdoing for all to see. We much prefer to keep it hidden. And we don’t much like it when what we want to keep hidden is exposed. But when the wrongs that are hidden in society are allowed to remain secret, they have a way of festering and getting worse. In a sense, I think Jesus intended for his disciples to shed light on the wrongs in this world by speaking the truth about them, rather than allowing them to remain hidden. In this way, they also serve as “light” by showing the world the way God intends for life to be.

An interesting feature of this text is that Jesus doesn’t say “You shall be the salt of the earth,” or “You are to become the light of the world.”[3] He simply stated it as truth. Those who follow Jesus are salt and light for the world. When we place our faith in Jesus and align ourselves with the kingdom of God, that decision means demonstrating the difference it makes in our lives. We cannot help but be salt and light for the world.[4] And if you’re wondering what that means in terms of specifics, Jesus said it this way: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me” (Matt. 25:35-36). You can’t keep that private!

The truth of the matter is that we simply cannot keep our faith to ourselves.[5] In doing so, something happens that is similar to salt becoming insipid: it saps the life out of our faith. It makes about as much sense as turning on a lamp and covering it with a tarp. Jesus calls those of us who would follow him to a life that puts our faith out there in public. Our faith is not meant to stay in the realm of “interesting ideas” we talk about only at church. For our faith to be real, it has to be put into practice in every facet of our lives, from work to family to community to politics. We’re meant to demonstrate the difference faith makes in every way possible. When we live out our faith in that way for all to see, then we are salt for the earth and light for the world.

[2] Cf. Fred Craddock, “Two Arenas for Faithfulness,” The Christian Century, (Jan 31 1990):98, where he says, “There is no way that Christ’s cause can be converted into an individual or community lifestyle of self-interest, self-protection and defense against vulnerability. To do so is not to interpret Christ differently, but to abandon him. The way of Christ is to take the initiative and rather than hide from the world let the light shine in the hopeful trust that the praise of God will be increased.”

[3] Cf. W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, Matthew 1-7, 472: “Jesus’ followers are not the salt and light of Israel … but of the whole world.” Cf. also Jürgen Moltmann, The Way of Jesus Christ, 125-26; Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, 4.2:804-805.

[4] Cf. Paul Louis Metzger, “Christ, Culture, And The Sermon On The Mount Community,” Ex Auditu 23 (2007): 25-26. He says, “Being ‘relevant’ does not necessarily suggest that we let culture shape the gospel to make it appealing. The gospel creates its own relevance. Followers of Jesus are not salespeople who sell a product but witnesses who are promoting a kingdom and who are participating in the life of the king as his people who give and receive from his abundance.”

[5] Cf. Davies and Allison, Matthew 1-7, 478: “Jesus’ disciples are to live in the world so that the world will see them and be moved to glorify God. Closet Christianity and self-directed service are excluded.”

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

WYSIWYG

1 John 5:9-13[1]

Some of you may be wondering, based on the title of my sermon today, whether I’m going to preach in another language. “WYSIWYG” may look like gobbledygook to you. Those of you who, like me, tend toward the “geeky” side of life know exactly what the title of the sermon means. It is an acronym that stands for “what you see is what you get.” But it stands for a whole lot more than just what that phrase might say. It stands for a revolution in the way computers operated over thirty years ago. Instead of having to memorize hundreds of codes you had to enter manually in order to even use a basic word processor, “what you see is what you get” referred to a graphical user interface where all you had to do was “point and click.” And of course, now it means all you have to do is tap a screen. “What you see is what you get” has become a way of life for most of us.

Unfortunately, I wouldn’t say that is the case outside the “virtual reality” of personal computing. We live in a world of fog and veils, a world of smoke and mirrors, a world where lies are promoted as the truth. When someone goes on TV to tell blatant lies, we call it “spin doctoring.” Blowing smoke in people’s face is raised to a higher level each year. When corporations throw thousands of people out of work, we used to call it “downsizing.” Then we called it “rightsizing.” Now we call it “corporate realignment.” As if there’s something out of whack about people making a decent living! In this world, it seems that nobody—absolutely nobody—is who they appear to be.

I think that something of this nature was going on behind the scenes of our study of 1 John. They were in the middle of a “church split,” where both sides were accusing the other of deception. The Elder who wrote this letter seemed to feel it was necessary to wade into the mess and try to bring some clarity to the situation. To some extent, he seems to have gone a little too far. There are several statements in this letter that reflect a kind of “all or nothing” thinking that doesn’t do justice to our experience of life—and probably wasn’t completely fair in that time. But he was fighting for the survival of a church community that was fragile and endangered by threats both from outside and from within.[2] From his perspective, the way to sort through the haze was to insist on adherence to certain doctrinal standards—accepting that Jesus truly was God in real human flesh.

While there are times when clarifying the truth of one’s convictions is important, even crucial, to maintaining our faith in this world, I would say that it doesn’t necessarily help that much in our day and time. We live in a time when, more and more, people aren’t looking so much for “cut and dried” answers to the deep questions of life. They are looking for authenticity. They’re looking for genuineness. They’re looking for something that truly embodies a “what you see is what you get” approach to life.

I think our Scripture lesson actually helps us here. The Elder says that “those who believe in the Son of God have the witness in themselves” (1 Jn. 5:10). There is some debate about what this means,[3] but I think it means that when someone’s faith in Jesus is real you can see the life that is in them.[4] It’s obvious by who they are and how they live. You can’t miss it. They “have the witness in themselves.” I think this kind of approach is a much better option for us in our current climate than strict adherence to doctrinal standards. I think a lot more people out there will be drawn to faith when we who profess to believe demonstrate this “witness” we have by living as “what you see is what you get” people.

Of course, that isn’t the easiest thing in the world. Unfortunately, some of the most public representatives of our faith turn out to be some of the most dishonest and shallow people. Their personal lives are anything but a witness to the new life that people are looking for. They spend so much money on themselves that it’s hard to take much of what they say about the faith seriously. And, in fact, many who are outside the church looking in find faith to be difficult at best because the public face of the faith as reflected in the lives of these “Christian celebrities” is anything but genuine.

Of course, the hard truth is that it’s difficult for all of us to be truly genuine. Many are afraid to let others see too much of themselves. Being “what you see is what you get” 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. But I think there’s room for some discretion here. We don’t have to bare everything we’ve ever done that we regret in order to be fundamentally 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 “what you see is what you get.”

The good news of the Gospel is that by his resurrection Jesus made it possible for us all to have life: new life, real life, life that is defined by genuine love, lasting joy, living hope.[5] That is the good news with which we have been entrusted. And we have also been called to bear witness to our new life in this world.[6] I think the most effective way to do that is to be people of whom Jesus can say, “my life is on display in them” (Jn 17:10, The Message). And I think that means we must live in such a way that the new life in Jesus Christ defines who we are.[7] We are called to be “what you see is what you get” people.

[2] Cf. Raymond E. Brown, The Epistles of John, 31–35; cf. also Stephen S. Smalley, 1,2,3 John, 291.

[3] The question is whether this “witness” believers have in themselves is the three-fold witness of the preceeding verses (cf. I. Howard Marshall, Epistles of John, 240), or the experience of faith, or the internal witness of the Spirit, or something separate. Brown makes a convincing argument for identifying this “witness” with the gift of eternal life on the basis of 1 Jn. 5:11–12 (cf. Brown, Epistles of John, 591).

[4] Cf. Smalley, 1, 2, 3 John, 285-86; and C. Clifton Black, “The First, Second and Third Letters of John,” New Interpreters Bible XII:440. Cf. also G. Strecker, The Johannine letters, 195–196: “The Christ-event is not a thing of the past to which one may look back with an objectifying glance. … It occurs hic et nunc in the community, as a reconciling, life-giving reality. Christian life before God is life in the Son.” See further D. Moody Smith, First, Second, and Third John, 126, where he asserts that this witness consists of “the eternal life that is given in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. … salvation as the gift of life through the Son is the ultimate testimony of God.”

[5] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, 191: “The Spirit of God makes the impossible possible; he creates faith where there is nothing else to believe in; he creates love where there is nothing lovable; he creates hope where there is nothing to hope for.” Cf. also ibid., 279: “In the rebirth of life the new creation of the world into the kingdom of God in an individual life is already experienced and anticipated here.”

[6] 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.”

[7] Despite the controversy that was behind the scenes in 1 John, it is clear from 1 Jn. 5:13 that the Elder was seeking “to strengthen Christian believers who might be tempted to doubt the reality of their Christian experience and to give up their faith in Jesus” (cf. Marshall, Epistles of John, 243).

The Waking Dreamer