THE SALVATION OF CHRIST
#828e THE SALVATION OF CHRIST
Scripture John 5:1-18 Orig. 3/1/1985
Passage: Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” 8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, 10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” 11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ” 12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”
13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
The Authority of the Son
16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
Purpose: Continuing the series on The Doctrine of Christ, here emphasizing Christ’s salvation.
Keywords: Christ as Saviour Doctrine of Christ
Timeline/Series: Doctrine of Christ
Introduction
Dr. James Stewart, in his book, The Wind of the Spirit(1), shares a powerful word about this Jesus who is called Christ. Says Dr. Stewart: “There are indeed myriads of facts in this world you can disregard, multitudes of events you do not need to come to terms with. . . . The politics of Julius Caesar, the origins of the sonnet, the tactics of Waterloo, the internal motions of the planetary nebulae—such things do not enter into the structure of my every day experience. I can ignore them. I can disregard them. But there are other facts that will not thus be disregarded. I cannot indefinitely ignore the laws of health, the social solidarity of the community, the demands of duty, the reality of death. . . . And of all the facts of life that refuse to be ignored, the greatest by far is Jesus Christ.
“He haunts the human race. Men have tried for 19 centuries to escape Him, and after all their trying He pursues them still. I know that if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, I shall find Him there. I know that whether civilization climbs the steep ascent of heaven or plunges down to hell, it will find Him there. The world may flout His laws, and trample His name in the dust of oblivion; I can wash my hands of Him, like Pilate, and drag my soul in slumber and apostasy, but irresistibly and inexorably He comes back, our Judge and our Redeemer, our Tormentor and our Saviour, the pressure of Almighty God on your life and mine, He comes back and stands at the door and knocks. He is there now . . . and He will not be ignored. ‘Lo, I am you always, even to the end of the world.’” (W43p177)
I. First, the Hurt. v3/v5
Physical infirmity is a symbol of lostness. Crippled legs are crippled by sin. John 7:23 Jesus “made a whole man well.” God completed the creation with Himself. Genesis 2:7 “breathed” “he became a living soul.” Old Testament and New Testament uses “soul” for completeness. Acts 2:41, 3,000 “souls” added to church.
The point of Jesus’ coming was spiritual. What must first be provided? John 5:14 physical first; Mark 2:5, 9-12 sin problem first. He deals with people at soul level. His goal is wholeness, Galatians 5:22, Philippians 4:23. Plato popularized soul trapped in body and death frees soul.
We are physical. Additionally, we have personality. Different capacities for intellect. Emotion. We entertain socially. We are spiritual. Wholeness. Jesus made whole man well. He healed legs. He prompted sin’s dealing.
Jesus came because man was lost. Genesis man. Lostness. Sin predominated. Man is separated from God. Wholly lost.
II. The Human Factor. V7 “I have no man [to help me]”
Characterized by uncaring. V3 “great multitude.” V5 “38 years” to do the “stirring,” no one helped.
Characterized by personal disorder. V6 “Do you want to be well?” Personal will: Jesus offers, He does not impose. Ask of physical and spiritual.
Characterized by religious dissent. V10 It’s the Sabbath. Why? V18 Jews sought to kill Jesus. Sabbath. God was His Father.
Characterized by inability. Matthew 8, there comes to Jesus a Centurion, beseeching Him. Not a common man. Naaman demanded Elisha cure. How much humility? Came to befriend a slave. Came to Jesus.
III. Finally, the Wholeness. V8 Rise, take up your bed and walk. V14 See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.
Wholeness is the true object of God’s concern. Mark 2:27, The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. John 5:10, The Jews said to him that was cured. It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry your bed on the Sabbath. John 7:23, Are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?
Wholeness was the reason for Christ’s coming. For human weakness—not sub-human, not super-human. Sin causes problems. We try to avoid but don’t always succeed. Difference between wine and wineskins.
Note from transcriber: This sermon was handwritten and is more fragmented than typed sermons.
(1) Stewart, J. (1988). The Wind of the Spirit. Baker Publishing Group.
MESSIANIC EXPECTATIONS
#828a MESSIANIC EXPECTATIONS
Scripture John 4:1-42 Date 2/19/1985
Passage: Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a]) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” 19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” 25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
The Disciples Rejoin Jesus
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” 34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Many Samaritans Believe
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
Purpose: Begin a series lasting through two weeks on THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST, here introducing the Christ who came.
Keywords: Christ the Messiah Doctrine of Christ
Timeline/Series: Doctrine of Christ
Introduction
My father has been an avid reader for most of his adult life. I remember often encountering him in some reading venture. What he particularly liked was westerns, and Bret Harte was a favorite.
One of Bret Harte’s most famous stories was called “The Luck of Roaring Camp.” It is about a wild mining camp in the late Nineteenth Century. Roughness and crudeness were not only acceptable, they were expected. The story revolves around a young, pregnant woman in the camp, who, when she gave birth to a fatherless son, died of complications from the delivery. The miners were left to care for the baby. Unexpected changes began to take place. The baby was kept in an immaculately clean room, amidst the rubble of the camp. But soon, other areas began to improve in appearance. Cleanliness became the order of the day. Swearing, which had always been the language of the men, came to be strictly forbidden. Their favorite pastime had always been drinking. After the coming of this child in among them, they spent their off hours taking care of “their” baby. What a difference one little baby can make in one’s perspective of life.
Grapple, if you can, with the reality of what it has meant, not only to the believing Jew of the first century who expected Him, and to whom He came, but to all of us, that the Christ has come into our world and became one with us.
I heard a classic recently about children, and pleasure derived. Someone said “If I had known how much I was going to enjoy my grandchildren, I would have had them first.”
I. The Samaritan Woman Allows Us to Examine the Expectations of Messiah. V25 “The woman said to Him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When He comes, He will tell us all things.’”
First, a word about Samaria. When David’s kingdom was divided during the reign of Rehoboam, it was divided north from south, between Judah, and a confederation of the other tribes. 25 years after the death of Jeroboam, their first king, Omri, then King, bought a site identified as the Hill of Samaria (I Kings 16:24), and built a new capital called Samaria. This kingdom collapsed in 721BC, many of the people were taken away, others brought in. The feelings between Judah and Samaritans worsened. After Judah fell, people returned, Samaritans sought to prevent settlement and reorganization.
The Samaritan: She comes to Jacob’s well, away from her village. Why? She opens up immediately to Jesus. She senses quality, she has religious values. Jesus shows His concern for an unseemly woman. She identifies her concept of Messiah, limited to Samaritan horizons. “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain”—the shrine at the site of destroyed temple on Mt. Gerizim. Settle human differences.
It will surely help to understand better what the Jews expected. The term means “anointed.” Word has various Old Testament uses not referring to Christ. “Christ” is Greek form. Some expected a warrior/anointed, a David.
Others expected a priestly Messiah who would be like God’s regent. What is clear at Masada is that these faithful Jews waited for a “deliverer.” When none came, they committed mass suicide.
We will talk a little later about what Jesus taught of the Messiah.
II. Jesus Gives Us Our Best Practice of Messianic Expectation. He identifies Himself as a Jew, but not a standard Jew. He is in Samaria. He is at Jacob’s Well talking to a Samaritan woman. V7 “Give me a drink.” It is not that they do not drink from a vessel. Sugchrontai—to use in common.
He reveals to such a one as the complex reality of His messiahship. He has established Messiah’s humanity. (See John 1:14—and the Word was manifested among us.) He was weary, needed food. He refutes any idea of nationalistic deliverer.
He affirmed His message. She spoke of “proclaimer,” v25. He acknowledges this. V26 “I Am.” Exodus 3:14, “And God said to Moses, ‘I Am who I Am’” . . . say . . . ‘I Am has sent me to you.’”
Jesus identifies Himself as THE ANOINTED OF GOD:
- In Jerusalem, John 10:24f, “If you are the Christ, tell us.” “My sheep . . . follow me.” Salvation is His goal.
- In the garden at prayer, John 17:3, “That they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.”
- At Jesus’ trial before the High Priest, Mark 14:61, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Jesus replied “I am.” Then He stresses that His throne is heavenly not national.
- The Risen Christ so identified Himself, Luke 24:26f, to the couple from Emmaus—“ought the Christ to have suffered these things?”
III. Finally, a Brief Word about the Salvation He Came to Offer. V42, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the World.”
Jesus’ enterprise is not material or national, it is spiritual. He came into the world as the promised and anointed of God. To redeem all, and to reach reconciliation among them. He came to fashion faith not for the Jew only, but for Jew and Samaritan; descendant of Abraham and one never having heard; child of faith and one born of superstition; Jew as well as Gentile—Romans 2:10f, “to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile, for there is no respect of persons with God.”
He forever destroyed the barriers that separate us one from the other.
Conclusion
Historian Will Durant is reported to have once said, “The greatest question of our time is not communism versus individualism, not Europe versus America, not even the East versus the West: It is whether a man can bear to live without God.”
Added: Source PBS 12/12/1999, 7:50a.m., “Circle of Light.”
Young Indian boy alone with a fire and the belief that his grandfather’s spirit was in the trees nearby.
Elk comes to rest in still light, scar on his flank
Wolf comes to opposite side, blind in one eye
Flurrying of wings and an eagle rests opposite, leg is broken.
Boy asks each what the fire means: It is a circle of light in which each can rest without fear.
THE SIN OF SONLESSNESS
#055a THE SIN OF SONLESSNESS
Scripture John 8:21-36, NIV Orig. Date 10-2-61
Rewr. Dates 4-18-85 (7-77)
Passage: 21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”
22 This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”
23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
25 “Who are you?” they asked. “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. 26 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”
27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up[a] the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” 30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him.
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Purpose: To introduce a doctrinal study called The Doctrine of Christ so that my people will better understand their need of Christ, the sin-bearer.
Keywords: Christ the Saviour The Christian Life Sin Power
Introduction
It has been several years ago, but the news services told the story all around the country. The streets of the city of New York were electrically dark, but were aflame with human passion. Different reports gave different accounts. 1,700, 1,800, as many as 2,000 arrested for looting and arson. An old jail, long out of service, had to be reactivated to hold the mobs.
It started with a power failure and turned into a night of terror. Untold numbers of people were caught up in a wild melee in the streets that suddenly engulfed them. Some of them found themselves doing things that they would never have done under other circumstances.
Nevertheless, their weakness violated the law, caused pain and suffering; they would have to pay for their crimes. In other places, those more detached from the human scene were scoffing at the evangelical concept of sin. Is there sin? Can there be a God who judges sin? Are we accountable for the wrongs we do?
Sin comes to us in all shapes and colors. It waltzes through one’s life with the whisper of a gentle breeze, or it destroys everything in its path like a late Summer storm. It registers every degree of intensity from anguish to zeal (misguided). It is real! There are different kinds. These are difficult to categorize. One sin exceeds all others in total effect upon our lives. It is the Sin of Sonlessness. It is the sin unto death. It spells death for people, for cultures, for nations, for churches.
I. The Sin of Sonlessness Results in Minimized Human Potential. John 8:34-36 “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
You see, creation included Christ. God created a being capable of self-will and therefore of response. Genesis 3:5 “Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Ecclesiastes 7:29 “God has made man upright, but they have sought many inventions.” They were seeking not what God’s will provides but what their will tolerates.
From the first it was His intention to redeem man through Christ. One of the things remembered with fondness from New Orleans is the trips to Women’s Hospital and the magnificent walks by the nursery window. There were dozens of babies. The spark of life is God’s gift. Spiritual life also. John 1:16f “of His fullness have we all received . . . . The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
Any of us may achieve material success apart from Christ, but it has no redeeming effect. Some unnamed author of Profit and Loss wrote:
I counted dollars while God counted crosses,
I counted gains while He counted losses.
I counted my worth, my things gained in store;
And he sized me up by the scars that I bore.
I counted honors and sought degrees,
He counted the hours I spent on my knees.
I never knew until one day by the grave
How vain are the things that we spend life to save.
I did not know till a friend went above
That richest is he who is rich in God’s love.
Dr. Arthur Burden, Christian psychiatrist in New Orleans, served on the Foreign Mission Board screening committee. He recovered from a heart attack in 1974. “God spared my life. I am sure of that. I am not completely sure for what reasons. The things that are important to me now are the little every day things: a blue sky; time spent with my family; the touch of a friend’s hand.”
We reach our fullest potential by the measure of our attachment to Christ.
II. The Sin of Sonlessness Results in a Life Turned Inward. John 8:26 “I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard from Him.”
The first concern of the life turned inward is that it contradicts God’s will. What if Jesus had allowed Himself to get side-tracked? What if He had been satisfied to turn Israel around? V26 “I see so much to judge.”
For the reformer, what if the goal becomes an end in itself, and the source of the goal is lost from view? “He who sent me is true.”
You see, Israel was to be the agent through whom others came to believe. “And I speak to the world.” Isaiah 42:6 “I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, . . . and give thee . . . for a light to the Gentiles.”
Though Jesus didn’t get side-tracked, we can. The question is not just the expending of spiritual energy. It is primarily openness of life to the will of God. I Corinthians 3:11f “No other foundation can any person lay than what is laid, which is Jesus. Whatever is built . . . gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble. Fire shall try everyone’s work of what sort it is.”
This life turned inward becomes a barrier to the way rather than a guidepost. Parents can stand in the way of children. Failing to be a consistent witness, we stand in the way of others. G.K. Chesterton wrote: “We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.”
III. The Sin of Sonlessness Separates One from God. John 8:34 “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin, and a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” It is to know God through His Son. Gladstone “All that I think, all that I hope, all that I write, all that I live for, is based on the divinity of Jesus Christ, the central joy of my poor wayward life.” Phillips Brooks “The only way to realize that we are God’s children is to allow Jesus to lead us to our Father.”
But to be without Christ is to be without dependable hope. John 3:36 “He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on Him.”
Conclusion
He held the lamp each livelong day
So low that none could miss the way,
And yet so high to bring in sight
That picture fair of Christ, the light,
That gazing up--the lamp between—
The hand that held it was not seen.
He held the pitcher, stooping low,
To lips of little ones below,
Then raised it to the weary saint
And bade him drink when sick and faint;
They drank--the pitcher thus between—
The hand that held it scarce was seen.
He blew the trumpet, soft and clear,
That cringing sinners need not fear,
And then with louder note and bold
To storm the walls of Satan’s hold:
The trumpet coming thus between,
The hand that held it was not seen.
But when our captain says, “Well done
Thou good and faithful servant, come.
Lay down the lamp, lay down the cup,
Lay down the trumpet, leave the camp.”
Thy weary hands will then be seen,
Clasped in his pierced ones, naught between.
Author unknown
THE SIN OF SONLESSNESS, reflections on 9/11
#055b reflections on 9/11 THE SIN OF SONLESSNESS
Scripture John 8:21-36, NIV Orig. Date 10-2-61
Rewr. Dates 9/14/2001; 4-18-85 (7-77)
Passage: 21 Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.”
22 This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?”
23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”
25 “Who are you?” they asked. “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. 26 “I have much to say in judgment of you. But he who sent me is trustworthy, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.”
27 They did not understand that he was telling them about his Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up[a] the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” 30 Even as he spoke, many believed in him.
31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Purpose: Post 9-11, to introduce a doctrinal study called The Doctrine of Christ so that my people will better understand their need of Christ, the sin-bearer.
Keywords: Christ, Saviour Christian Life Sin Power
Introduction
The study brought us today to John 8:24. The horrors of the week do not necessitate a change. The gospel is still the hope of our world. We must be faithful, but careful in exploiting what we possess. Commitment is the exercise of the day.
We have watched, for three days now, as a brigade of men and women have hauled away the debris of the World Trade Center. Hundreds of thousands of tons of the by-product of the hate of a small group of people. A vast commitment of principal because one person may still be alive under it. Such effort is simply a by-product of love.
So, the text has not been changed, though some remarks will bear on the depth of the outcome of such a week.
Significantly, the controversial remarks of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell must be brought into such a text. Has God taken a protective hand away? It is impossible to argue the point that we Americans have enjoyed that protection. Now, is it gone? Are we without it? They are honorable men, and men of vision, but they are wrong. His hand is extended to all people of “good will,” whatever their religion or life principle. And, so must our hand. In the crisis of that hour, and the days since, there have been tens of thousands of those responses.
The tragedy happened. It was not willed by deity to happen. Nor was it a chance event. It was humanly engineered. So must be the conditions of recovery.
Deuteronomy 24:16 “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.” Jeremiah 31:29 “In those days . . . say no more ‘the fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ . . . Everyone shall die for his own iniquity.”
Even if Robertson and Falwell could prove their contention, I would lay claim to that concluding prayer of Habakkuk 3:17-19 “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength. He will make my feet like hinds’ feet and He will make me to walk upon mine high places.”
Sin comes to us in all shapes and colors. It waltzes through one’s life with the whisper of a gentle breeze, or it destroys everything in its path like a late Summer storm. It registers every degree of intensity from anguish to zeal (misguided). It is real! There are different kinds. These are difficult to categorize. One sin exceeds all others in total effect upon our lives. It is the Sin of Sonlessness. It is the sin unto death. It spells death for people, for cultures, for nations, for churches.
I. The Sin of Sonlessness Results in Minimized Human Potential. John 8:34-36 “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
You see, creation included Christ. God created a being capable of self-will and therefore of response. Genesis 3:5 “Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Ecclesiastes 7:29 “God has made man upright, but they have sought many inventions.” They were seeking not what God’s will provides but what their will tolerates.
From the first it was His intention to redeem man through Christ. One of the things remembered with fondness from New Orleans is the trips to Women’s Hospital and the magnificent walks by the nursery window. There were dozens of babies. The spark of life is God’s gift. Spiritual life also. John 1:16f “of His fullness have we all received . . . . The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
Any of us may achieve material success apart from Christ, but it has no redeeming effect. Some unnamed author of Profit and Loss wrote:
I counted dollars while God counted crosses,
I counted gains while He counted losses.
I counted my worth, my things gained in store;
And he sized me up by the scars that I bore.
I counted honors and sought degrees,
He counted the hours I spent on my knees.
I never knew until one day by the grave
How vain are the things that we spend life to save.
I did not know till a friend went above
That richest is he who is rich in God’s love.
Dr. Arthur Burden, Christian psychiatrist in New Orleans, served on the Foreign Mission Board screening committee. He recovered from a heart attack in 1974. “God spared my life. I am sure of that. I am not completely sure for what reasons. The things that are important to me now are the little everyday things: a blue sky; time spent with my family; the touch of a friend’s hand.”
We reach our fullest potential by the measure of our attachment to Christ.
II. The Sin of Sonlessness Results in a Life Turned Inward. John 8:26 “I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard from Him.”
The first concern of the life turned inward is that it contradicts God’s will. What if Jesus had allowed Himself to get side-tracked? What if He had been satisfied to turn Israel around? V26 “I see so much to judge.”
For the reformer, what if the goal becomes an end in itself, and the source of the goal is lost from view? “He who sent me is true.”
You see, Israel was to be the agent through whom others came to believe. “And I speak to the world.” Isaiah 42:6 “I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, . . . and give thee . . . for a light to the Gentiles.”
Though Jesus didn’t get side-tracked, we can. The question is not just the expending of spiritual energy. It is primarily openness of life to the will of God. I Corinthians 3:11f “No other foundation can any person lay than what is laid, which is Jesus. Whatever is built . . . gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble. Fire shall try everyone’s work of what sort it is.”
This life turned inward becomes a barrier to the way rather than a guidepost. Parents can stand in the way of children. Failing to be a consistent witness, we stand in the way of others. G.K. Chesterton wrote: “We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.”
III. The Sin of Sonlessness Separates One from God. John 8:34 “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin, and a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” It is to know God through His Son. Gladstone “All that I think, all that I hope, all that I write, all that I live for, is based on the divinity of Jesus Christ, the central joy of my poor wayward life.” Phillips Brooks “The only way to realize that we are God’s children is to allow Jesus to lead us to our Father.”
But to be without Christ is to be without dependable hope. John 3:36 “He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on Him.”
Conclusion
He held the lamp each livelong day
So low that none could miss the way,
And yet so high to bring in sight
That picture fair of Christ, the light,
That gazing up--the lamp between—
The hand that held it was not seen.
He held the pitcher, stooping low,
To lips of little ones below,
Then raised it to the weary saint
And bade him drink when sick and faint;
They drank--the pitcher thus between—
The hand that held it scarce was seen.
He blew the trumpet, soft and clear,
That cringing sinners need not fear,
And then with louder note and bold
To storm the walls of Satan’s hold:
The trumpet coming thus between,
The hand that held it was not seen.
But when our captain says, “Well done
Thou good and faithful servant, come.
Lay down the lamp, lay down the cup,
Lay down the trumpet, leave the camp.”
Thy weary hands will then be seen,
Clasped in his pierced ones, naught between.
Author unknown