WE ARE GOD'S TEMPLE

I Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23

"Do you not know that you are God's temple," writes St. Paul, "and that God's spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and that temple you are."

Paul's words can be interpreted in two ways. First of all, they can be interpreted to refer to the individual believer--your body, your mind, your heart--is the temple of God. Anything that destroys that temple is a sacrilege.

I read an introduction to a speech recently. The speech was by a Canadian, Peter Hanson. In the introduction he wrote of what a moving experience it was even for him, a Canadian, to visit the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. He described watching crowds of people of all ages reach up to touch the cold wall of granite rising out of the ground, containing the names of every American soldier known to have died in that conflict-- approximately 50,000 of them. Some people who came just stood and stared; others broke down and wept. "Why?" they all seemed to be asking. Young boys taken from loving families to fight a war that basically had no meaning. Fifty thousand American soldiers died, and for no good reason. Fifty thousand brave young men slain in that terrible conflict. Then Hanson adds, "Fifty thousand--that is also the number of Americans who are killed by cigarettes every eight weeks." (1) That will make you think. "Do you not know that you are God's temple...?"

There is another way of interpreting this text that is more in keeping with the context. Paul is writing to the Corinthian church--a church in conflict. Some are claiming to be followers of Paul, others are claiming to be followers of Apollos, a skilled preacher much admired in the early church. In other words, some are still linked to one former pastor, some are still linked to another. Paul counsels them to grow up. "Who is Paul?" he asks. "Who is Apollos?" Paul plants, Apollos waters, but it is God who gives the growth.

Then Paul compares the church to a building. He himself laid the foundation at Corinth, now another is building on that foundation. The foundation, of course, is Christ, and that is all that matters. Then Paul adds, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him." In this context, we can see that God's temple is the church. WE ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD. What does that say to you? It says three important things to me. FIRST OF ALL, THE CHURCH IS A LIVING BODY. "This is the church," goes the little nursery rhyme, "This is the steeple; open the door and here are the people." Wrong! The church IS the people. Stone, mortar and glass will never constitute the church. A building is simply where the church meets. It is not the church. The church is a living, breathing, growing, influencing body infused with the spirit of the living God. At least, that is what the church is supposed to be.

"I am building a church," said a small boy playing with a set of blocks, "and we must be very quiet." His father, eager to encourage this unexpected act of reverence, asked, "Why are we to be quiet in church?" "Because," the boy replied, "the people are asleep." Heaven help us if that is how we perceive the church or if that is the way others perceive us. The church of Jesus Christ must be the most alive, most dynamic, most awake institution on this planet.

"You are!" The ranger was saying that the Grand Canyon is still happening. That mighty gorge in the earth is still changing, still growing. So it is with the church.

Wasn't it thrilling to watch thousands of protestors demonstrating for freedom in East Germany this past fall? Did you notice the location of their headquarters? A large Lutheran church. It is even more interesting that these East German Lutherans were carefully following the methods of an American Baptist preacher who bore the name of their founder, Martin Luther King, Jr.

The same kind of phenomenon was taking place in South Africa. Again the main instigator for freedom was the church. In the dictatorships of South and Central America, the institution they want to muzzle first is the church. The church is no dead museum for displaying the relics of a by-gone era. The church is alive, and well, and making God's voice known in human affairs.

When young St. Francis knelt before the life-sized crucifix in the little tumble-down chapel of St. Damien in Assisi, he heard God's voice: "Renew my church." St. Francis was not sure what that summons meant. Taking it literally at first, he went to work restoring the badly decayed chapel itself-- begging, buying, borrowing stones and timbers. He saw before long that something far more costly was being asked of him, however. It was not the church building that needed renewing, but the interior life of the people. That is our summons today as well. The church is alive. We are God's temple.

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH, THEN, ARE CHRIST'S BUILDING BLOCKS. We build on a foundation that others have laid. Example. James Watt was the "inventor" of the steam engine. Right? Wrong. Peter Drucker in one of his books notes that Thomas Newcomen in 1712 built the first steam engine which actually performed useful work. It pumped the water out of an English coal mine. Watt's steam engine was simply more refined--"state of the art" we would say today. The true inventor of the combustion engine, however, and with it what we call modern technology, was neither Watt nor Newcomen. It was the great Anglo-Irish chemist Robert Boyle, who did so in a "flash of genius." Only, Boyle's engine did not work and could not have worked. For Boyle used the explosion of gunpowder to drive the piston, and this so fouled the cylinder that it had to be taken apart and cleaned after each stoke. Boyle's idea, however, enabled first Denis Papin (who had been Boyle's assistant in building the gunpowder engine), then Newcomen, and finally Watt, to develop a working combustion engine. Boyle had the idea, and the others built on that foundation.

That is the nature of all knowledge. It is also the nature of the church. We are the building blocks in God's temple. He uses us, if we will let Him, to build something beautiful and lasting. None of us are prima donnas. None of us are stars. We are all building blocks.

Someone once said, "All the world's a stage--but nobody wants to be a stagehand."

Lefty Gomez was a talented baseball player. When he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, a reporter walked up to him and asked, "Lefty, what was your secret?" Lefty smiled, his eyes began to sparkle, and he replied, "Two things. Clean living and a fast infield." Lefty was acknowledging that he alone wasn't responsible for all his victories. He had teammates who were helping him.

One thing is clear from St. Paul's words. It is a serious matter when seeds of dissension are sown in a congregation. We have a world to save. We don't have time for petty bickering.

Cotton Mather, the Puritan divine, once made a very astute observation about bees. He noticed that every swarm has its own unique scent, and when different swarms meet, the conflicting smells trigger a fight. However, Mather also noticed that when the bees are pollinating plants, they get covered with pollen nectar which masks the smell of the individual groups. When they all smell the same, there is no competition and their work gets done. We are the temple of the living God. Each of us are building blocks in that temple. Imagine what would happen to the temple if the blocks were in conflict with one another.

One last thing. THE FOUNDATION OF GOD'S TEMPLE IS CHRIST. Joyce Carey, a British writer, was once asked how he put novels together. Obviously, there are many ways a novel can be constructed. It may be scribbled from a start, with episodes added on as the plot begins to unfold in the author's mind. Or it can be designed by piecing together a sequence of casual events as a loose outline. According to Carey, however, wise writers will begin with the sketch of a central episode, working back to a beginning and outworking an ending. (3)

For Christians the central event in human history is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are inspired by his example and empowered by his presence in our lives. Our perspective on history is unique. We focus on the world outside, but we always view it from the foot of the cross. In everything we do we pray that we do it in the love and spirit of Christ.

Most of us are familiar with the name Bill Lear. Lear is best known as the father of the Lear jet. Bill Lear made a childhood resolution to make enough money so that he could not be stopped from finishing anything. A tinkerer, inventor, and self-made millionaire, Lear made a fortune with the Learoscope and other navigational aids for aviation. He later branched out into stereo systems and communications satellites. He was in his sixties when he launched the first Learjet, producing the ultimate personal aircraft at a price that most top executives could not resist. At 65, Lear sold the business, but did not like the life-style of a Beverly Hills millionaire. So he established a laboratory in Reno, Nevada, where he worked on developing a better steam engine and improving his jet aircraft. Lear kept working, even when he knew he was dying of leukemia. His last words to one of his colleagues were: "Finish it? You bet we'll finish it." Of course, Bill Lear didn't finish his work. He left that for his colleagues. (4)

Jesus' last words to his disciples were "Go make disciples...." In other words, finish what we have begun. And that is his command to us today. Finish what Christ started. Finish what Paul and Apollos added. Finish what millions of saints through the ages, including many who are dear to us, have added to that. Like the Grand Canyon, God's temple is still happening--still growing--still changing. And we are part of it. "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you?" God's temple. That's who you and I are.

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1. Peter G. Hanson, STRESS FOR SUCCESS (New York: Doubleday, 1989). pp. 205-6. 2. JOYFUL NEWSLETTER, 1-89, p. 2, Robert C. Savage 3. David Buttrick, HOMILETIC (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1987). 4. Peter Hay, THE BOOK OF BUSINESS ANECDOTES, (New York, New York: Facts On File Publications, 1988).

5012

WHAT KIND OF GOD IS THAT?

John 9: 1-13

You have to wonder what kind of God some people have! Kathryn Lindskoog has suffered for two decades with multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic disease that gradually weakens and paralyzes the body. She has been amazed at some of the advice she has received from friends and relatives. A few typical examples:

"You must really like to be sick; you bring so much of it on yourself." That comment was from a nearby relative who never so much as sent a get-well card.

"The reason I have perfect health is that I think right; nobody gets sick unless he thinks wrong." That from another relative.

"I know just how you feel about being crippled; I had a bad case of tennis elbow last month." Great. Here's another:

"God must cherish you to trust you with this burden."

"Your present improvement is just wishful thinking." How's that for encouragement?

"I know you fake your limp to try to get attention." That comment was from her pastor. He was entirely serious. (1)

What kind of God do some people have?

A country preacher was visiting his parishioners after a local flood. He called on a farmer whose crop had washed away and whose cows had all been drowned. "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth," quoted the preacher, trying to offer some comfort. The farmer looked at him and said drily, "Well, I believe He overdid it this time."

The farmer was right. What kind of God do some people have?

Jesus and his disciples passed a man blind from birth. "Who sinned," asked Jesus' disciples, "this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" What kind of God did these disciples have? Did they think that God looks down from heaven and says, "All right fellow. I know that you've been cheating on your taxes and cheating on your wife and I am going to take that precious little baby in your wife's womb and I'm going to strike it blind to punish you? That'll show you. Zap!" What kind of God do some people have?

Sound far-fetched? There is someone in this very sanctuary who has experienced a similar tragedy. And you have carried around a burden of guilt. Deep down you have a feeling that God is punishing you for something you have done by hurting someone you love. What kind of God is that?

Of course, there is a smattering of that kind of theology in the Old Testament. If you ever have any question, however, about your sin being visited on someone you love, I refer you to Jeremiah 31: 29-30. Jeremiah is speaking of the coming Kingdom--the Kingdom that will come with the arrival of the Messiah, whom we know as Jesus the Christ. Jeremiah writes: "In those days they shall no longer say, `The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own sin; each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge." (RSV) Mark this down. Inscribe it upon your heart: GOD DOES NOT PUNISH CHILDREN FOR THE SINS OF THEIR PARENTS.

THERE ARE TWO SOURCES OF SUFFERING IN THIS WORLD. One source is sin. We break God's laws or nature's laws and we suffer. That is built into the very fabric of life. I walk out of this sanctuary and step in front of a speeding car. Do I lie there in the middle of the street and ask, "Why, dear Lord, did this happen to me?" Of course not. I know why it happened. I broke a law. When we break laws, we pay.

We make jokes about sin. One fellow said he thought that the doctrine of Original Sin meant that he had to think up a new one every time. We joke about sin, but most of the suffering that takes place in this world is caused by our disobedience of God's laws.

THE OTHER SOURCE OF SUFFERING IS THE NATURAL ORDER. Is there anyone in this room who really believes that God sent Hurricane Hugo to devastate the coastal area of South Carolina last year to punish those folks for their sins? Do you really believe the devastation of the San Francisco earthquake was God's judgement on the people of the Bay area? If so, then why didn't these disasters destroy the casinoes in Atlantic City and Las Vegas? Or the crack houses in Washington, D.C? Or the porno stores near Times Square? For that matter, why didn't they destroy your house or mine, for we are also sinners?

We live in the most beautiful, the most majestic, the most glorious world imaginable, but it is a world where there are hurricanes and earthquakes and viruses and cholesterol and defective genes. None of these are sent by God to punish us. "He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good," said Jesus, "and sends rain on the just and the unjust." (Matthew 5:45) The natural order contains both good and evil. Why did God place us in such a world? The writer of Genesis says that it was because of Adam's sin. Man not only became alienated from God after Adam sinned but even from the very earth which is his home. That is one explanation. Another is that this world is but a laboratory, a preparatory school, if you will. God is in the business of creating souls fit to dwell with Him in eternity. So He has given us obstacles to overcome. Why? That is the only way we grow.

John Steele Gordon in a recent issue of AMERICAN HERITAGE MAGAZINE makes an interesting observation. He notes that in the story, SILVER BLAZE, the clue that most interested Sherlock Holmes was the dog that DIDN'T bark in the night. Why didn't it bark? Gordon goes on to say that in reading the latest FORBES list of the four hundred richest Americans, he was most impressed by the names that weren't there--names like Astor, Carnegie, Frick, Gould, Harriman, Morgan and Vanderbilt.

At the turn of this century, these names personified American wealth beyond counting. Today those names are to be found on street signs, universities, parks, hospitals, museums, concert halls and libraries. But not on the FORBES list of the four hundred wealthiest Americans. Why not? Think of the head start the descendants of these men had on the rest of us. Could it be that when wealth comes too easily it has a way of diminishing creativity, desire, perseverance? So it is when life comes too easily. We grow through struggle.

The writer goes on to note his dad's mistake is not terribly different from what many of us end up doing with real life. We want the quick fix, something to make all of life's moments string together as fun and excitement without any of the problems. Then we discover that quick fixes do not work. Life simply is not designed so we can edit out all the trials and hardships. (3) As J. Willard Marriott has put it, "Good timber does not grow with ease: the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees." We learn, we grow, we mature as we deal with life's many hardships.

There are two souces of suffering--sin and the natural order. THERE IS BUT ONE SOURCE OF HEALING--GOD. Jesus said to his disciples, "It was not this man who sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God may be made manifest in him." All healing comes from God. God is a God of health and wholeness. Healing is God's will for our lives--whether our need is physical or emotional. He wants us well.

He has planted healing in the very world He has created. A generation ago there were diseases ravaging this planet that we don't even think of any more. As the growth of medical technology and knowledge continues to accelerate, there will be even more progress in the generations to come. We don't create cures. We but discover what God has already ordained.

I read recently about a medical team that is working in the Amazon jungle under a five-year contract from the National Cancer Institute to find the next generation of anticancer drugs. Michael Balick, an ethnobiologist, says, "The rain forest is a veritable chemical factory." For example, an extract from the rosy periwinkle has been found to reduce white blood cell counts, actually bringing about remissions in 85% of childhood leukemia cases. We know that penicillin comes from a mold, but did you know that cortizone is derived from yams? Atrophine, a drug for stomach ulcers, comes from belladonna plants. The world is filled with God's healing properties. (3)

God has built healing into our very being and into the world that He has created. More importantly, He Himself is healing. Jesus could heal the blind because of who He was. To be in the presence of God is to be in the presence of healing. His will is for us to be healed. Even though the brokenness of this world may take its toll on us, it does not change His eternal purpose. Even death is a form of healing since it brings us into the eternal presence of God.

The Hoover Dam, built in 1935 on the Colorado River, is an engineering wonder. Hoover is what is called an arch-gravity dam. It is designed so the greater the pressure applied to the dam, the more it is wedged into the solid rock. The greater the forces against the dam, the stronger it becomes. So let it be with us. When heartaches come, as they will, let us not cry out, "Why has this happened to me? Why has this happened to someone I love? What have I done to deserve this?" Rather, let's surrender our need to a healing God. Let's allow our hurt to wedge us ever more surely into the solid rock.

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1. Kathryn Lindskoog, "What do You Say to Job?" LEADERSHIP (Spring 1985):93-94. Quoted in Ron Lee Davis, HEALING LIFE'S HURTS (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1986).

2. Jefferson, Jon. "Sooner or Later, You've Got to Pay." THE KNOXVILLE NEWS-SENTINEL (March 31, 1989), Section B, p. 8.

DRINKING FROM HIS CUP

Matthew 20: 17-28 What is there about certain people that sets them apart from the crowd? That causes other people to hold them in awe?

Kyle Rote, former All-American football player from S.M.U., played eleven years for the N.Y. Giants in the NFL. He scored a touchdown on an average of once every six times he caught a pass. He scored fifty times in three hundred receptions.

The greatest tribute ever paid an athlete in modern times was paid by his college and pro teammates. Fourteen of them named their sons Kyle! (1)

Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team was that kind of superstar.

Once the Cards flew from Philadelphia to St. Louis following a game. Ordinarily, this would have been about a four-and-a-half-hour trip. When they got on the plane, Walt "Moose" Moryn, a big outfielder told catcher Tim McCarver that he didn't "feel very comfortable" about the trip because Stan Musial wasn't on the plane with them. Musial had an appointment in New York and couldn't make the trip.

About a quarter of the way to St. Louis, one of the props on the plane suddenly stopped working properly. The plane had to turn around and go back to Philly. As the team disembarked, somewhat weary and more than a little concerned, Moryn kept shaking his head.

"If Stan had been here, nothing like this would have happened," he said. Sound crazy? Moryn believed it, says McCarver, and so did the other guys on the team. (2)

"How do you know that Hercules is a god?" Iole once was asked in the ancient Greek legend. She replied, "I knew because he conquered whether he stood or walked or sat or whatever he did."

Some people have that kind of effect on those around them. Jesus certainly did. He inspired enough awe in Simon Peter that he tried walking on water. Crowds flocked from near and far to hear Him, touch Him, be near Him. There was something different about this man.

The mother of James and John knew that He was someone special. She knelt before Him to make a request.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"Command," she said, "that these two sons of mine may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom."

Jesus said, "You do not know what you are asking." Then turning to James and John, He asked, "Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?"

They replied, "We are able." Jesus said to them, "You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant...."

NOTICE THAT JESUS DID NOT REJECT THEIR ASPIRATIONS TO GREATNESS.

We need to see that. The Christian life has too often been a rationalization for doing nothing, for allowing fate to determine our destinies, for being passive and refusing to take responsibility for life.

Obviously some people do abuse the drive for greatness. On New Year's Day in 1967, a military officer, Colonel Jean-Bekel Bokassa, seized power in the Central African Republic. He claimed his act was designed to keep the Communists from power. His country was small, landlocked, and underdeveloped. It had the dubious distinction of being one of the poorest nations on earth. Its 2.2 million inhabitants had a per capita income of only $110 a year, and the literacy rate was about 8 percent.

Bokassa, however, filled with a sense of self-importance, named himself president for life and awarded himself so many medals that he needed a specially designed coat to wear them all. He began to amass a huge fortune at the same time the country was defaulting on debts and sliding into bankruptcy. His people were held in check by a system of military terrorism.

His aspirations went higher. He became convinced that he was a modern Napoleon, so, in December 1976, he proclaimed himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire. His coronation cost more than 30 million dollars, about half his country's gross national product. He gave himself such gifts as a six-foot diamond sceptre, a twenty-four-foot red velvet robe, and a two-ton gold-plated throne. A television reporter asked him how he could justify such expenditures and he replied, "One cannot create a great history without sacrifices." Bokassa is no longer with us. His citizens finally rose up in anger and slew him. (3)

The desire for greatness can be perverted, but it can also be a gift from God. The people who have made a difference in this world have been those who been driven by an inner need to excel. This drive has led them to extraordinary achievement. The world must have such people--whether in the medical laboratory, or the classroom, or the halls of government, or in business, or in the service of Christ. It's all right to aspire to greatness unless greatness comes at the expense of others.

BUT GREATNESS HAS ITS PRICE.

It doesn't come free.

Many of you are familiar with golfer Gary Player. Player is a man for whom both faith and accomplishment are important. He won more international golf tournaments in his day than anyone else. Today, he's still winning on the senior tour.

Do you want to be a world famous violinist like Isaac Stern? Then be prepared to practice eight hours a day beginning at the age of eight. That is Stern's secret.

Would you like to run with a football like the immortal Walter Payton? Then be prepared to run up a high hill every day until you throw up. That's what Payton did on a hill near his home in the off-season. When he threw up, he quit for the day. (5)

In Medieval Europe it was common for devout Christians to pray for the marks of Jesus to appear on their hands and feet. This was seen as a sign of deep spirituality. One night a monk, while praying for those marks, had a vision of Christ with another mark on his body--a bruise on his shoulder. That bruise came from carrying His cross. The monk suddenly realized that this was the mark that really counted. How many of us have bruises from carrying the weight of Christ's cross on our shoulders? It is acceptable, even admirable to aspire to greatness, but greatness has its price.

One thing more.

GREATNESS IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD ALWAYS COMES THROUGH SERVICE.

That is true in all of life. Why can't more of us see it? The most trusted politician is the one who best serves his country. The teacher who is most fondly remembered is the one who best serves his students. The most respected and successful business person is the one who best serves his customers. Greatness is not measured in cars, or houses, or stocks and bonds. Society may reward us for our service, but that is secondary. He is greatest who knows how to serve.

Amy Carmichael was an incredible woman who for two decades administered an orphanage in India from her bed. Billy Graham once visited Dohnavur, Carmichael's home for destitute girls. He had to excuse himself for a few moments so he could weep in private--so great was her devotion. Amy Carmichael was able to drink from Christ's cup.

Author, medical missionary and explorer, Dr. David Livingstone spent most of his adult life living in primitive conditions in Africa in the 1800's.

While exploring in Africa, Dr. Livingstone received a letter from some very well-meaning friends which read, "We would like to send other men to you. Have you found a good road into your area yet?"

Dr. Livingstone sent this message in reply, "If you have men who will only come if they know there is a good road, I don't want them. I want strong and courageous men who will come if there is no road at all." David Livingstone knew how to drink from Christ's cup.

How about you? Are you able to drink from His cup? The cup of self-giving love. The cup of self-denial, sacrifice and service to the world. "He who would be greatest among you," said the Master, "must be willing to be servant of all." Aspire after greatness. Pay the price of greatness. Remember, however, that greatness always comes through service.

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1. Bernie Smith, THE JOY OF TRIVIA (New York: Bell Publishing Company, 1986).

2. Tim McCarver, OH, BABY, I LOVE IT!, (New York: Villard Books, 1987).

3. Gary Ingrid, QUALITY FRIENDSHIP, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1981).

4. A. L. Williams, ALL YOU CAN DO IS ALL YOU CAN DO....(Nashville: Oliver Nelson, 1989).

5. Allan Cox, THE ACHIEVER'S PROFILE, (Amacom, 1988).

B52

"BELIEVING ISN'T EASY"

Epistle: Hebrews 11:1-6; Gospel: Matthew 17:14-21

A fellow was on an airplane flight home one afternoon. He sat in the non--smoking section, as he always did. This day he was seated on the aisle of the plane. After the plane had taken off the man across from him took out one of those little short cigars that look like compressed leather. He lit up and started puffing noxious black smoke into the air. The first man leaned across the aisle and said, "I'm sorry, sir, but this is the non--smoking section. You can't smoke here." The smoker just ignored him, and looked straight ahead as if no one else in the world existed. Finally the fellow had had enough and called for the stewardess. The stewardess came down the aisle and asked, "Can I help you?" The fellow said, "Yes, this man is ignoring the non--smoking section and smoking that awful thing!" The stewardess said to the smoker, "I'm sorry, sir, but this is the non--smoking section and you can't smoke here. There are some seats in the back, if you would like. But in any case you can't smoke cigars anywhere on the plane." The man ignored her and kept puffing on his cigar. The stewardess went to the back of the plane, exasperated. Later in the flight, the plane began to run into some turbulence. Just as the stewardess passed the cigar--smoker they hit an air pocket and she spilled her entire tray of beverages in his lap. Then reacting to her fall she leaned back and fell right in the lap of the first man. Later on, relating the incident to a friend, he said, "Don't tell me there is no God. I have proof!"

I. I WISH THAT IT WAS AS EASY AS THAT!

Many of the current crop of religious thinkers tell us that the hey--day of the Christian Faith is past, and that we now live in a "post--Christian" era. Listening to them one might get the impression that there once was a time somewhere in the past when there was a "Golden Age" of Faith, and that "in the good old days" (whenever they were), people found it easier to believe.

For instance, the hardest thing to reconcile with faith in God is the presence of evil and tragedy in our world. It is a fact that many Jews, believing in a just God, became atheists after the Holocaust. A recent article in the New York Times suggested that it is difficult, if not downright impossible to hold onto one's faith in a world of violence. The article consisted of an interview with Hugh Nissenson about his new book "The Elephant and My Jewish Problem." Nissenson spoke about a meeting with a French Jesuit priest during the trial of Klaus Barbie. The priest told him that he believed the human condition was unchanged since Adam and Eve. The world awaited its Redeemer, and not even the murder of children shook his faith. "It cost me mine," replied Nissenson, who had covered the trial of Adolph Eichmann in Jerusalem. There was no rebuke offered to the French priests' faith or integrity, it was a simple statement that the writer could not believe in God in a world where children are murdered by madmen. "All I can say," he wrote, "is that I cannot assent." It had taken him a long time, he said, to admit to himself that he couldn't believe, "because I loved the belief." I have a hunch that there are millions like him in our world. They would like to believe...but feel that they cannot.

Another recent writer connected this with his own reflection on a Kalamazoo woman killed in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. "The remains of her two--month--old--baby had not yet been found." He wrote: "Two months old. Had she been breast feeding the baby? Were the grandparents waiting at the airport in Kalamazoo when word came of the disaster? Where was the baby's father? Where was God? (Reported by Martin E. Marty in "Context," May 15, 1989, p.4, from The Reformed Journal). Where was God???

Today I begin a new series of sermons on the "Apostles' Creed." The Apostles well knew all of the arguments against faith. But they believed in spite of themselves. Why? I hope to talk more about the reasons why when we get to the part of the Creed which says "I believe in Jesus Christ." Actually, I would have preferred that the creed begin with Jesus Christ and then work its way to God. That is the way in which I came to faith. But that is not the way people thought in the time when the first Creeds were written. Once in awhile folks say to me, "I have no trouble believing in God. It is Christ I cannot believe in." My usual not--entirely--facetious reply is: "I have no trouble believing in Jesus Christ: it's God that gives me problems." I plan to say more about that paradoxical statement later in the summer. But those first Christians knew what we often times forget: the cross was not the end of the story. "Though the cause of evil prosper./Yet `tis truth alone is strong;/Though her portion be the scaffold,/And upon the throne be wrong:/ Yet that scaffold sways the future,/And behind the dim unknown,/Standeth God within the shadow/ Keeping watch above his own!" (Hymn No. 242 1968 Hymnal.) No, real believing is not easy.

II. BUT THERE IS ANOTHER SIDE TO THIS MATTER OF BELIEVING.

Almost as soon as I announced the title for today's sermon, I regretted it. It does seem that for many people today, like the fellow on the plane, belief comes easy. These days it seems that people seem willing to believe almost anything. Marilyn Monroe is supposed to have said, "I believe in everything...a little bit." That's us. Many people today remind me of the White Queen in "Alice in Wonderland." She uttered some deathless words. I think of them nearly every time I read the sensational headlines on tabloids in supermarket checkout lanes. When Alice complained that one of the queen's tall stories was simply too tall to be believed, the queen replied: "Nonsense! Take a big breath and you can believe anything. I frequently believe six impossible things before breakfast." That sounds like folks today who will believe in anything from astrology to channelling, to Satanism...etc.

Lutheran theologian George Forell says "People who claim to be atheists are usually people who don't want to tell you who their `god' is." ("Understanding the Nicene Creed, Phila. Fortress Press, 1965 p. 6) He has a point. Theologian Paul Tillich defined "faith" as "ultimate concern," and said that our problem is not atheism (no God) but rather idolatry, (a false god). Our problem is that we give our ultimate concern to things which are not ultimate. Everyone has somebody or something in which he or she puts his or her faith. We are told that nature abhors a vacuum, and that is true of our spiritual natures as well. People want to believe, and do believe in something or other. If they do not believe in the God who created them, then they believe in the gods they create for themselves. Contrary to what the theologians tried to tell us in the sixties, modern folks are not godless. They are rather over-run with gods. Our gods stare at us from the newspaper, jostle against us in the street, blare forth their wares from countless television sets and movies screens. Our modern gods are sex, success, money, power, glamor, and science. None of these is necessarily bad; it is just that none is particularly suited to be the object of our ultimate concern: that is, our God.

Even the Communists have not really stamped out religious belief. I am not talking here about the amazing fact that after decades of communism, the Christian Church is still strong in both the Soviet Union and China; but I am speaking of the fact that in a sense, Communism itself is a religion: with an Old Testament written by Karl Marx, a New Testament by Lenin, and a revised version by Comrade Gorbachev. The recent problems in China and Russia have begun to shatter many peoples' faith in communism, but it is still a faith which holds and is held by millions. Tourists who visit the tomb of Lenin in Red Square in Moscow come back to tell us that the whole thing has the hushed reverence of a religious shrine, as thousands of pilgrims file past the body of the patron saint of communism. We are born to believe in something, and if we do not believe in the one true God, then we invent gods and religions of our own, and give our allegiance, our ultimate concern to them.

Faith is a better word, a more characteristic Biblical word. Jesus again and again exhorted His disciples to "have faith." Faith is belief plus action. A homely illustration occurred to me years ago. I may visit a pond in midwinter and ask a bystander if the ice is thick enough to hold me. The bystander may tell me that it is; and I may believe him. And then go home, having done nothing further. That is belief. Faith means strapping on the skates and getting out on the ice. The difference is this: you hold a belief; a faith holds you. Real believing isn't easy. It takes effort. It takes US.

Now, the Apostles' Creed was not written by the apostles, but it summarizes the apostolic faith. In the beginning, the creed was only a short sentence which, like a snowball rolling downhill, gained in size as it came rolling down the centuries, reaching its present form sometime in the 14th century or thereabouts. In the beginning, the first creed may simply have been three words: "Jesus is Lord." To us that simple statement doesn't say very much. We've heard it all of our lives in church, and it sounds harmless enough. But let me tell you that when this sentence was first uttered in the first and second centuries, it was spoken against the background of the pagan world's proclamations of other lords. Those who darted to confess the new creed were telling the world that a new age had dawned. It might appear that Caesar is Lord, that Baal is Lord, that Zeus is Lord, or whoever, but Christians were those who believed that the true "Lord" appeared and His name was Jesus! And many of them died for that faith! This is the faith that "isn't easy." It cost something to hold it back then, and I have a hunch that it costs something to really hold it today. If it doesn't cost us anything, we can only wonder whether we've really got it.

Note in the opening line of the Creed, that little word "in." In the Creed I do not say that I believe that God exists. I say simply, "I believe in God." There is a great difference here--the difference between belief as assent and belief as commitment. We can see the difference immediately if we put it in another context. If I say "I believe that communism exists." I am merely stating a fact, but if I say "I believe in communism." (Which I do not, by the way...) that's totally different. If I say that "I believe that John Jones is a good man," I mean simply that I have the impression that he is a good man. On the other hand, if I say, "I believe in John Jones.," I am saying that I know his character well enough that I trust him and am willing to commit myself to him. (Idea from "The Apostles' Creed" by Gardiner M. Day, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1963 p. 21)

Similarly, when I say, "I believe in God..." I am not saying that I know all about God (who does?) or even that I believe that such a being as God exists..."Someone in the great Somewhere" as a popular song put it some years ago. That sort of "believing" costs nobody anything. That sort of belief IS easy. But Christian Faith is not. Christian Faith means that I believe that I have come to know God's character in such a way that I am willing to put my trust in God.

No, true faith isn't easy. If some of us have come to a firm in God, it has only been after a stiff struggle with our doubts. I do not think that Christians ought to stick their heads in the sand and ignore their doubts. I think we all ought to bring our doubts out into the open and deal with them honestly. I believe that doubt is a prerequisite to a genuine faith. Without doubt, we would be liable to fall for any wild scheme that comes down the pike; we would be gullible and easy prey for every religious con artist around...and there are plenty of them around these days. Faith without doubt is gullibility. God does not call us to be gullible. Harry Emerson Fosdick once preached a classic sermon on "The Importance of Doubting Your Doubts." Faith isn't easy. It is a struggle. True faith comes when you have exhausted all of your doubts, and have gotten to the place where you have doubts about your doubts. Faith isn't easy. It is a struggle.

When the movie "The Last temptation of Christ" appeared a year or so ago, it received a lot of criticism. I have a hunch that many people never really understood the movie or the message of the book on which the movie was based. Having read a number of the writings of the author, Nikos Kazantzakis, I found him to have an intensely poetic and religious nature. One story he told illustrates his own personal religious quest. He told of visiting a saintly monk on a secluded island. He asked the monk, Father Makarios, "Do you still wrestle with the devil?" "Not any longer, my child," replied the godly man, "I have grown old and he has grown old with me. He does not have the strength. I now wrestle with God." "With God!" exclaimed Kazantzakis with astonishment. "And you hope to win?" "No," answered the monk.. "I hope to lose." Amen.

CHILDSER

SERMONS FOR CHILDREN
First Sunday after Epiphany

WATCH WHAT RUBS OFF ON YOU

(Based on a children's sermon by J. R. Wallis, Washington, N. C.)

Scripture: Matthew 3: 13-17

Object: A piece of charcoal and a white handkerchief

Boys and girls,

This morning we are thinking about the baptism of Jesus. One of the meanings of baptism is that we are cleansed from our sins. John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus, told people to repent. Repentance means to turn around--to quit doing things that hurt you and hurt other people. Everybody needs to repent from time to time. For some people repentance will mean choosing different friends because some friends will lead us to do wrong. Let's use an example.

If you rub something dirty with something clean, what happens to the clean one? Let's try it with this handkerchief and this piece of charcoal. What happens when the handkerchief is rubbed against the charcoal like this? That's right. The handkerchief gets dirty.

Second Sunday after Epiphany

NOT WORRIED ABOUT TOMORROW

Scripture: I Corinthians 1:1-9

Object: A pillow.

Boys and girls,

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? You've heard that old rhyme, haven't you? I don't know the answer to it, but I do know that woodchucks don't chuck wood this time of year. You know what they are doing? They are hibernating. A woodchuck normally has a pulse rate of about eighty beats per minute--about the same as you and I. But when it goes into its long winter's nap, that pulse rate slows down to about four beats a minute. And he lives off of the fat cells he has stored up. He is patiently waiting for springtime.

I brought my pillow with me this morning. Sometimes when I have lots of problems or the weather is terrible outside, I would like to be that old woodchuck, and just hibernate and wait for spring when things will be better.

The early church way back in St. Paul's day was having a great deal of trouble. There were wicked people who were trying to destroy the church. St. Paul didn't tell the early Christians to hibernate, but he did tell them that if they were patient, one day Jesus Christ would be revealed to all the world and things would be better.

Third Sunday after Epiphany

LIGHT TO THE NATIONS

Scripture: Isaiah 42:1-7

Object: A Globe

Boys and girls,

This morning in our message for the adults we are going to be telling a story about two little girls who wanted a globe like this one--except that it had a light in it. Perhaps you have seen a globe like that. The globe represents our world, doesn't it? In fact if we search carefully, we can locate the approximate place we live. It's right there.

Now, in spite of the fact that we can buy globes with lights in them, our world is not like that, is it? Where does the earth get it's light? That's right. From the sun. Our world gets its light from outside.

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

EVEN THE SMALLEST CREATURE

Scripture: I Corinthians 1:26-31

Object: A jar of honey

Boys and girls,

Our lesson from the Bible tells us that God choose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God choose what is foolish to shame the wise, God chooses what is insignificant to confound the mighty.

I am amazed at how the smallest of creatures has such an important place in God's world. This jar of honey--where did it came from? From the grocery store, yes--but where did the honey come from originally? That's right. It was produced by a honey bee. Actually it took more than one bee.

I read that about 80,000 bees must fly the equivalent of three times around the world to gather the nectar for a large jar of honey. That is fantastic, isn't it? Meanwhile those bees are pollinating plants which make it possible for farmers to harvest crops so that you and I can have something to eat. Have you ever given God thanks for bees? It might not be easy after one has stung you, but honey bees are a very important part of our world. They may be very tiny, but we depend upon them.

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

A MIGHTY FAITH

Scripture: I Corinthians 2:1-5

Object: A football

Boys and girls,

If somebody in your family is a football fan, tell them the next time the Chicago bears are on television to point out to you Number 50, Mike Singletary. Many people consider Mike the best middle linebacker in all of football and the key to the greatness of Chicago's defense. The greatest thing about Mike Singletary, though, is that he has a real faith in Jesus Christ.

Life has not been easy for Mike. When he was young, he lost two of his brothers, to whom he was very close. One was suffocated by the fumes of an improperly ventilated coal stove. The other was killed by a drunken driver. Mike himself was sickly when he was young with frequent bouts with bronchitis and pneumonia that put him in the hospital. Maybe that's why Mike grew strong in two ways. He grew strong enough on the outside to be a football star and strong on the inside by letting God have his life and using him as a witness to others.

I believe Mike would tell you if he were here this morning that it's great to have a strong and athletic body, but it is even greater to have a great faith in God. Even as a little boy Mike saw that if God could help little David against the giant, Goliath, God could help Mike with his problems. And God is still helping Mike today--both on the football field and off. So, look for Mike with the Chicago Bears, because he's not only a great player, but he's also a great person with a great faith in God.

Sixth Sunday After Epiphany

HE COULDN'T TELL A LIE

Scripture: Matthew 5:20-26

Object: A dollar bill

Boys and girls,

Sometimes we worry about how we look, don't we? Sometimes because of television we may get the idea that you have to look like a movie star to be a big success in the world.

I want to tell you about a man who had scars all over his face. When he was young, he contracted smallpox-- a terrible disease that was very prevalent back them. And the scars stayed with him for life. That may not give you a hint to who he was. Let me give you another one. Some people said that he had wooden teeth that did not fit well. Does that help you? How about if I told you that his face is on this dollar bill. That's right, it's George Washington, our first president.

George Washington did not look like a movie star. And he was not a great writer like Jefferson or have a lot of new ideas like Benjamin Franklin. What made him a great, great man? I believe it had something to do with something people often say about him, "He couldn't tell a lie." Remember the story of his chopping down the cherry tree and confessing it to his father? I don't know if that really happened. But I do know that people trusted George Washington. They believed in him. Why? Because they knew he told the truth.

Do you always tell the truth? I hope so. That is one of the most important characteristics of great people. That way people believe in us and trust us and that is a great thing to have.

Seventh Sunday after Epiphany

WE ARE GOD'S TEMPLE

Scripture: I Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23

Object: A pencil

Boys and girls,

A famous economist* made an interesting statement recently. "There isn't a single person in the world who can make a pencil," he said. The wood may have come from a forest in Washington, the graphite from a mine in South America, the eraser from a Malaysian rubber plantation. "Thousands of people," he concluded, "cooperate to make one pencil." That's fascinating to me. All those people to make this one little pencil.

I read about the giant Sequoias out in California--some of the largest trees in the world-- and found out that they have tiny roots that lie near the top of the soil. How in the world do they stand up so tall, I wondered, with those tiny roots so near the surface? Someone explained that they intertwine their roots with other Sequoias nearby. They help keep each other up. And I realized that this is one of the great secrets of life.

It is one of the great secrets of this church. We need one another. We lean on one another sometimes and when we work together we accomplish more than any of us could ever accomplish working on our own. We call that cooperation don't we? Cooperation is important at school, on the playground, in our families and all sorts of places. But most of all, it is what the church of Jesus Christ is all about. We belong to Him, but we also belong to one another.

Transfiguration

LOVE TO STAY HERE FOREVER

Scripture: Exodus 24: 12, 15-18; Matthew 17: 1-9

Object: A toy

Boys and girls,

How many of you like to play with your toys? How many of you like to watch cartoons? How many of you would like to live at Walt Disney World? (Or Six Flags, etc. Customize to your area.)

Wouldn't it be great to be able to always stay where we want to stay and to do what we want to do? Actually if we could do that, we would get bored. Maybe that is why God gave us chores that need to be done. Chores like preparing meals, and sweeping the house, and earning an income, and even chores like picking up our toys and making our bed.

Jesus and three of his disciples were on a very special mountain. There the disciples had the greatest experience of their lives. In fact the disciples wanted to stay there on the mountain. But Jesus would not let them. There were people down in the valley who needed them, so as wonderful as the mountain was, they needed to go back to where the people were. And that is what Jesus is still saying to people today. "I know you would rather stay where you are, but there are people who need you. It's all right to come up on the mountain from time to time. But don't forget that your main purpose is to spread my love to other people. That means that you must leave the mountain and go to where others are.

First Sunday in Lent

TEMPTED IN THE WILDERNESS

Scripture: Matthew 4: 1-11

Object: A pack of cookies

Boys and girls,

The Bible tells us that Jesus went into the wilderness where he was tempted by Satan. Have you ever been tempted? For some people these cookies would be temptation. To be tempted is to be attracted to something that is not right or is not good for you. For some school children, looking on somebody else's paper during a test might be a temptation. For someone else being mean to their little brother might be a temptation. How do we do the right thing when we are being tempted to do something wrong? That is the question for the morning. I learned the answer from a dog. Let me explain.

A man was telling about his dog. His dog is very well trained. He said that he can put a piece of meat near his dog and tell it not to eat it and it will not. The dog won't even touch it, if its master tells it not to. But it is interesting. It also won't even look at the meat.

It will look at its master the whole time it is resisting the temptation to eat the meat. Maybe it knows that if it takes its eyes off of its master and looks at the piece of meat , the temptation will be too strong and it will disobey.

That's a great lesson, isn't it? Whenever we are tempted to do something we know we shouldn't, the best thing is not to even get close to the temptation, not to even look at it, but to keep our thoughts on our Master. Who is our Master? That's right, Jesus. Keep our thoughts on Jesus and those things that are good and right. That's the way to resist temptation. What a great lesson--and to think it came from a dog.

Second Sunday in Lent

FOLLOW THAT DREAM

Scripture: Genesis 12: 1-8

Object: A cap

Boys and girls,

How many of you like to wear caps? Some people do and some people don't. I read somewhere that if your feet are cold, you should put something on your head. That didn't make sense to me until someone explained that your body works extra hard to keep your brain warm. It will even let your feet freeze in order to keep your brain warm. That is why a cap is so important on a cold day.

But why does the body work so hard to keep the brain warm? Your brain is the most important part of your body, isn't it? What do you do with your brain? That's right, you think. That is also where you see and hear and feel. Your eyes let in light, but it is your brain that turns that light into a picture. Your brain is by far the most important part of your body.

Your brain is where you dream. It is where you dream at night--some of those dreams can be scary, can't they? And it is where you day dream during the day. Do you ever dream of what you will be some day? Do you dream of being an astronaut or a policeman or a teacher or a mommy or a daddy. Dreams are important. Dreams help us have a road map of where our lives will some day lead. Some of those dreams come from God. In fact God has a dream for your life. Did you know that? God has a dream for you--a dream in which you will grow up to be the kind of loving, honest, courageous person that He has created you to be. He dreams that you will be like His Son, Jesus. Gee, we have dreams and God has dreams. Wouldn't it be great if the dreams were the same? Then someday we could be all God means for us to be.

Third Sunday in Lent

Scripture: John 4: 5-26

HAPPINESS IS BEING YOURSELF

Boys and girls,

People look all kinds of place for things that will make them happy. Some think if they can have lots of money they will be happy. Some people think if they can always be Number 1 they will be happy. I've seen boys and girls who think, "Oh, if I can just fit in with certain people, then I will be happy." And in order to fit in with those certain people they become just like the people they want to fit in with. They wear the same clothes and they talk just like these other people. If other people are cruel, then they are cruel. If other people do things they shouldn't, then they do, too.

They 're like Echo the little nymph in the old Greek tales. You know what an echo is, don't you. You go up on a high mountain and shout, and your voice comes back to you. Echo, the little creature in the old stories did just that. She always repeated what others were saying. That's why she was called Echo. She had no thoughts of her own.

They are like mockingbirds. Have you ever heard a mockingbird? It imitates other birds. In fact mockingbirds will try to imitate barking dogs and all kinds of sounds. It would be hard to know when a mocking bird is being itself because it is always imitating others.

TOP

Fourth Sunday in Lent

IT'S WHAT YOU DO WITH IT

Scripture: John 9:1-41

Object: A piece of wax, a piece of clay, and a bottle of water.

Boys and girls,

I have here a piece of wax, a piece of clay, and a bottle of water. Suppose I were to build a fire here in the front of the chancel and were to put the wax on that fire, what would happen to it? That's right. it would melt. Suppose I put this clay on the fire. Do you know what would happen to it? That's right. The clay would harden. Isn't that interesting--one would melt and the other would get harder? Suppose I put this bottle of water in a pot and put it over the fire, what would happen? That's right, it would start to boil and soon it would disappear as steam.

Now let's think about that for a moment. Suppose somebody hurts you. How would you react? Some of you might cry. Some of you might get very angry. Some of you would never speak to that person again. Others will have forgotten it within an hour. The same hurt, but like the wax, the clay and the water, we would each react differently. A wise man once said that it is not what happens to us on the outside that matters, but what we have on the inside.

What we want to have on the inside is the Spirit of Jesus--to have him live in our hearts. Then when disappointment comes or hurt, he can help us react in a way that's best for us and for others.