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"Faith
and Evidence" November
10, 2002 The Rev. Dr. Will Eisenhower This morning for my message, I want to reinforce the idea that God
sends special people our way and that there are special people in this
congregation that God has sent to many of us.
God sends special people our way. We
know that because He sent Jesus as the Special Person.
And I want us to remind ourselves what it is that we place our faith in
when we say that we have our faith in Jesus, that we believe in Jesus.
There is a nature to the Christian faith that we must not lose
sight of. I was reminded of that
recently reading through Newsweek (of all things!).
You may have seen this as well in Newsweek.
Within the last few weeks they had a very interesting article.
It says "A Clue to Jesus?"
Have you seen that article? If
you didn't, I encourage you to get ahold of a copy.
Let's see, this is a recent Newsweek and I'll tell you which one:
November 4, 2002. The substance of the article is this: Archaeologists have discovered a box--an ossuary.
(An ossuary is a box in ancient times used to keep the bones of a special
person.) There are no bones in this
box, but inscribed on the outside of the box in Aramaic (which was the language
of the holy land 2,000 years ago) the words in Aramaic
are "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus."
And the claim being made is that this was a special box in order to keep
the bones of James, the brother of Jesus--James, the one who wrote the letter of
James in the New Testament. James
was a very prominent figure in the book of Acts.
If you remember the book of Acts, James (who was a son of Joseph, and
therefore related to Jesus in that way), this was a special box used to preserve
his bones from ancient times. Now, it's disputed, and some would say, "Oh, no, no,
no--that's ridiculous." And
part of the reason for the dispute is that there are those today who say
Christianity is nothing but a myth. One
reason that is said is there are those who argue that all religions are nothing
but myth, and so you cannot take the claims, the historical claims, of any
religion at all seriously. Well,
this finding gives something of a black eye to the leading voices who would say
Christianity is nothing but a myth, because there should not be archaeological
evidence like this, where it is written, "James, son of Joseph, brother of
Jesus." What this find . . .
(and because of the archaeology of the holy land, you probably know this) all
the time confirmations of what the Bible has claimed about ancient times, all
the time confirmations are being found, just like this, that would say,
"Hmmm. Isn't that interesting?
You know, the book of Acts tells us that James was a very important
person in the early church, a very prominent person, and now here is an
indication that there really was such a figure, that that figure lived at
exactly the time and in exactly the place that the Bible says that he did." Well, unfortunately, Newsweek, I think, really missed an
opportunity. Because Newsweek's
article becomes obsessed with the person of James and wants to answer the
question, "Who was this James that is being referred to here?" when
there is a much more important question, and that is the nature of Christian
faith and evidence that is found that confirms the claims of that faith.
And that's what I want us to confront together this morning as we remind
ourselves about that special Person, Jesus Christ, that God sent into the world
to be our Savior. So you may want
to turn with me as we look at 1 John, the first of the letters of John, 1 John
chapter 1, beginning with the first verse.
This is what John writes: We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes, what we have look at and touched with our
hands, concerning the word of life--this life was revealed, and we have seen it
and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father
and was revealed to us--we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that
you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the
Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We
are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
Now, first of all, the most important thing that we see in this
passage is that John is claiming to be an eyewitness. He's claiming to have been there, and he's saying, "I've
got sense-data type information about what I want to tell you about." We declare to you what was from the beginning
what we have [watch this:] heard . . . He's saying, "Hey! I
heard it myself. I was there.
I heard what Jesus said." . . . what we have seen with our eyes . . . OK. So, "I heard
it. I saw it. I was there. I
observed the entire thing." . .
. looked at and touched with our hands . . . So, "I heard. I
saw. I sort of looked at it in a
more penetrating kind of way, a very careful examination." . .
. and touched with our hands . . .. "You know, we knew what it was to walk along and to hand
something to Jesus. He was a real,
live person. He was flesh and
bones. I'm not telling you about a
fairy tale. I'm not telling you
about a dream. I'm not telling you
about something that the human mind has just sort of imagined.
No, I'm going to declare to you what I saw, what I heard, what I looked
at and carefully examined, what I touched." Verse 2 This life was revealed and we have seen it and we
testify to it and we declare it to you. So, on the first instance what we need to understand is this letter
of John, and the New Testament, and the Bible, and the Christian faith, make
claims about things that really happened in history, things that were
empirically detectable. You could
see it. You could hear it.
You could touch it. Jesus
Christ was a real human being. He
lived among other real human beings and interacted the way real human beings
did. So the claim that the
Christian faith makes--the claim that John is making here in his letter--is this
is not a vision somebody had at a particular time.
This is not a dream that somebody had at a particular time. And, I know it's preposterous, but some people will say, "Oh,
all that stuff in the New Testament--that was invented by Roman Catholic priests
in the third century. I mean, you
know, there's nothing to it other than that."
Well, that's preposterous because we know who John was.
John was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus.
We know that this is his writing. And
what he's saying is, "I was there. I
saw it. And I'm going to tell you
about this historical person who actually lived among us." Now because of that claim, we should not be surprised when the
archaeologists dig up something that is a burial box--you know, the box with no
bones. James' box of bones, or
James' empty box of bones. You know
they did a Broadway musical "Joseph's . . ."
What was it? "Joseph's
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." I
want them to do one now, "James' empty box of bones."
You don't think that would work? This is a very, very small, but nevertheless significant in its own
way, bit of evidence that the things that the New Testament writes about
impacted the world. And if we are
thorough enough, we will continue to unearth little pieces of evidence that say,
"You know what? What the Bible
says is true. What the Bible says
is true." But, on the other hand, let me qualify what I'm saying in this way:
It is not the case that our faith rests on new evidence being found so
that you would want to say, "I'm really not sure whether Jesus lived or
not. I'm going to wait 'til they
find more boxes of bones, and then after they've found some more evidence like
that, then I'm going to make up my mind," because Christian faith has
always depended on the trustworthiness of the testimony of the authors of
Scripture. Our faith has always
depended upon the trustworthiness of the people who were there, and that is
exactly what the letter of John is inviting us to do.
He's saying, "I'm going to tell you about what I saw.
I'm going to tell you about what I heard.
I'm going to tell you about what I . . . and the reason I'm going to do
that is. . ." Why? We declare to you [verse 3]
We declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have
fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and the Son.
We are writing these things so that our [some of the versions say
"your"] so that your joy may be complete (our joy may be complete, we
have a joyous fellowship together) . . . . . . because of the eyewitness testimony being declared.
Every week, all around the world today, Christian preachers preach the
gospel. And the claim that the
Bible makes is when these truths are declared that way, God is available.
God is receivable in the preaching of the Word, so that Jesus Christ is
as available to you right now, today, in the preaching of the Word, as Jesus
Christ was back then. Now you say,
"Well, how can that be?" Well, number one, it's not the case that everybody who watched
Jesus, who heard Jesus speak, who touched Jesus with their hands--it's not the
case that everyone who had those experiences came immediately to faith in Him,
is it? Well, no. We know that actually many people who saw Jesus, heard Jesus,
even people who were aware of His miraculous power rejected Him, objected to
what He was saying and rejected Him, and that He was crucified by God's chosen
people, people who saw Him, who heard Him.
There's nothing to say that if you or I had been there at the time . . .
You may be saying, "I'm having a hard time believing today,
but if I were alive 2,000 years ago, then I would believe.
You know, if I had been there, if I had seen what John saw, I'd believe a
lot more." Well, we
really shouldn't try to make that claim. We
might--I might--have been among the ones who rejected Him.
I might have been among the ones who called for His being crucified.
So it took a miraculous anointing for those who saw Jesus, who
heard Jesus, who touched Jesus, to see with the eyes of faith that this is the
Messiah sent from God. And that
same miraculous anointing is available in this room today. You can have a faith in Jesus, because of the preaching of
the Word, that is as sturdy, is as solid, is as certain, as the faith that John
has. You say, "Well, John was lucky. He got to see, and touch, and hear. I'm not lucky. I
didn't get that." Well, you
know what? The claim of this letter
is that when he declares his first-person testimony to us, God touches that
testimony and brings it to our hearts in a way so that we can believe. Now, we shouldn't be surprised when we learn from Newsweek
that there is confirming evidence, that archaeologists find item after item
long-buried in the sand that is exactly what you would have expected based on
what the Bible declares. But our
faith doesn't rest in what Newsweek says.
Our faith doesn't rest in what the archaeologists find.
Our faith rests on the Word of God, and hearing the Word preached, and
allowing God to minister the truths from here [the Bible] right into here [our
hearts], to build up our faith and give us a confidence that, yes, it's what the
Bible says it is. This is what John says. He
says: This is what I'm declaring to you. I'm declaring this to you so that you can have life.
What we're declaring is that which was from the very beginning, the
beginning of time, before the creation of the world.
It's the eternal life that appeared to us and we saw it and we're
declaring it to you so that you can
share in that eternal life, and so that the fellowship that we all experience as
believers can be made complete. Now, this is the point in the sermon where you say, "OK.
But, Will, why are you telling me these things?"
In fact, repeat that after me: "Will,
why are you telling me these things?" "Will, why are you telling me these things?" OK. Good.
Why not? That was fun!
Let's do it again. "Will, why are you telling me these things?" Because your walk with God, your faith in Jesus Christ, ought to
have accompanying it, new evidence, evidence today of answered prayer, of
strength in hard times, of love where you would think, "I have no idea why
I'm able to love that person," or " . . . that group of people."
You know, "God has supernaturally enabled me to have a love that I
can't explain any way other than to say it's a gift from God."
Your walk with God ought to have evidence just like that. The reason that I'm telling you this this morning is that your
faith should not depend on that evidence any more than the Christian faith
depends on evidence like this [Newsweek]. We think that archaeological finds are to be expected.
We think archaeological evidence that supports Scripture ought to be
forthcoming because of the kind of faith that Christianity is.
Christianity is a faith that God made an everlasting difference in the
world when He sent Jesus, and that God continues to make a difference in your
life and my life today, and so we ought to be seeing signs of the difference
that God makes. If you would have to admit, "Will, you know what?
I have no idea what you're talking about.
I've never had an experience like what you're talking about.
I've never had a time where I felt like God was giving me the strength to
get through an hour of difficulty. In
those hours of difficulty I've always felt like I was by myself.
Will, I have no idea what you're talking about, 'answer to
prayer.' That's what you
religious-types always say, but I have no idea what you're talking about.
I've never experienced that." If
that's true for you, then please come in and see me, and let's sit down and
talk, because the normal Christian life is one where there is evidence in you,
evidence in your life, of God making a difference. I remember when I was (long, long ago!) I was a student at Fresno
State College. (We called it
"Fresno Straight College" at the time.) At Fresno State College I was a student and I remember I was
sitting in the student union eating a hamburger, and this girl who was in my
English Lit class came up, as I was just sitting there having my lunch, and this
girl came up and she looked at me and she said, "You're a Christian aren't
you?" I put down my hamburger and I said, "How do you know?" And she goes, "Oh, I can just tell." I have . . . I mean . . . it's not like I would go into my English
Lit class and talk about Jesus all of the time, I want you to understand!
I have no idea what she meant when she said, "Oh, I can just
tell." But we're talking about
a difference that Jesus can make in your life.
Evidence of God alive and real in your life.
A difference significant enough so that not only can you tell, but other
people can tell. That's what John is talking about. He's talking about, "Hey!
I want to tell you about something I've seen, I've heard.
I want to tell you about a difference that God made that was see-able,
hear-able, touchable." A
difference like that. Christianity
is about Jesus making a difference like that, and Jesus is available today to
continue to make a difference like that. Another time, back in those same days: A few years later I went to seminary. I was living in Berkeley at the time. And Connie Solberg and her boyfriend came to Berkeley.
Connie was a friend of mine. Her
boyfriend, I didn't know. Connie
called me up and wanted to go on a double-date (I was not married at the time--I
need to let you know this!), but her sister lived in Berkeley.
So I went over to the sister's sorority and now I'm meeting the sister
for the first time--and there was Connie (my friend) and her boyfriend.
And I discovered (the second I show up) that the boyfriend is a
very aggressive atheist. A very
eagerly-aggressive atheist. And the
second I walk through the door, he starts saying, "You're studying to be a
Presbyterian preacher? That's
nonsense! Everybody knows there's
no God, there's no Jesus, there's no . . ." and just. . . And there I am. I'm
kind of--you know, you walk in like that and I'm trying to go, "Well . . .
um . . . um . . . yes, there is . . ." "No, there's not!" And we go downstairs and we get in the car and the whole time he's
driving and he's--you know the people that drive and look in the back seat at
the same time? He's telling me why
no one should ever believe in God, why no one should ever believe in Jesus.
And we get to Telegraph Avenue, and we park, and we go downstairs in the
Ratskellar, and we sit down. You
know, the conversation sort of stopped as we were coming down the stairs.
We sit down at the table, and then the waiter comes right up, and the
boyfriend looks up at the waiter and he says, "Waiter, excuse me.
We're having a little discussion. . . " (Connie was a believer in
Jesus. I have no idea why she had
this boyfriend! And I was a
believer in Jesus.) Nothing had
been said since we got out of the car. We
came down the stairs and now we're sitting in the basement restaurant on
Telegraph Avenue and the boyfriend says, "Excuse me, waiter.
We're having a little discussion. Two
of us at this table are devout followers of Jesus Christ and two of us are not
believers. We want you to tell us who the believers are and who the
believers aren't." The waiter right away--he had the menus in his hand--and right away
he goes, "OK." He holds
the menus like this [against his chest, with his arms folded across his chest]
and he goes, "You're a believer (he pointed at me) and you're a believer
(he pointed at Connie)." The boyfriend--his mouth dropped open and he said, "How do you
know?" And the waiter--this is Berkeley, California in the early
seventies--the waiter just nodded and he goes, "It's in the eyes."
And he went away. I have no idea what to make of that, except to report to you that
the kind of faith that we have is one that will supply confirmations all the
time as God makes you and me more like Jesus, as God makes us different people.
But let's not let our faith rest on whether our eyes shine or not.
Let's not let our faith rest on whether God has made us enough like Jesus
yet. Because if we do, I'll tell
you, there's going to be those times when you're going to be really proud
("I'm getting more like Jesus!") and the next second you're going to
fall on your face and you're going to go, "I'm not getting more like
Jesus." If our faith rests on
the evidence, our faith is going to rise and fall, and rise and fall.
If our faith rests on these kind of things [Newsweek], then one
archaeological find is going to be up and then another one is going to be down.
Let's let our faith rest right here [in Scripture]. Let's pray. Dear
Heavenly Father, we thank you that there really, really was a Jesus.
He was seen by people, He was heard by people.
And, Lord, we thank you that you empowered eyewitnesses to declare to us
today the saving truths, so that hearing them as they arise out of Scripture, we
might have the life that you intend for us, eternal life with you, thanks to
your Son. And it's in the strong
name of Jesus we pray. Amen. The Rev. Dr. Will Eisenhower Interim Pastor Faith Presbyterian Church Minnetonka, Minnesota [Transcribed from an audiotape of the
worship service on November 10, 2002.] |
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