This is a slightly abbreviated version of my sermon yesterday. It is the first of a series on why and how Christian faith is founded on facts, not myth.
Christianity rests on a single claim. I
call it the fulcrum of our faith. All of Christian faith is founded on the Easter proclamation,
“He is risen!” Absent that, we got nuthin’.
And
nothing is frankly what increasing numbers of Americans think we've got. On
Good Friday, the respected polling firm Rasmussen Reports released a poll that
showed that the number of Americans who believe that Jesus rose from the dead
has dropped 13 percent since only last year. The poll question was the same
this year as last, “Do you believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead?” Last
year, 77 percent said yes. This year, 64 percent said yes. Over the last five
years, the drop has been steepest among teens and young adults. In fact, one-third of adults under 30 claim no religious affiliation at all (see "Growing Up 'None' ").
Of
the 36 percent who did not affirm Jesus’s resurrection, 19 percent rejected it
outright, a staggering 12 percentage point jump from last year. Seventeen
percent said they weren't sure.
First
Peter 3.15 tells us, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks
you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” Seems like we who know
Jesus arose are not doing that very well.
And
so my reasons for this sermon series. Christian faith is founded on historical
facts, verifiable facts, facts that even non-Christian historians and scholars
agree are true. And yet my guess is that only a very small number of typical
mainline Protestant church members, including us Methodists, would be able
effectively to recount and relate those facts and what they mean in a way that
would at least move some of the 19 percent who deny Jesus’s resurrection to the
group who at least admits the possibility.
I
will be frank – what I seek to inculcate in my flock is greater conviction of
the truth of the Christian proclamation that “Christ is risen, he is risen
indeed.” Conviction is not mere agreement to a proposition. Conviction is a
belief held so powerfully that it transforms the way we live. As Wesley
explained, if we say we believe something but it makes no difference in the way
we spend our time or our money, then it is belief without conviction.
Conviction changes us.
Here
is how I plan to proceed:
- I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that while interrogating Jesus on Good Friday, Pontius Pilate asked him what I think is probably the second-most-important question is the Bible: “What is truth?” This question strikes to the heart of the American church and that is what I will address today.
- Next Sunday I will talk about the Easter story itself and why it is solidly historical.
- On April 21 I will then do my best to recount the various alternative explanations that have been offered over the last couple of centuries claiming to show why the Easter proclamation is actually false, even if the apostles thought it was true.
- On April 28 my topic will be what the apostles meant by resurrection in the first place and what it has to do with us. On May 5 I’ll try to wrap everything up.
Now
on to Pilate’s question. What, indeed, is truth?
Truth
bears authority, so debates about what is true necessarily are also about what
has authority. Here are some expressions we have all used in the contests over
truth and authority:
• “Nobody has the right to tell me . . .” (fill
in the blank),
• “The rule book says that . . .”
• “I saw on TV . . .”
• “Research has shown that . . .”
• “The Bible says . . .”
• “I
read on the internet . . .”
• “My feelings are . . .”
All
these statements are claims of truth and authority. Christianity has a set of
claims, too – many claims. There is at least one claim that is extremely
offensive. We don’t like being offensive, especially in this sensitive era. The
greatest social sin you can commit today is to offend someone’s nationality, ethnicity,
educational background, political affiliation, what have you. We are nice
people and we want others to think so. So in our commendable urge not to offend
anyone we risk watering down the Gospel because we won’t embrace the
offensiveness inherent in the Christian proclamation.
Frederica
Mathewes-Green, a Christian writer, related that she was invited to appear on a
panel in a secular setting to discuss spiritual nurturing in everyday life. She
told the assembly that if you were raised in a Christian tradition, then
explore it more and learn more about it. It will enrich your life. If you were
raised in some other religious tradition, she said, explore and learn about
Christianity anyway. Christianity is for everyone and its welcome transcends
all earthly boundaries. After she finished, the panel’s moderator looked at her
like a naughty kindergartner and told the group, “What Frederica meant to say
was that there are many spiritual paths and all should be honored in the spirit
of multiculturalism.”
“Wow!”
she thought. “I had no idea that was
what I was trying to say!”
This
incident, she said, illustrates the most offensive part about Christianity. We
make exclusive claims. We affirm some things and reject others. For example, we
don’t say that whatever you believe is okay, as long as you are sincere.
Sincerity does not equal truth. can easily be sincerely wrong.
The offensive part of Christianity is not that
we proclaim Jesus as our Lord, but that we proclaim Jesus is everyone’s Lord.
Hindu, New Age, Jewish, Mormon, Moslem, Catholic or Protestant, capitalist or
socialist, Asian or African or European, Indian or aborigine, atheist or
pagan—it matters not what you think about Christ or whether you even
acknowledge Jesus. Jesus is still your Lord and your eternity is in his hands
whether you like it or not. (See, "Almost All Religions Are Exclusive.")
So
we try to avoid offense by saying that Christian living will make you a better
person, or will give you peace or joy or any other side effect of Christian
conviction. These may be true but they are also entirely uncompelling to non-Christians. The real message is simply that Christ preserves us for eternal
life with God. We do not follow Christ just to be better or happier people, but
to belong to God forever and lead others to belong also.
Nowadays religion is out, but spirituality is in. The difference seems to
be that spirituality is highly individual and doesn't take commitment. So people claim they are seeking spiritual development but have no use for
religion.
“That’s
nice,” we reply. “You’re just seeking truth in your own way.” We sure aren’t
going to offend anyone by telling them that if for this life only they are “spiritual,”
they are of all people most to be pitied. That’s so intolerant and narrow
minded!
Now
listen. You can be as spiritual as they come without Jesus. You can be so
cosmically conscious that the Dalai Lama looks a reprobate next to you.
Spirituality is actually pretty easy. Just get a mantra and affirm yourself.
But you won’t be any closer to eternal life with God than before.
Jesus
said that if you know him, you know God. More than that, to know God you have
to know Jesus. So when we try to proclaim the Gospel, we’re sort of stuck. We
have a message that can be inherently offensive, Jesus declaring that he is
truth in the flesh and that to get to God you have to go through him. We
proclaim this message to a generation of folks who don’t believe there is any
such thing as objective truth in the first place, and if there is it is
certainly not religious truth, and they shun religion anyway.
At
the end of every spiritual quest lies only oneself, just as empty and mortal as
ever. We should invite the spiritual seekers to come on our journey and walk
along the Jerusalem road with us. At the end of our walk is not us, but the
cross of Calvary and beyond the cross is the empty tomb. From the empty tomb
emerged not just some spiritually-enhanced version of ourselves, but the flesh
and blood embodiment of what God promises us.
We
need to think about how to communicate the Gospel to a generation that values
visual imagery more than the written word. A generation that wants spirituality
but not religion. A generation that is skeptical of any claim to truth and
authority, especially religious claims. A generation that is less inclined to
join anything than their parents. A generation that is busier than their
parents were, and is much more likely to have only one adult heading a
household. And we need to reach out to them without diluting the Gospel.
We
are a people of the fact of resurrection, not persons of a proposition. We
belong to the truth because we belong to the Risen One. Jesus is the truth and
life itself. That truth will never change, but how we proclaim it must change.
We cannot complacently just water our own garden while outside a drought desiccates
the land.
So:
What are the facts about Christian faith and why do we say they are facts?
We’ll go there next week.
