There are a lot of people
who claim to have religious truth. They
proclaim it in loud voices from pulpits in large churches filled with people
who have come to feel as if they are the chosen people who have heard the words
from the master. So called “Mega
Churches” are all over the place and have become somewhat of a rage in these
times. The strange thing about them is
that while they seem to grow way out of proportion to other churches around
them; they also seem to lose people just as quickly. Somebody said that their back doors are as
wide open as their front doors.
The only certainty that we have before
us is that we are all sinners that have been forgiven by our God and loved through
our lives. We are called because of this
love to show it to those around us. Love your
neighbor as a person like yourself, commanded Jesus to
his disciples and to all of us. This means
that this church that we are attached to is here to take care of the need of the
world that is so vast around us. That is
why we are here, and when we obey this simple commandment the world will become
the creation that was meant from the beginning by God.
I have heard some of these preachers give us their word
and I have become convinced that what they are selling is certainty. They offer a gospel that isn’t vague at all
and offers a message that gives the hearer answers that are certain and
sure. The problem is that often the
message leaves out a good portion of the Gospel that Jesus gave us in his
ministry on this earth. What I will
always remember about Jesus’ life and ministry is that he attracted a small
number of people, twelve apostles and a number of other followers. The number of these followers waxed and waned
according to the times and the message.
I have always been attracted to the first deacon,
Stephen, who told the truth about Jesus to the religious leaders of his time
and for his pains was stoned to death, becoming the first Christian
martyr. In Acts 7, the scripture says
that those who stoned him to death laid their coats at the feet of a young man
named Saul. This, of course, was the
same Saul who was converted on the road to Damascus and became the great Paul
who wrote all of the letters and started so many churches. The truth that Stephen told before his death
was that he saw the recently crucified and risen Jesus standing at the right
hand of God. This was too much for the
leaders who had taken a part in the crucifixion, so they dragged Stephen away
and stoned him. While he was being stoned,
the martyr said: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit
and then right before he died, he said: Lord,
do not hold this sin against them! This echoes closely Jesus own words
from the cross before his own death: Father, forgive them for they do not know
what they are doing!
I know that this is the essence of Christianity. This is the truth that Jesus came to tell us:
that our sins are forgiven, and that we are loved eternally and always by our
God. The only proof of this that we need
is how Jesus willingly gave his life for those who crucified him, and indeed
for us all. That isn’t an easy thing to
grasp and it leaves the door open for people to claim all kinds of certainty in
the name of Christianity. Over the
centuries, this has produced some terrible manifestations of the faith. Certainty has given us the inquisition, the
crusades, countless divisions of the church through the ages that has resulted
in the incredible number of denominations of faith that we have before us
today. Each of our religious denominations
is a moment in time when we couldn’t agree on anything but our own
certainty. The number of people who have,
like Stephen, died because of all of this is staggering.
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