Why Life Changes When You Know The Truth
Sermon
Hope For The Weary Heart
Second Lesson Sermons For Lent/Easter Cycle C
If you live long enough, you will come to know the truth of it: "What goes around, comes around." Fifty years ago people waited in line near the old stadium in downtown Cleveland to get a World Series ticket and watch the Indians play. Thirty years ago they waited all night to get tickets to see and hear Mick Jagger, Keith Richards (every mother's dream date for her daughter), and the rest of the Stones. Twenty-two years ago it was to see the new film phenomenon created by George Lucas, Star Wars, with all of its digital creatures, an aging Alec Guiness, and a young Harrison Ford.
In 1999, George Lucas did it again. It came around again: another incredible journey into "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away" as we were swept along into galactic fantasy toward the Phantom Menace. There was a new plot, new heroes and villains, new creatures, but one thing was not-so-new: the unabashed and intentional spirituality embedded in the film. "What goes around, comes around," and this has come around again.
George Lucas knows something about this culture, and particularly about its "Gen-Xers" and "Millennials" that is worth us knowing. There is both a deep spiritual hunger, as well as a perceived spiritual vacuum, in this nation. It is not just the province of the younger generations, although it is perhaps most deeply felt there. There is a profound searching going on, but not a lot of finding.
George Lucas knows this, and he has intentionally made his film to probe this hunger and search. Interviewed by Bill Moyers in a national news magazine, Lucas said, "I put the Force into the movie in order to try to awaken a certain kind of spirituality in young people -- more a belief in God than a belief in any particular religious system. I wanted to make it so that young people would begin to ask questions about the mystery" (Time; Vol. 153, No. 16; April 26, 1999; p. 92).
Not only George Lucas, but you and I, whatever our age, have also lived long enough to know the truth of it: the questions -- about the mystery -- are not just the questions of the searching young; they are the questions of each and everyone of us; they are our questions. "Is there a 'mystery' at all? Or, are we just an accident of evolutionary determinism?" "Is what we think an experience of the mind and spirit really that? Or, is it all just a by-product of a bunch of neurons firing off?" "And if there is a 'mystery,' can it be penetrated and known? And if we penetrate it and come to knowledge of it, will any of this really make any difference in our lived experience?"
These are the questions. They are our questions, just as they have always been humanity's questions ever since human beings got to the place where they could eat without being eaten, and had time to sit down and sift through whether or not their miserable lives have any meaning. And we're still at it. "What goes around, comes around." You and I are on the search, the search to elucidate the mystery, because if we do, if we can penetrate it to the point where at least part of it is no longer mystery, then we might, just might, be able to make some sense out of our lives. We might discover what's really the truth about life -- and death -- and what's between, and what's beyond. And then, if we make that discovery -- about what is true -- why, then, our life might, just might, change! We might, just might, discover what authentic living is really all about, and then, whatever spiritual hunger, life hunger, we have might, just might, be satisfied.
Let me -- better, let Scripture -- tell you the truth of it: living in the midst of competing claims for what gives life meaning and purpose, hope and joy, God has made a definitive statement. In Jesus we can see and know not only what God is like, but we can also know what we can be like. Now this is not to say that there are not competing claims, any more than it is to say that there is no truth about God in any other expression of religion. We need to be guarded by and aware of human arrogance that would suggest that any human being -- even a Christian one -- can know all there is to know about God, and what God has been, is, and will be doing.
No, what the Scriptures of our Christian faith proclaim is not that we Christians have a corner on the market of religious truth, nor that no truth can be found in other faith expressions; not at all. What Scripture proclaims is that the truth of what God has been, is, and will be doing in Jesus the Christ transcends all these completing claims.
Moreover, if we can penetrate what God has been, is, and will be doing in Jesus the Christ -- if we can know this truth -- then your life and my life will change. As Jesus is recorded saying in the Fourth Gospel, "the truth [big "T"] will make you free" (John 8:32). This isn't some banal political bromide. Rather, it holds the possibility of spiritual freedom, the freedom to be set free from the bondage of empty and inauthentic living, and thus know and experience life with all power and purpose.
Praise God, we can know it! The prayer we read in Ephesians, a prayer for us and for all of hurting humanity, has been fulfilled! Hear it again, and in hearing it, enter into its power for you: "I am praying," says the author, "that you will have an openness to God's truth -- that you 'will have the eyes of your hearts enlightened' -- and that you will know the hope to which God has called you" (Ephesians 1:18). The hope, what the author calls the "riches of God's glorious inheritance" is what God has been, is, and will be doing in Jesus the Christ. It is the plan, the "mystery" as he calls it previously in verses 9 and 10, to renew and redeem -- set free! -- the entire created order. It is God's plan to bring wholeness and healing to all human fracture, to heal both the cosmos and all humanity in Christ -- and this includes us!
This is God's answer to our questions. This is God's definitive statement, and it is the truth. What God is doing is pulling us in Christ toward the place and time when love triumphs, where broken hearts are healed and broken lives are made whole, where and when all bondage ceases, and we are set spiritually free to be all that God has intended us to be. It is the truth, both now and yet to be completed. This is what God has been, and is doing, and will continue to do until all creation is made whole in Christ, this galaxy and every other one.
If this is the truth (and it is; it really is), that our lives are being made whole and complete in Christ, when we buy into this truth and make it our living, our lives will change. Here is why; I want to lift up four reasons. First, your life will change because no more will you lie awake at night, or get up in the morning, wondering whether or not life has any meaning or purpose to it. You won't do that because the Truth says, "Life is going somewhere; all of human life, all that is is going somewhere!" There is purpose because God has a purpose for all of the created order -- and that includes you and me, and everyone and everything else. We do not have to live lives empty of meaning, or filled with boredom. We do not have to try desperately to impose meaning on our days, or get so much "stuff" it doesn't matter. God's ultimate purpose has liberated us from cynicism, despair, and nihilism! God's purposes are at work, and God's purposes are heading somewhere. Knowing this will change your life!
The second reason why your life will change when you know the truth is this: Not only does God have a purpose for the creation, but God has also chosen to include you in God's work of renewal, healing, and wholeness. You count; all persons count ultimately to God. When you and I know this, our lives change. No longer do we live in bondage to our failure, our brokenness; no more do we think that we're just refuse, unworthy of love. The truth sets us free! The truth frees us to live lives of hope and joy, because when we know how much God loves us -- enough to work within us toward completion and wholeness in Christ -- how can we not leave all of our hurt and failure behind, stepping into God's new and glorious future?
The third reason life changes when we know the truth is wrapped up in how Jesus the Christ reveals God's purposes. That is to say, Jesus shows us where this thing is going; Jesus shows us what fulfilled human life can be like. So if you and I are wondering what this work is that God is doing in and with us -- look to Jesus! There we can see what our lives can and will look like when God's purposes are unfolding. It can be a life of closeness with God. It can be a life lived in community with others. It can be a life filled with love and with all the joy love brings, and it can and will be a life lived ultimately with God.
The last reason why knowing the truth will change your life may be the most important of all. It is this: God is going to win! The truth says, "The victory is won!" When God raised Jesus from the dead and proclaimed that "Jesus is Lord!" -- not violence, not brutality, not hatred, nor any other force or power we rightly call "demonic," but Jesus is Lord -- when God acted definitively in Jesus the Christ, the victory was won. Oh, yes, there are times it may look in doubt. You can slow down God's purpose and side-track what God is doing, but you cannot stop it; you cannot defeat God. God is going to win! And you and I, we're going to make it! We are all going to make it; this beat up and battered world is going to make it, because in the end, God wins! Think how this changes everything! The truth liberates us from fear, despair, and anxiety. It fills our efforts with ultimate value. The truth gives us a new perspective -- on life and death, and everything between and beyond -- because, you see, it is all in God's hands. It is the truth, and it will set us free, free from all fear and hopelessness, both in this age and whatever age there is to come.
If we live long enough, we'll see it; we will come to know the truth: "What goes around, comes around" -- and it is coming. If you and I are going to stand in line to see something, stand in line to see this.
In 1999, George Lucas did it again. It came around again: another incredible journey into "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away" as we were swept along into galactic fantasy toward the Phantom Menace. There was a new plot, new heroes and villains, new creatures, but one thing was not-so-new: the unabashed and intentional spirituality embedded in the film. "What goes around, comes around," and this has come around again.
George Lucas knows something about this culture, and particularly about its "Gen-Xers" and "Millennials" that is worth us knowing. There is both a deep spiritual hunger, as well as a perceived spiritual vacuum, in this nation. It is not just the province of the younger generations, although it is perhaps most deeply felt there. There is a profound searching going on, but not a lot of finding.
George Lucas knows this, and he has intentionally made his film to probe this hunger and search. Interviewed by Bill Moyers in a national news magazine, Lucas said, "I put the Force into the movie in order to try to awaken a certain kind of spirituality in young people -- more a belief in God than a belief in any particular religious system. I wanted to make it so that young people would begin to ask questions about the mystery" (Time; Vol. 153, No. 16; April 26, 1999; p. 92).
Not only George Lucas, but you and I, whatever our age, have also lived long enough to know the truth of it: the questions -- about the mystery -- are not just the questions of the searching young; they are the questions of each and everyone of us; they are our questions. "Is there a 'mystery' at all? Or, are we just an accident of evolutionary determinism?" "Is what we think an experience of the mind and spirit really that? Or, is it all just a by-product of a bunch of neurons firing off?" "And if there is a 'mystery,' can it be penetrated and known? And if we penetrate it and come to knowledge of it, will any of this really make any difference in our lived experience?"
These are the questions. They are our questions, just as they have always been humanity's questions ever since human beings got to the place where they could eat without being eaten, and had time to sit down and sift through whether or not their miserable lives have any meaning. And we're still at it. "What goes around, comes around." You and I are on the search, the search to elucidate the mystery, because if we do, if we can penetrate it to the point where at least part of it is no longer mystery, then we might, just might, be able to make some sense out of our lives. We might discover what's really the truth about life -- and death -- and what's between, and what's beyond. And then, if we make that discovery -- about what is true -- why, then, our life might, just might, change! We might, just might, discover what authentic living is really all about, and then, whatever spiritual hunger, life hunger, we have might, just might, be satisfied.
Let me -- better, let Scripture -- tell you the truth of it: living in the midst of competing claims for what gives life meaning and purpose, hope and joy, God has made a definitive statement. In Jesus we can see and know not only what God is like, but we can also know what we can be like. Now this is not to say that there are not competing claims, any more than it is to say that there is no truth about God in any other expression of religion. We need to be guarded by and aware of human arrogance that would suggest that any human being -- even a Christian one -- can know all there is to know about God, and what God has been, is, and will be doing.
No, what the Scriptures of our Christian faith proclaim is not that we Christians have a corner on the market of religious truth, nor that no truth can be found in other faith expressions; not at all. What Scripture proclaims is that the truth of what God has been, is, and will be doing in Jesus the Christ transcends all these completing claims.
Moreover, if we can penetrate what God has been, is, and will be doing in Jesus the Christ -- if we can know this truth -- then your life and my life will change. As Jesus is recorded saying in the Fourth Gospel, "the truth [big "T"] will make you free" (John 8:32). This isn't some banal political bromide. Rather, it holds the possibility of spiritual freedom, the freedom to be set free from the bondage of empty and inauthentic living, and thus know and experience life with all power and purpose.
Praise God, we can know it! The prayer we read in Ephesians, a prayer for us and for all of hurting humanity, has been fulfilled! Hear it again, and in hearing it, enter into its power for you: "I am praying," says the author, "that you will have an openness to God's truth -- that you 'will have the eyes of your hearts enlightened' -- and that you will know the hope to which God has called you" (Ephesians 1:18). The hope, what the author calls the "riches of God's glorious inheritance" is what God has been, is, and will be doing in Jesus the Christ. It is the plan, the "mystery" as he calls it previously in verses 9 and 10, to renew and redeem -- set free! -- the entire created order. It is God's plan to bring wholeness and healing to all human fracture, to heal both the cosmos and all humanity in Christ -- and this includes us!
This is God's answer to our questions. This is God's definitive statement, and it is the truth. What God is doing is pulling us in Christ toward the place and time when love triumphs, where broken hearts are healed and broken lives are made whole, where and when all bondage ceases, and we are set spiritually free to be all that God has intended us to be. It is the truth, both now and yet to be completed. This is what God has been, and is doing, and will continue to do until all creation is made whole in Christ, this galaxy and every other one.
If this is the truth (and it is; it really is), that our lives are being made whole and complete in Christ, when we buy into this truth and make it our living, our lives will change. Here is why; I want to lift up four reasons. First, your life will change because no more will you lie awake at night, or get up in the morning, wondering whether or not life has any meaning or purpose to it. You won't do that because the Truth says, "Life is going somewhere; all of human life, all that is is going somewhere!" There is purpose because God has a purpose for all of the created order -- and that includes you and me, and everyone and everything else. We do not have to live lives empty of meaning, or filled with boredom. We do not have to try desperately to impose meaning on our days, or get so much "stuff" it doesn't matter. God's ultimate purpose has liberated us from cynicism, despair, and nihilism! God's purposes are at work, and God's purposes are heading somewhere. Knowing this will change your life!
The second reason why your life will change when you know the truth is this: Not only does God have a purpose for the creation, but God has also chosen to include you in God's work of renewal, healing, and wholeness. You count; all persons count ultimately to God. When you and I know this, our lives change. No longer do we live in bondage to our failure, our brokenness; no more do we think that we're just refuse, unworthy of love. The truth sets us free! The truth frees us to live lives of hope and joy, because when we know how much God loves us -- enough to work within us toward completion and wholeness in Christ -- how can we not leave all of our hurt and failure behind, stepping into God's new and glorious future?
The third reason life changes when we know the truth is wrapped up in how Jesus the Christ reveals God's purposes. That is to say, Jesus shows us where this thing is going; Jesus shows us what fulfilled human life can be like. So if you and I are wondering what this work is that God is doing in and with us -- look to Jesus! There we can see what our lives can and will look like when God's purposes are unfolding. It can be a life of closeness with God. It can be a life lived in community with others. It can be a life filled with love and with all the joy love brings, and it can and will be a life lived ultimately with God.
The last reason why knowing the truth will change your life may be the most important of all. It is this: God is going to win! The truth says, "The victory is won!" When God raised Jesus from the dead and proclaimed that "Jesus is Lord!" -- not violence, not brutality, not hatred, nor any other force or power we rightly call "demonic," but Jesus is Lord -- when God acted definitively in Jesus the Christ, the victory was won. Oh, yes, there are times it may look in doubt. You can slow down God's purpose and side-track what God is doing, but you cannot stop it; you cannot defeat God. God is going to win! And you and I, we're going to make it! We are all going to make it; this beat up and battered world is going to make it, because in the end, God wins! Think how this changes everything! The truth liberates us from fear, despair, and anxiety. It fills our efforts with ultimate value. The truth gives us a new perspective -- on life and death, and everything between and beyond -- because, you see, it is all in God's hands. It is the truth, and it will set us free, free from all fear and hopelessness, both in this age and whatever age there is to come.
If we live long enough, we'll see it; we will come to know the truth: "What goes around, comes around" -- and it is coming. If you and I are going to stand in line to see something, stand in line to see this.
