Honk, If You Love Jesus
Sermon
BUMPER STICKER RELIGION
Seven Messages Unstuck From Bumper Stickers
In the film Dead Poets' Society, the teacher, Mr. Keating,
jumps up on a desk and then invites all of his students to do the
same. It was a very effective teaching device because it helped
his students to see life from a different angle, from a different
perspective even in the classroom. It was his way of dramatizing
that if you keep looking at the same things in the same way you
will miss some important things in life. You will even miss life
itself.
What I would like to suggest is that we look at the messages
of religious bumper stickers the next couple of weeks.
It is my way of having you jump on a desk to see religion and
life from a different angle. I would like us to examine the
phrases, the cliches, the half-truths of the religious messages
on the bumper stickers people sometimes display on their
automobiles. Today the bumper sticker is "Honk, If You Love
Jesus."
Twice as I told people that I was going to preach a sermon on
this bumper sticker they told me true stories. A friend of mine
told a story about his colleague who happened to be a United
Methodist district superintendent, a black United Methodist
district superintendent. This man was driving down the road and
he came to a light where the car in front of him had this bumper
sticker, "Honk, If You Love Jesus." He said, "The thought went
through my mind: 'I love Jesus; why shouldn't I honk?' " So he
honked his horn and the person in the car set race relations back
a couple centuries with his provocative response.
Then last night I again shared the fact with some of our
friends that I was going to preach on this bumper sticker. They
told me a similar story. They came to an intersection and there
was a car in front of them that had a sign "Honk, If You Love
Jesus." They thought, "Well, we love Jesus" and so they honked.
This time it was a gesture that was shared, not words. Need I say
anymore?
Now I think it is clear that if we are going to display our
faith so boldly, if we are going to advertise our beliefs so
boldly on our cars or any other place, then our lives better be
consistent with the faith that we claim. If we really love Jesus,
we will live according to the pattern set forth in his life.
Did you hear the scripture this morning? It does not say,
"Honk, If You Love Jesus." It says, "If you love me, [if you love
Jesus], keep my commandments, [keep the commandments of Jesus]."
If you read elsewhere in the Book of John, the central
commandment of Jesus is that you "love one another as I have
loved you." To love according to Jesus' pattern is to love, in
other words, with the same kind of love that Jesus shows to us
and has shown to his disciples. It is a costly
kind of love that goes beyond the limits we normally set for our
kind of love.
Now the next statements are the most important part of the
sermon. If you really love Jesus, you will realize how much our
merely honking about Jesus and our faith turns other people off.
If you love Jesus, you will realize how much our merely honking
about Jesus and our faith turns other people off. If you love
Jesus, keep his commandment. In other words, "Love, if you love
Jesus" is the message. Just making noise, just honking about our
faith has a terribly negative effect on others at the edge of the
chruch and outside the church.
The thing that concerns me most as a pastor in the church is
the realization that the church often gets in the way of its
message. Our noise about our faith, our honking about Jesus is
seen by others to be at odds with the pattern of our lives. It is
so easy, it is so very easy for others to pick this up and to be
turned off. We need to lower our decibels and raise our
discipleship. Our lives need to proclaim what we profess with our
lips.
Somewhere along the line I came across the saying that, "Your
life screams so loud I can't hear what you are saying." I say to
you as forcefully as I can, unless we begin to live according to
the pattern of Jesus' life, all our noise as a church will not
make any difference in the world. The world is waiting for us to
set a pattern that speaks loudly and clearly. Not by honking, but
by living.
The most effective communication of our faith is the way we
live our faith. This is a poem I'm sure most of you have heard
and the central part of this poem says it clearly:
We are the only Bible the careless world will read.
We are the sinner's gospel; we are the scoffer's creed;
We are the Lord's last message, given in deed and word;
What if the type is crooked? What if the print is blurred?
Someone recently described to me another person in the church
as giving the Lord "heart-service" seven days a week,
not just "lip-service" on Sunday. In the language of the sermon:
we are called to give Jesus "heart-service," not "honk-service."
We are called to live our faith, not just make noise about it. We
are called to live according to the pattern of love set forth in
Jesus' life.
jumps up on a desk and then invites all of his students to do the
same. It was a very effective teaching device because it helped
his students to see life from a different angle, from a different
perspective even in the classroom. It was his way of dramatizing
that if you keep looking at the same things in the same way you
will miss some important things in life. You will even miss life
itself.
What I would like to suggest is that we look at the messages
of religious bumper stickers the next couple of weeks.
It is my way of having you jump on a desk to see religion and
life from a different angle. I would like us to examine the
phrases, the cliches, the half-truths of the religious messages
on the bumper stickers people sometimes display on their
automobiles. Today the bumper sticker is "Honk, If You Love
Jesus."
Twice as I told people that I was going to preach a sermon on
this bumper sticker they told me true stories. A friend of mine
told a story about his colleague who happened to be a United
Methodist district superintendent, a black United Methodist
district superintendent. This man was driving down the road and
he came to a light where the car in front of him had this bumper
sticker, "Honk, If You Love Jesus." He said, "The thought went
through my mind: 'I love Jesus; why shouldn't I honk?' " So he
honked his horn and the person in the car set race relations back
a couple centuries with his provocative response.
Then last night I again shared the fact with some of our
friends that I was going to preach on this bumper sticker. They
told me a similar story. They came to an intersection and there
was a car in front of them that had a sign "Honk, If You Love
Jesus." They thought, "Well, we love Jesus" and so they honked.
This time it was a gesture that was shared, not words. Need I say
anymore?
Now I think it is clear that if we are going to display our
faith so boldly, if we are going to advertise our beliefs so
boldly on our cars or any other place, then our lives better be
consistent with the faith that we claim. If we really love Jesus,
we will live according to the pattern set forth in his life.
Did you hear the scripture this morning? It does not say,
"Honk, If You Love Jesus." It says, "If you love me, [if you love
Jesus], keep my commandments, [keep the commandments of Jesus]."
If you read elsewhere in the Book of John, the central
commandment of Jesus is that you "love one another as I have
loved you." To love according to Jesus' pattern is to love, in
other words, with the same kind of love that Jesus shows to us
and has shown to his disciples. It is a costly
kind of love that goes beyond the limits we normally set for our
kind of love.
Now the next statements are the most important part of the
sermon. If you really love Jesus, you will realize how much our
merely honking about Jesus and our faith turns other people off.
If you love Jesus, you will realize how much our merely honking
about Jesus and our faith turns other people off. If you love
Jesus, keep his commandment. In other words, "Love, if you love
Jesus" is the message. Just making noise, just honking about our
faith has a terribly negative effect on others at the edge of the
chruch and outside the church.
The thing that concerns me most as a pastor in the church is
the realization that the church often gets in the way of its
message. Our noise about our faith, our honking about Jesus is
seen by others to be at odds with the pattern of our lives. It is
so easy, it is so very easy for others to pick this up and to be
turned off. We need to lower our decibels and raise our
discipleship. Our lives need to proclaim what we profess with our
lips.
Somewhere along the line I came across the saying that, "Your
life screams so loud I can't hear what you are saying." I say to
you as forcefully as I can, unless we begin to live according to
the pattern of Jesus' life, all our noise as a church will not
make any difference in the world. The world is waiting for us to
set a pattern that speaks loudly and clearly. Not by honking, but
by living.
The most effective communication of our faith is the way we
live our faith. This is a poem I'm sure most of you have heard
and the central part of this poem says it clearly:
We are the only Bible the careless world will read.
We are the sinner's gospel; we are the scoffer's creed;
We are the Lord's last message, given in deed and word;
What if the type is crooked? What if the print is blurred?
Someone recently described to me another person in the church
as giving the Lord "heart-service" seven days a week,
not just "lip-service" on Sunday. In the language of the sermon:
we are called to give Jesus "heart-service," not "honk-service."
We are called to live our faith, not just make noise about it. We
are called to live according to the pattern of love set forth in
Jesus' life.
