|
From Skeptical Questioning to a Confession of Faith
~John 1:43-51~
In-person service at
Second Baptist Church
2412 Griffith Ave.
Los Angeles
William S. Epps, Senior Pastor
| |
|
Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael
43The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” 44Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip. 47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” 48“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” 50Jesus said, “You believe[a] because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51He then added, “Very truly I tell you,[b] you[c] will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’[d] the Son of Man.” John 1:43-51
Introduction
Sunday, January 14, is the 98th Observance of having 2412 Griffith Avenue as our worship site. We have been worshipping in our sacred spaced at 2412 Griffith Avenue (post Covid-19 and the structural damage repair) since Sunday, October 1, 2023,
after being out for 3 ½ years. We also observed this Sunday as the Sunday commemorating the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. We continue to struggle with the question, "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?" We can either make choices to create more chaos or we can make choices to choose to become the beloved community. A litany will be shared in the radio broadcast about Martin King’s life and legacy.
We thank God for 98 years in this sacred space. We are back, thanks be to the Lord. The experience taught us lessons of discipline, perseverance, resilience in the midst of the uncertainty in the difficulty of the challenges we faced.
We commemorate a life and celebrate a legacy left by one who willingly gave of
himself in the service of the Lord as a drum major in the struggle for equality, justice, liberty and righteousness. Each January the opportunity is provided to reflect more intentionally on the meaning of a life, though short, that made a difference - a big difference, I might add.
Martin Luther King, Jr. gave to the world the hope of overcoming what we face with
faith, while trusting that we can achieve what we believe. You see, the Lord found Martin Luther King, Jr. first, and his life was never the same. He prepared himself by going to Morehouse College, Crozier Theological Seminary, and Boston University.
He studied to show himself approved a workman who was not ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Consider what it means to observe having a sacred space for 98 years
to celebrate the activity of the Lord in our lives, community, and world as
we cite the legacy of one who served as a drum major for equality,
justice, and righteousness.
| |
|
The lectionary passage for Sunday narrates a scene between Philip and Jesus and Nathaniel. Jesus found Philip and said. "follow me". We are not told the conversation they had or where they went. However, Philip finds Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote - Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.”
The narrative moves from a proclamation about the identity of Jesus from Philip which is shared with Nathaniel who is skeptical about what Philip declares. Nathaniel, in his encountering Jesus for himself, is moved from skeptical questioning to an affirmation
of faith. William Butler Yeats observed that out of our quarrels with others we make rhetoric, but with our quarrels with ourselves, we make poetry. Said another way, out
of our quarrels with others, we take up positions, but out of our quarrels with ourselves, we make a confession of faith. (viii. Beyond the Broken Lights/Simple Words on Sacred Edges).
We are told Philip was from the same city as Andrew and Peter, Bethsaida (John 1:44). In the Gospel of Mark (8:22–26), Jesus reportedly restored a blind man's sight at a place just outside the ancient village of Bethsaida. In Luke 9:10–11, Jesus miraculously feeds five thousand near Bethsaida.
It has been said that good times give happiness, bad times give experiences, worst times give lessons, and best times give memories. Life is a series of discoveries, discernments and declarations. Notice the sequence of events: Jesus found Philip first. Life unfolds with you being found for that which you are searching and waiting to discover. You share what you discovered about being found by what you were looking to discover. Sometimes your discovery is met with skepticism.
We are thankful that the Lord has found us and convinced, convicted and converted us to believe in the identity of Jesus as the Son of God, the consummate expression of what God is like and the consummate expression of what God intends for us to be like.
Consider what it means that the Lord finds you first and convinces, convicts
and converts you to believe the presence of the Lord in Christ.
| |
Tuesday, January 16, 2024 | |
|
Let me share a few aspects of the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., and see if I can excite you in some way to participate in that legacy for yourself and posterity. Remember it was His Judeo-Christian faith and heritage that shaped His moral compass and determine the decisions He made to fulfill the purpose of His life.
I. Challenged the conscience of a nation
Conscience is an ability, or faculty, or sense that distinguishes whether our actions are right or wrong, good or bad, moral or immoral. Conscience is also the attitude
which informs our moral judgment before performing any action.
Bruce Prescott says that no one image or metaphor is adequate to describe conscience. As much as anything else, conscience is the ability to put yourself in the place of others and to look at yourself through the eyes of others. This ability is presupposed by Jesus’ injunction, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and Prophets." (Mt. 7:12 NIV)
A. Awakened people to their unrealized potential. He lifted up the words that framed the understanding of our nation as a people, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights among them, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” It should be noted that this famous line of the Declaration was originally: "We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable." Jefferson changed sacred and undeniable to self-evident during the writing of his rough draft of the Declaration.
B. Created a climate for public conversation. As a result there was activity that was too arresting to be ignored – demonstrations, pickets, marches where people registered their protest. What we have today is more like public competitive arguments where the parties involved do not listen to each other as much as they degrade and disparage each other; rather than engage in a public conversation about the common good for all as creatures made in God’s image with equal opportunity, and privilege as persons, “endowed by their creator with unalienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
C. Critiqued the cultural norms and societal standards that promoted prejudice and supported racism and white supremacy.
Consider what it means to challenge the conscience of a nation to live up to
the creed of their belief and faith, by creating a climate for public conversation and critiquing the cultural norms of a society that is discriminatory in its practices to be more equitable, inclusive, just and righteous.
| |
Wednesday, January 17, 2024 | |
|
II. Confronted crisis courageously
Two characters make up the word crisis in the Chinese language. One character means dangerous and the other one means opportunity. In the Chinese language crisis is literally a dangerous opportunity.
Walter Percy in his book, "Message in a Bottle" makes the distinction between knowledge and news that is available on the island and knowledge and news from another source. The Bible is the message-in-a-bottle that we have received from another source. The Bible is the record of the testimonies of persons who discovered who God is, how God is and where God is at work in the world. The Bible is a book about ordinary people in ordinary and sometimes extraordinary circumstances whose lives by what they discovered in the particularity of their predicaments. What we have in sacred writ is our message in a bottle. It is information from a higher source, conversation of purer source and revelation from an authentic source.
Consider what it means to have the Bible as the rule and guide for practice
as a Christian; as a message in the bottle that shapes our understanding of ourselves, identity and our relationship with God and one another.
| |
Thursday, January 18, 2024 | |
|
Faith informs our understanding of our identity, faith becomes the interpretive lens through which we view reality, faith integrates our insights and faith inspires our involvement.
A. MLK’s identity was informed by information from a higher source.
Whoever informs our identity ultimately determines our destiny.
B. MLK interpreted information with conversation from a purer source.
C. MLK integrated insights of a variety of disciplines with revelation from an
authentic source.
D. MLK inspired involvement with activity from a compelling source.
Consider what it means to have the Bible inform you with information from
a higher source about your identity; become the interpretive lens by which
you process information; become the medium by which you integrate insights and the inspiration for your involvement.
| |
|
III. The continuing challenge we face
The legacy of those who have gone before is a reminder of the debt we owe for what we have received. We have reaped the benefits of what they have sown. Now it is time for us to enter into their labors to leave something of our own.
The poet reminds us that “lives of people remind us that we can make our lives sublime. And, departing leaves behind us footprints on the sands of time. Footprints that perhaps another sailing over life’s solemn main, A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, Seeing shall take heart again. Let us, then, be up and doing with a heart for any fate, Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and learn to wait.” A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The continuing challenge we face is the constant struggle for justice, peace and righteousness.
Moses had an experience that changed the course of his life and the life of the people of Israel. It has been called “a burning bush experience.” The encounter that commanded his attention and engaged him to the extent that he was charged with responsibility to do something about what was wrong. He accepted the charge and committed himself despite his limitations.
One of the features that I want to point out for your consideration is the number of
times a recurrent phrase appears before the liberation occurs. What began as, “I have observed, I have heard, I know and I have come to deliver" (Exodus 3:7), changes to
“let my people go so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness"
(Exodus 5:1). Then we find repeated three times, “let my people go so that they may worship me” (Exodus 7:16; 8:1; 9:1). Even Pharaoh’s officials tell him to let the people go so that they may worship their God (Exodus 10:7). Their focus was on Egypt and Egypt’s power. They were enamored with Egypt even though they were enslaved.
The purpose of worship is to focus allegiance, devotion, gratitude, loyalty, praise and reverence in the right direction. We are prone to let the green grass fool us. Look how our allegiance, devotion, gratitude, loyalty, praise and reverence gets diverted in the direction that is destructive, divisive, and dehumanizing. We make a mess of our lives and the world when are focus is centered on anyone other that the Lord who is the source and strength of your life. We destroy the fabric of what makes life grand and glorious with all of its diversity when our focus is selfishly centered.
The continuing challenge requires that we change society by transforming the conversation, recasting the discussion, reshaping the dialogue and altering the context in which decisions are made in order to change the outcomes. Remember the definition of insanity is doing the same thing in the same way and expecting a different result.
Consider what it means that the Lord wants us free to focus our allegiance, devotion, gratitude, loyalty, praise and reverence in the right direction
to the Lord, otherwise we give what belongs to God alone to someone
else who does not deserve it.
| |
Saturday, January 20, 2024 | |
|
Conclusion
We can only be free as we focus our allegiance, devotion, gratitude and praise in the right direction. Otherwise we are enslaved by false allegiances, devotion, gratitude and reverence.
Hear the following lyrics,
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him; be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea.
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free;
While God is marching on.
He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and His faithful, He shall save;
Our God is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah! / Glory, glory, hallelujah! / Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Our God is marching on.
Consider what it means to embrace the faith that the Lord’s truth is marching on through all of the changing scenes of life, whether good and bad, happy or sad, impoverished or abundant, right or wrong.
| | | | |
