Running (10.4.15) 1

Sermon title: Running 1.27.13

OT Reading Genesis 2:15-18,22-25
15TheLordGod took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden(A)to work it and take care of it.16And theLordGod commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;(B)17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,(C)for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”(D)
18TheLordGod said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”(E)
22Then theLordGod made a woman from the rib[a](A)he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;(B)
she shall be called(C)‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.(D)”
24That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united(E)to his wife, and they become one flesh.(F)
25Adam and his wife were both naked,(G)and they felt no shame.

Epistle Reading 1 John 4:17-21
7This is how love is made complete(A)among us so that we will have confidence(B)on the day of judgment:(C)In this world we are like Jesus.18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,(D)because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19We love because he first loved us.(E)20Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister(F)is a liar.(G)For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen,(H)cannot love God, whom they have not seen.(I)21And he has given us this command:(J)Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.(K)

Gospel reading John 20:11-16
11Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb(A)12and saw two angels in white,(B)seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”(C)
“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”(D)14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there,(E)but she did not realize that it was Jesus.(F)
15He asked her,“Woman, why are you crying?(G)Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
16Jesus said to her,“Mary.”
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic,(H)“Rabboni!”(I)(which means “Teacher”).

Running

  1. Just after the Genesis reading we heard this morning, is the story of the fall. I have heard it said that in this story Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the snake, and the snake didn't have a leg to stand on.
  2. As bad as that joke is, it comes into focus as we finish this series on Ravi Zacharias's book, "Jesus Among other gods." This morning we will be discovering where Jesus among other gods tell us to run to when looking for a leg to stand on, when looking for solid ground. We will do this by examining Mary's fascinating interaction with Jesus in the garden right after His resurrection.
  3. Earlier in the chapter the disciples ran to examine the evidence of the empty tomb when Mary reported it to them. They then went back to where they were staying without examining it closer. Atheists would say that they run to the garden of reason or evidence in order to have a leg to stand on. This self description would betray them if they looked carefully at the evidence before them. Like the disciples, atheists seem to run away from the evidence instead of toward it.
  4. The first kind of evidence they run from is the evidence that is found within. Brad Stine is a Christian comedian and he makes the comment that atheists really freak him out. They freak him out because they want "Under God" taken out of the pledge of allegiance because it offends them. Brad says, "Dude, you do not even believe God is real. How can He offend you? What's next, unicorns offending you? Oh no their using the unicorn word in school again, help, help! Who is more irrational, people who believe in a God they cannot see or people who are offended by a God they don't believe in!"
  5. This irrationality is played out in at least two ways. First, atheism is contradictory in concept. I have used Richard Dawkins several times in this series because he is so emblematic of atheism's emotional and logical problems. This example taps into both. Dawkins denies the existence of any kind of absolute moral framework in order to avoid having to believe in an absolute moral law giver in God. The problem is that in other places he denounces ideas and people. For example, he charges God with being a genocidal, narcissistic, maniac. Besides not backing this up with evidence, he has just denied the existence of a moral law. How on earth can he denounce anyone or anything with morally loaded words like genocidal, narcissistic, maniac.
  6. Second,it is contradictory in how it is lived out. Peter Singer is a Bio Ethics professor at Princeton. In theory, he is a strict atheistic Utilitarian ethicists. That is a mouth full!This means that, for him, in theory, what is of the best utility for the advancement of the human species is what is good and that which drags us down is evil. So, under this view, those who are mentally handicapped and very aged, and are therefore of no "benefit" to society, ought to be killed. They ought to be killed because they drain resources and do not give any back. What is interesting, however, is that when his own mother was diagnosed with the devastating disease of Alzheimer's, he and his sister paid for her to be in assisted living long after she was able to support herself. I guess it really does depend on who's ox is being gored!
  7. Atheism can also deny evidence it claims to stand on. Many atheists believe science is what holds the answers to all of our questions. Whenever it provides answers they do not like, however they turn a blind eye to it. For example, the best scientific minds today believe that the universe started with the big bang. In other words, the current evidence points toward space and time having a beginning. This poses a problem for the atheist who wants to say that the universe was eternal and therefore needs no explanation outside of itself.
  8. This conflict was observed by Dr. John Lennox, a mathematicianand theologian from Oxford. He was studying there when the evidence for the big bang was just beginning to surface. The atheistic science, philosophy, and math, professors all said that they, as a university, must reject this theory and its evidence. Why, because it would give too much credence to people who believe the bible. The bible teaches that the universe needs a beginning, it needs an explanation outside of itself. The big bang, or any theory similar to it, would seem to support this belief.My point is this, very often we make decisions, not based on evidence, but based on what we have already decided is true.
  9. The disciples had evidence that Jesus was dead, good evidence. However, they walked away from the evidence of the empty tomb. They didn't ask God to help them understand what to do with this new evidence they just went home confused. When confronted with confusing evidence, scientific or otherwise, we need to wait on the Lord to show us what is going on instead of running away.
  10. Finally, atheists tend to deny the evidence of our life experience. If we read the Genesis account for all it is worth we discover four central truths. First, God is creator, spiritual and eternal, God is a communicating being. Second, this world was created with humanity in mind and did not come by accident. In other words, humanity has a purpose. Third, life cannot be lived out alone. Remember God says, "It is not good for the man to be alone," so humanity is a relational being. Finally, we are fashioned as moral entities with the privilege of self determination, we are rational, accountable beings.
  11. Atheism's narrative undoes all thatthe Genesis account constructs. First an impersonal universe brought itself about. It just happened to strike upon the conditions that life could arise. This eliminates any ultimate purpose. Somehow over time, in order to survive, procreation brought multiplication, the materiality and amorality of sex and all other relationships. Finally codes were developed that were mutually beneficial but whatever we call 'morals' are simply culturally relative and do not reflect any kind of absolute reality.
  12. The problem is that we do not live this way, even atheists. We live as if nobility is real, love is real, courage is real, and compassion is real. Ravi tells us that this is why when we see someone binding their enemies wounds we see something soulish about it. When we see members of Emmanuel African Methodist in church in Charleston publically offering forgiveness to the young man who killed nine of their members, we see something soulish about it! C.S. Lewis puts it this way, "If we believe these men and women (meaning naturalists) they say mathematics is real therefore my mind is real. Food is real, therefore my stomach is real. But they tell me that emotions have nothing whatsoever to do with reality; they are going to produce a generation of people with brains, people with stomachs, people without chests nor heart!"
  13. Because of how unlivable this is, many run away from this non-spiritual framework. In our culture many accept a kind of New Age spirituality.
  14. This spirituality is similar to the Pharisees in conforming truth to fit their agenda. In Luke's gospel the Pharisees make up accusations against Jesus to have Him crucified. This kind of ambiguity to truth is also reflected in Pilate when he says to Jesus, "What is truth?" New Agers have a tendency to live this out by playing fast and loose with the truth. Often they prefer to say that which they think people will like to hear instead of what is necessarily true.
  15. Recently, I came across an article that exemplifies this. The article is on Oprah Winfrey. I know that she has done a lot of good in the world but she is such a perfect example of the New Age spirituality. This manifested itself in Oprah's case in the lies she told in her biography. In order to project the rags to riches self made woman image, she invented all kinds of childhood abuse and poverty stories. In fact, her cousin told the New York Post that she was relatively spoiled as a child. This same cousin confronted her about it by asking, "Why do you make up such lies?" Oprah simply responded by saying, "That's what people want to hear. The truth is boring."
  16. Oprah, and all of those who follow this New Age philosophy, seem to run toward self deification and plant their feet firmly in mid air for stability.
  17. While this has not happened in Oprah's life, there is a huge danger in creating one's own truth. If our goal is self deification, focusing and lifting ourselves up, through the creation of our own truth eventually, our truth will be at odds The Truth. Then there will be irreconcilable conflict. A world of self deification is in constant conflict because every power claims authority and autonomy. This is why, as Ravi tells us, Hinduism's epics are full of war and killing as an integral part of being a god or goddess.
  18. When the truth of our lives seems too boring, as Oprah's did, we can do two things. We can run from the truth and make our lives seem more important by living for things that look flashy but are ultimately unfulfilling. Or, we can run to the one who is the truth. A truth that is exciting, important and eternal. Our culture reflects this first way by looking a lot like the Pharisees in their conformity to the law. The difference is that the Pharisees tried to conform to an external law from God. In contrast, our culture encourages us to conform to laws of power, position, popularity, and possessions. The more these things are threatened the tighter we hold onto them. Even when we know they will not satisfy, we hold on.
  19. However, enough power, and popularity, that right position, and possessions are always just out of reach. That running and running can get exhausting. I think it is this exhaustion the band called The Wrecking had in mind when writing the song "About to Fall." Part of it goes like this:
  20. Isn't everyone, Pretending they're alright, Isn't everyone, About to fall
    Isn't everyone, Playing beautiful tonight, Isn't everyone, About to fall
    Oh, but we're holding on, Just like there's nothing wrong, Oh even if we look so strong, We're all about to fall
  21. This is where we find Mary. She had become weary of running, weary of trying to grasp at what was happening. So she fell down and wept in that garden in front of the empty tomb of her Lord, of her friend.
  22. It was only when she stopped chasing after control that she realized that she was being chased. It was only when she stopped grasping that she was taken hold of by the one who, in the words of Paul:
  23. did not consider equality with Godsomething to be grasped;rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very natureof a servant, being made in human likeness.And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted himto the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
  24. As Christians, we should not run away from the evidence, or toward self deification but into the arms of our Loving Savior. When C.S. Lewis tells his conversion story he says that he thought that he had to get to a place but he discovered that he had come to a person. A person who loves us and enables us to love. Love not because evolution tells us to, not so that we can earn salvation but, as John tells us, because He first loved us.
  25. You see, if God were to just send down commandments and expect us to follow them it would be dehumanizing. It would be dehumanizing because we would be constantly running trying to finish the checklist, turning ourselves into human doings instead of human beings. It would be all one way. One gets a strong since of this if they observe the clamor of activity in Muslim worship. They are never are sure of their salvation, instead it is all in the will of Allah. God is saying them, come up to me. You do all the committing, you do all the submitting, then I may love you.
  26. In contrast our God has already done the submitting on the cross, He has already come to us in His incarnation, and he continues with us in His resurrection by the power of the Holy Spirit. Mary only saw Jesus when she gave up control. In the same way, we can only come into right relationship with Him when we stop running and fall into His arms. With her shady past, Mary had been called many nasty names but Jesus gently, lovingly calls her by name. In Jesus we find the difference between calling names and being called by name. In His calling us by name, our past is redeemed our present life has purpose and our future is secure! With our feet firmly planted in loving relationship with our heavenly Father by the power of the Holy Spirit we will love, not to be loved, but because we are loved. As Charles Wesley wrote:
  27. He left his Father's throne above, (so free, so infinite his grace!), emptied himself of all but love, and bled for Adam's helpless race. 'Tis mercy all, immense and free, for O my God, it found out me!
  28. Let Us Pray. Lord, thank you for not waiting for us to run to you but running to us in our time of need. Help us to firmly plant our feet in loving relationship with you. Firmly planted we can love others not to be loved but because we are loved. Amen
  29. Receive this blessing and benediction. Let us go forth, a people who have stopped running from the One who loves us. Instead, let us fall into the arms of our Savior by the power of the Holy Spirit for the glory of the Father and transformation of the world. In God's mighty name, you may go in peace.