April 2009
Rediscovering Our Roots
Rooted into The Life
The Christian religious news is almost as bleak as the financial news. According to recent Gallup poll the number of people who think that religion is losing its influence over American life is significantly up, from 55% two years ago to 67% in 2008. Recently in an Ithaca Journal syndicated column, it was reported that a growing number of Americans list themselves as having "no religious affiliation." (I cannot find the article now, but if memory serves me correctly the number was approaching 20%.) Despite the recent financial hardships, the Gallop Poll also found that the lean times are not moving people back to worshiping in church.
Now our response might be to sulk, go in a corner, and pull our clerical robe over our head, or bring a basin and wash our hands in front of the populace as Pontius Pilate did, claiming our innocence and that we are at least doing our job by remaining faithful in worship. Or worse, we could simply wring our hands in angst and fear, and worry about the future.
But fear has never been the mark of courageous Christians. We would rather be lion food than bow to the political and cultural winds of our time. I think that we simply need to rediscover our roots.
Arborists talk about primary, secondary, and tertiary roots in trees. Possibly in the next newsletter article I will touch upon secondary and tertiary roots, but here I only want to talk about the three primary roots to our faith: The Way, the Truth, and the Life.
If you are familiar with Jesus' words about Himself, you know that I'm picking up His description of Himself in John 14:6. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me." The context of those words was Passover evening, just after Jesus had celebrated the Passover meal in a new way through Holy Communion. Judas left the dinner to betray Jesus, for the equivalent of the price of a slave. And Thomas his disciple had asked the question, "Lord, we do not know where you are going, how do we know the way?"
In a world enveloped in self-service (like Judas), and confusion (like Thomas), the Church is in a wonderful position to provide "the Way, the Truth, and the Life."
The Way
When we think about the way, we should think about direction, dependence, and destiny. We are presently living in the time when I believe that our culture is more directionless than that of the any other time within the last 2000 years – (interestingly it is a time similar to the first century). People are abandoning the old institutions of religion and truth, and wandering through life looking for some sort of a path of meaning. Psalm 23 described "a path of righteousness." That path is being abandoned for variety reasons. This may sound like an oxymoron, but today I believe that Christians and the visible Christian church need to simultaneously be absolutely sure of The Way, while being completely dynamic and versatile in our approach. If Jesus is "The Way" then we are totally dependent on Him to be with us, and He will probably surprise us as He leads us. To say that Jesus is "The Way" is not to say that there must be "a way" to do things; indeed, it often times means the opposite.
Christians need to continually live dependent
upon Jesus, and confident that The Way is both the
ultimate destiny (now, and after we die). To be on
The Way of Jesus is to be concerned about the
things of His kingdom. The "One Way" signs remind
us that Christians should know where they're going.
To be on the way of Jesus, is to daily think about our
destiny. We are to walk with determination and
direction in a meandering and directionless world.
But we are also to walk in such a way where
we're willing to stay with Jesus (The Way), but to
blaze new trails back to the roots of the early
Christians, who were known by a term quite
appropriate for their directionless time: "the way."
The Truth
As mentioned above truth has become trivial. Many are seeking "a truth that works for them," as opposed to "The Truth." Recently one of our members attended a Christian gathering under the theme "The Truth Project." Interestingly -- using Barna's research -- they point out that only 9% of Christians have a Biblical worldview. If this is true, it's no surprise that the Church has lost its witness, we must not really believe in it. Why would we share what we either don't believe to be true or what we are not sure is true?
One of the ways that the Greeks used the word "truth" was to distinguish something as being the genuine article, as opposed to something counterfeit. As I grow in faith (i.e. knowledge and trust in Christ), it is as if layers of truth pile up upon each other. The person who I simply confessed as Savior at my baptism, was confirmed at my confirmation after I began to critique the faith, is now solidly "The Truth" after having been through the raging waters of a critical college environment, a seminal seminary environment, and 20 or so years of continued study and life experience as one who constantly is evaluating competing "truth claims." When you seriously investigate Jesus, you discover that He is Who He claimed to be: "The Way, The Truth, and the Life."
As one of our 5 "Ministries of the Hand" the early church was continually devoted to the apostles' teaching. Bible study (and studying competing truth claims), continually strengthens our understanding of Jesus as The Truth. This root of our faith must be strong.
The Life
When Jesus claimed to be "The Life," He was just about to leave the upper room where the disciples had celebrated the Passover. Soon He would be headed down the Kidron Valley and up the hill to the Mount of Olives. These were His last moments of peace before the vise of suffering would begin to close upon Him and finally crush the life out of Him. Soon death would touch the Prince of Life. Like matter coming into contact with anti-matter, He Who is the great I AM -- the One from Whom all life receives its lifeblood -- would be put to death. Unimaginable!
St. Paul in his great resurrection chapter (I Corinthians 15) states plainly, "...Christ died for our sins...." Sin had to be killed. The only way to kill it was to attach it to the ultimate Source of life, and kill Him... once He was dead, sin would die. The parasite of sin had become too effective, and killed its Host. But within the Triune Godhead there was more life than death, and the Father and Holy Spirit raised up The Life, never to die again.
Looking at the cross, with Jesus’ dead body nailed to it, the disciples -- more than anyone else -- must have wondered how could this be? But the resurrection erased the question. Christ as "the first fruits from the dead" contains the seeds of indestructible life within Him. All those who taste of Him, swallow the seed of life, and establish a root. As Isaiah writes, the people of God will "take root downward and bear fruit upward."
The Church today must be rooted in The Life. The resurrection is not a future question mark, but a present exclamation mark! If we believe that Jesus is The Life, we will begin to live that Life, certain of God's grace, freed from the dead things of this world, investing our lives in the things that will not be destroyed, with our roots stretching even beyond the grave into heaven.
With these primary roots firmly anchored in The Way, The Truth, and The Life, we will indeed bear fruit again -- in abundance!
Pastor Foote