Most of us, most of the time, tend to act on the basis of what we believe to be the truth. Of course, we can all make mistakes about that! We can be misled, we can be ill-informed. But by and large most of us tend to act on the basis of what we believe to be the truth. And that is true even when we decide, for whatever reason, to act in spite of that truth and against our better judgement: for example, that third glass of Prosecco that makes me lose not only my sense of proportion but probably also my balance as well.
But what we believe to be the truth still remains at least the starting point for how we decide to act. And isn’t one of the great frustrations we feel when we cannot get hold of the facts about something or other, or when others simply refuse to consider certain facts because it undermines their beliefs.
And that is true whether we are talking about BREXIT - which I am not going to talk about this morning! – or about Jesus and the Christian faith: but with one huge difference. It is pretty obvious that, on both sides of the BREXIT debate, some of the most important facts are either not known or have been deliberately hidden from public consumption; whereas with Jesus and Christianity the key facts are there for all to examine – should people wish to do so. The truth about Jesus is not something we would ever want to conceal; it’s something that we want to share with everyone.
At our first evening here of the ALPHA course last Wednesday, one of the issues that came up was precisely this; the question of whether or not Jesus and the Christian faith are true: what evidence exists for them? Some people refuse or just cannot be bothered to examine the evidence about Jesus, and Christianity - for a whole host of reasons: many are quite happy to write off the Christian evidence as myths, fairy tales, a form of escapism. But as the great C S Lewis said, ‘'Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance; the only thing it cannot be is moderately important.'
So according to C S Lewis and many others who have examined the evidence for Jesus and the Christian faith – amongst them some of the greatest legal and scientific minds - and then thought about the implications of the truth issues the evidence throws up, it is not unreasonable to say that the decision we make about Jesus and Christianity is actually the most important decision we will ever make in our lives.
In my first parish I ran an Agnostics Anonymous Group for men. One member was a forensic scientist for the Metropolitan Police. Over the three months of our regular meetings unbeknownst to us he had been examining the evidence for the resurrection and had come to the conclusion that it must have happened. We were all surprised when he announced this on our last evening because up until then he had said hardly anything! But then he looked around at all of us and said, very solemnly, ‘But what concerns me is what I now have to do about it.’
Today we are in a very privileged position thanks to the evidence we have about Jesus and the Christian faith. And I am going to be referring, as part of that evidence, to the letter that was read to us.
Not only do we have the Gospels and letters like these from eye-witnesses, we have manuscript and archaeological evidence too; we have evidence from outside of the faith – Roman and Jewish writers; and of course there is the testimony of millions of Christians since that first Easter Sunday – the ‘Day of Resurrection’ – speaking of their own personal experience that the new life, the changed life, the liberated life they now enjoy can only reasonably and rationally be explained by all that Jesus said and promised would happen if they put their faith in him. (John 8: 31 - 32 – ‘If you hold to my teaching, then you will be my disciples; then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free’)
If you are in any doubt still about the reliability of the Gospels as historical evidence, then there are copies you can find at the back of the church of a short paper on the subject of their historical reliability.
It is this liberating and new life-giving truth that John here in our reading, writing to reassure and encourage his readers (who were at the time facing all kinds of uncertainties and opposition from both outside and inside the Church) wants them to ‘know’ – to know for sure, to know as true, to know in their hearts and in their minds. Because here is a very important thing: the truth about Jesus Christ and Christianity is not just a matter of its historical reliability; it’s very much about its present experience in the life and actions of Christians. What John wrote about almost 2000 years ago he wants the Christians of today to ‘know’ to be the truth. As the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews put it (ch13: v18) ‘Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and for ever.’
As we can see from the first line, verse 13, of our reading, John wants his readers to know that they have ‘eternal life’: and that life, he says, is to be found in the Son of God, Jesus the Christ (‘Christ’, which means ‘anointed’ or ‘specially chosen one’ of God.) Of course, John had met Jesus, had walked with him, and witnessed him both crucified and then risen to new life three days later: everything about Jesus had convinced him that he was exactly whom he claimed to be – God himself come to earth to teach us, to save us, and to give us eternal life.
God did so not because we deserve it but because he loves us and offers it to us as a gift, a gift that can set a person free in so many wonderful ways. Indeed, as you read John, you get the very strong impression that John sees our eternal life not so much as being a time or even a place but as a relationship with this person, Jesus, the Son of God. And if we have been brought into a relationship with the Son of God through our faith in him, through our active belief in him, then, said Jesus, we too become straightway God’s children; and this for eternity.
Well, what a weight of our minds that is! What a liberation from fear! To know that my eternity is secure; to know that I need not fear Judgement Day – a day which, by the way, was one of several very uncomfortable truths that Jesus taught and which we must take very seriously because it is a serious part of the evidence.
Why can I be free from fear and be sure of eternity? Because my living faith in his dying for me has made it possible.
A lot of people – even Christians themselves sometimes – think and act as if God only loves them when they are good, when they are reading their bibles, praying, and helping old ladies across the road. But if that’s not true of human parents in their love for their children, how much more is that not true of our Heavenly Father’s love for us!
Some of you may have heard of the new Youtube sensation Jordan Peterson, a Canadian university psychiatric professor who writes with great wisdom about the human condition (His book ‘12 Rules for Life – an antidote to chaos’). He acknowledges that he is also searching – despite his experiences to date of churches!!! – for God and is very attracted to Jesus and his teaching. He recently said this. ‘I act as though God exists; and I live in fear that he does.’ When I heard this, I wanted to wing off an email to him straightaway…’Read John!’
Now I understand that this assurance John speaks of, many people will find presumptuous or arrogant. If I say, however humbly and thankfully, ‘I know I’ve got eternal life!’ many people will react adversely. And they react because they think that we earn eternal life through moral goodness and good deeds – and, I might add, usually with their fingers crossed behind their backs!
But it’s not a case of MY presumption, but of Jesus’ promise; and it is HE, not ME, who is my standing, my righteousness, my confidence, before our perfectly loving and perfectly just God.
I find it so sad that so many people, so many Christians, so many avid churchgoers, still do not get this liberating truth about the consequences of putting their faith in Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord. They either struggle to be good and are always being down on themselves for failing, or else they give up their Christian faith because the struggle is too great for them. They don’t realise that they do not need to impress, indeed they cannot impress God with their goodness. Again, is that what you demand of your children for you to love them? Of course not!
And that little phrase ‘Saviour and Lord’ gives us the perfect balance when we talk about a true Christian’s faith. The first part, ‘Saviour’ reminds me that he, not I, paid the price of my rebellious pride and sinfulness before a holy God; and the second, ‘Lord’, reminds me that I have invited him to be such in my life and desire to serve him and not myself; though – and here’s the ‘miracle’, but actually it’s just logic and common sense! - in serving him I discover that I serve myself best because he knows me better than I know myself and he knows what is best for me.
I don’t feel smug about this; I just want to share this liberating truth, this ‘Gospel’, this ‘Good News’ with others because Jesus told me very clearly that that is a Christian’s duty – however much many people don’t want to hear it, talk behind my back, or cut me from their social circle. (I was read just the other day this snippet. Lord Byron, the author and, well let’s call him charitably, ‘bon viveur’ said this, ‘If God is not just like Jesus, he ought to be.’
John touches here on a number of ‘benefits’, let’s call them, of ‘knowing’ that we have eternal life in relationship with the Son of God. Assurance of course is the first; and ‘boldness’ (v 14) to ask ‘anything according to his will’ (key wording there for the requests we make to him) knowing that he will hear and answer in the way that is best for us and best for those for whom we are asking. Asking him to forgive others (v 16) and knowing that God will forgive them anything, except well, except what he cannot forgive (vs 17 and 18) which is the sin of denying that Jesus is his Son, and God’s unique and universal solution to the problem of human sin. That’s a tough one I know; but John is only faithfully saying what Jesus said; so rather than disagree with him or rail against it, or say, as some do, that in their opinion ‘it’s unfair’, wouldn’t it be so much more truly loving of your neighbour as yourself to warn him or her of the consequences of their unbelief and to love them into the kingdom by your standing up for the truth and living it out.
Living as a Christian is not about pushing a boulder up a hill, trying hard to be good. Believing that to be true is to call Jesus a liar. No, living as A Christian is about welcoming Christ into our lives, making him Lord of our lives, and walking with him wherever he leads us. Such a life frees us from so many false ideas about God and produces ‘fruit’ in our own lives and in the lives of others. And this we can do with confidence; not because of ourselves but because of him.
John ends his letter with a warning (v 21) He does so because he is very well aware of the fickleness of our fallen human nature in the face of the world, the flesh, and the Devil. And an ‘idol’ is anything, anything at all, that takes pride of place in our lives before God. We need to be realistic about such idols; but we also know the truth. And the truth says John is this; ‘v 20’ READ). I pray that each one of us may know this great truth and with great thankfulness, courage, and joy be willing to share it with all.
