Reformation Sunday 10/26/08 John 8:31-36 The No Spin Zone
Reformation Sunday
10/26/2008
John 8:31-36
The No Spin Zone
For the past several months, but particularly in the last month with the elections getting heated up and the financial turmoil that is going on I have started watching more and more television news. It is kind of amazing how you can watch one news show, then watch another news show and get opposite views, as each station reports on the news of the day. Fox News Network has made a name for itself by promising to present the news in a "fair and balanced" way. Fox’s news anchors say, "We report. You decide." Bill O’Reilly opens his hour-long "Fox News Network" television program, "The O’Reilly Factor," with the words, "You have just entered the ’No Spin Zone’ and closes it with a bit of a smile and a twinkle in his eyes, saying, ’Remember, the spin stops here."
I am not going to get into a discussion about whether or not that statement is true, but I would believe that if you asked the other two major news stations they would say that they do not spin the news. Most of us would more than likely want to believe that "fair and balanced" is our style of news. However, what do our actions say? How do we report our own stories? Isn’t it true that when we do our own anchoring we believe that, “we are cautious; they are paranoid; we are composed, they are stuffy; we are concerned, they gripe; we are determined, they are bullheaded, and so forth!"
We do not have to try to make such distinctions, for they simply happen. In unguarded, emotional, or self-protective moments, we naturally choose words that give the benefit of the doubt to ourselves at the expense of others. With little thought, we hide our own wrongdoings and exaggerate the faults of others.
We almost always will put a spin on what happened to explain away our tendency to be unfair and unbalanced? It is sort of just how life is. We believe that it is the only way we can survive. Or is it? Could it be that God’s Holy Word has a better answer for why we, even unintentionally put almost everything we do.?
Could it be that the Holy Bible is the ultimate ’No Spin Zone?" Just look at what it does. Without covering up the wrongdoings of God’s own "chosen people," the Holy Bible tells a story that reflects not only our own inclinations, but also tells us about God’s love for us as shown through Jesus who came to this earth as one of us; living and dying as one of us. And in doing so taking the punishment that we, not he, still deserve.
You see, even though the price has been paid for our sinfulness we still deserve the wrath of God, just as Adam and Eve and all the people that have lived since deserved the wrath of God. We are a sinful people and that is why I decided to preach on our Gospel reading John 8:31-36 rather than the Roman’s text that is usually preached on Reformation Sunday.
Before this particular section of John’s Gospel Jesus is really coming down on the religious leaders. He was not cutting them any slack, for they were refusing his message. He really nailed them with their own law when he told them, as they were getting ready to stone a woman caught in adultery, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” They all slunk away, not waiting for Jesus to tell the woman the most wonderful news she or they would ever hear, “neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
A little later he tells the religious leaders that they would understand who he is after he was crucified. Saint John tells us that many came to believe in him and that is where our Gospel reading picks up the story. As you can see in verse 31 Jesus is now talking to those who have come to believe in him. They still don’t have a clear understanding of who he is and so he has to get them to thinking, to see the need for his salvation, for as we read we see that they do not accept Jesus’ assertion that they are slaves.
They go “there is no way” we have never been slaves since we are descendents of Abraham. They have no need to be freed. It is a strange belief, for they had been so in slavery so many times; in fact they were in a sense in slavery under Roman rule as Jesus spoke. They were blind as to their history and present condition. They have put a spin on their story.
So Jesus tells them, “Truly, truly, I say to you everyone who commits sin is slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.” Now they should have gotten the connection with the first part of our reading, but later on in the text that is not part of our reading we see they hadn’t. They tell Jesus, “We are children of Abraham, so what you say cannot apply to us. We are not sinful like the Gentiles who do not have Abraham as their father.”
Talk about stubborn. Talk about putting a spin on their faith. Jesus had to get their attention so he tells them, as we read in verse 34, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.” In other words what Jesus is saying to them is that you say that you are sons of Abraham, but you really are not, for your actions show that you are slaves to sin. If this were not true you would not be doing what you are doing. You would be following my teachings.
If Jesus came to us today and said to us, “If you abide in my word, you are truly disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” What would be our response? Would we say like the people of Jesus’ day say that we have no need to be set free, for after all we follow the teachings of Martin Luther? Wait you say, you don’t follow the teachings of Martin Luther, but of Jesus Christ.
If that is true then why do so many say, “I don’t have to come to Bible class; I learned it all years ago in confirmation”? This by the way is one of the Satan’s favorite tricks; to convince us that we really don’t need to know more about God and his will toward us. Which by the way we know is a lie, because in our reading for today verse 31, Jesus says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”
You see, Jesus knows how we are, how we are deep down slaves to sin, especially the sin of not studying his Word. For you see when you think that the Word of God cannot teach you anything else you are despising the Word of God. When you grade your pastor on how well he entertained you on Sunday morning instead of hungering and thirsting for a deeper understanding of the Word of God you are despising the Word of God.
That is why we have a special Sunday each year called Reformation Sunday. It is not to just remember an event that happened almost 500 years ago, as important as that event is. We hold a Reformation Sunday each year because we need to be reformed by the Word of God. We need to hear that we are still slaves to sin. We need to hear that because if we don’t we start thinking that there is something we are doing that God must like, that he will take into account on judgment day.
We need to be driven to our knees, so that Christ can pick us back up. We need to know without out a doubt that our salvation rests entirely on Christ and his work. We need to know this so that we can live joyful lives free from the fear of not knowing if we are doing the right things. We need to know this so that we can know without a doubt that it really does not make any difference if we have that just right car, house, or job as long as we have our Lord. We need to know this so that when illness, job loss, accidents, or death strikes we know that we are in God’s hands.
Unlike so many things in life God’s Word is a no spin zone. It clearly shows us that we are sinful and incapable of pleasing God. It shows us God’s perfect holy will toward us. It tells us of Jesus birth, life, death, and resurrection for our benefit. It promises eternal life and delivers it. Amen.
10/26/2008
John 8:31-36
The No Spin Zone
For the past several months, but particularly in the last month with the elections getting heated up and the financial turmoil that is going on I have started watching more and more television news. It is kind of amazing how you can watch one news show, then watch another news show and get opposite views, as each station reports on the news of the day. Fox News Network has made a name for itself by promising to present the news in a "fair and balanced" way. Fox’s news anchors say, "We report. You decide." Bill O’Reilly opens his hour-long "Fox News Network" television program, "The O’Reilly Factor," with the words, "You have just entered the ’No Spin Zone’ and closes it with a bit of a smile and a twinkle in his eyes, saying, ’Remember, the spin stops here."
I am not going to get into a discussion about whether or not that statement is true, but I would believe that if you asked the other two major news stations they would say that they do not spin the news. Most of us would more than likely want to believe that "fair and balanced" is our style of news. However, what do our actions say? How do we report our own stories? Isn’t it true that when we do our own anchoring we believe that, “we are cautious; they are paranoid; we are composed, they are stuffy; we are concerned, they gripe; we are determined, they are bullheaded, and so forth!"
We do not have to try to make such distinctions, for they simply happen. In unguarded, emotional, or self-protective moments, we naturally choose words that give the benefit of the doubt to ourselves at the expense of others. With little thought, we hide our own wrongdoings and exaggerate the faults of others.
We almost always will put a spin on what happened to explain away our tendency to be unfair and unbalanced? It is sort of just how life is. We believe that it is the only way we can survive. Or is it? Could it be that God’s Holy Word has a better answer for why we, even unintentionally put almost everything we do.?
Could it be that the Holy Bible is the ultimate ’No Spin Zone?" Just look at what it does. Without covering up the wrongdoings of God’s own "chosen people," the Holy Bible tells a story that reflects not only our own inclinations, but also tells us about God’s love for us as shown through Jesus who came to this earth as one of us; living and dying as one of us. And in doing so taking the punishment that we, not he, still deserve.
You see, even though the price has been paid for our sinfulness we still deserve the wrath of God, just as Adam and Eve and all the people that have lived since deserved the wrath of God. We are a sinful people and that is why I decided to preach on our Gospel reading John 8:31-36 rather than the Roman’s text that is usually preached on Reformation Sunday.
Before this particular section of John’s Gospel Jesus is really coming down on the religious leaders. He was not cutting them any slack, for they were refusing his message. He really nailed them with their own law when he told them, as they were getting ready to stone a woman caught in adultery, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” They all slunk away, not waiting for Jesus to tell the woman the most wonderful news she or they would ever hear, “neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
A little later he tells the religious leaders that they would understand who he is after he was crucified. Saint John tells us that many came to believe in him and that is where our Gospel reading picks up the story. As you can see in verse 31 Jesus is now talking to those who have come to believe in him. They still don’t have a clear understanding of who he is and so he has to get them to thinking, to see the need for his salvation, for as we read we see that they do not accept Jesus’ assertion that they are slaves.
They go “there is no way” we have never been slaves since we are descendents of Abraham. They have no need to be freed. It is a strange belief, for they had been so in slavery so many times; in fact they were in a sense in slavery under Roman rule as Jesus spoke. They were blind as to their history and present condition. They have put a spin on their story.
So Jesus tells them, “Truly, truly, I say to you everyone who commits sin is slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.” Now they should have gotten the connection with the first part of our reading, but later on in the text that is not part of our reading we see they hadn’t. They tell Jesus, “We are children of Abraham, so what you say cannot apply to us. We are not sinful like the Gentiles who do not have Abraham as their father.”
Talk about stubborn. Talk about putting a spin on their faith. Jesus had to get their attention so he tells them, as we read in verse 34, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.” In other words what Jesus is saying to them is that you say that you are sons of Abraham, but you really are not, for your actions show that you are slaves to sin. If this were not true you would not be doing what you are doing. You would be following my teachings.
If Jesus came to us today and said to us, “If you abide in my word, you are truly disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” What would be our response? Would we say like the people of Jesus’ day say that we have no need to be set free, for after all we follow the teachings of Martin Luther? Wait you say, you don’t follow the teachings of Martin Luther, but of Jesus Christ.
If that is true then why do so many say, “I don’t have to come to Bible class; I learned it all years ago in confirmation”? This by the way is one of the Satan’s favorite tricks; to convince us that we really don’t need to know more about God and his will toward us. Which by the way we know is a lie, because in our reading for today verse 31, Jesus says, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”
You see, Jesus knows how we are, how we are deep down slaves to sin, especially the sin of not studying his Word. For you see when you think that the Word of God cannot teach you anything else you are despising the Word of God. When you grade your pastor on how well he entertained you on Sunday morning instead of hungering and thirsting for a deeper understanding of the Word of God you are despising the Word of God.
That is why we have a special Sunday each year called Reformation Sunday. It is not to just remember an event that happened almost 500 years ago, as important as that event is. We hold a Reformation Sunday each year because we need to be reformed by the Word of God. We need to hear that we are still slaves to sin. We need to hear that because if we don’t we start thinking that there is something we are doing that God must like, that he will take into account on judgment day.
We need to be driven to our knees, so that Christ can pick us back up. We need to know without out a doubt that our salvation rests entirely on Christ and his work. We need to know this so that we can live joyful lives free from the fear of not knowing if we are doing the right things. We need to know this so that we can know without a doubt that it really does not make any difference if we have that just right car, house, or job as long as we have our Lord. We need to know this so that when illness, job loss, accidents, or death strikes we know that we are in God’s hands.
Unlike so many things in life God’s Word is a no spin zone. It clearly shows us that we are sinful and incapable of pleasing God. It shows us God’s perfect holy will toward us. It tells us of Jesus birth, life, death, and resurrection for our benefit. It promises eternal life and delivers it. Amen.
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 4:42 PM
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