Sermon
Sunday,
November 30, 2008
John
1:35-52-Come and See
“Guess who doesn’t believe in God?”
read the title of a news commentary listed on my internet screen a few weeks
ago. Curious as to the “who” might be I
clicked on the title to read it. As the
computer was loading the information, I tried to imagine who it could be—the
president, or a big-name actor or athlete.
I was surprised, shocked actually at the answers. According to the article, between 10 and 20
percent of Christians of varying denominations do NOT believe in
God. The article broke down various
categories of statistics. For instance,
it stated that 79 percent of Americans believe there is a God, but only 66 percent
are absolutely certain of it. Nine
percent do not believe in God and 12 percent aren’t sure. As for church attendance, according to the
article, 55 percent attend church a few times a year, 36 percent say they
attend once a month or more often and just 26 percent say they attend every
week. Forty-one percent of women and 31
percent of men attend once a month or more.
Which goes hand in hand with the statistic that 84 percent of women
believe in God compared with 73 percent of men.
Church attendance is highest in the
What struck me most about this article
is the fact that there is a significant percentage of people who attend church,
perhaps some even regularly, that do not believe in God. And while the Orthodox Church is apparently
not a large enough percentage to have figured into this study, it made me
wonder how many people who are Orthodox, even those who attend an Orthodox church
regularly, do not believe in God, do not believe in the saving message of Jesus
Christ. It begs the question, why do
they come? Are some searching and just
haven’t found the answer? Are some
coming out of some perceived obligation, or habit, because their grandparents
or parents were involved with church?
Are some coming because socially it looks good—to their peers, or to
their kids—to say that we do church? Or
that there is some perceived “good” that comes out of going to church? Perhaps some come on the defensive—not sure
if there is a God but let’s have a good record of church participation on the
resume just in case there is. And some
are motivated to come to church to offset un-Christian behavior, i.e. if I do
wrong 10 times, then I come to church ten times and I’m even.
Some don’t believe in God because they
haven’t been exposed to the message of Christ. There are those who have had
faith but whose lives have been difficult and who have lost faith in a God that
has disappointed them. They have
abandoned God because they feel God has abandoned them. And then there are those who have come to
church and have become cynical about the church as an institution—because of
scandal, or they perceive the church to be about collecting money or about culture
or about anything and everything except the truth of Jesus Christ. Then, thankfully, there are those who, as we
read in the Parable of the Sower in Luke 8, hear the word with a noble and good
heart, and keep it and bear fruit with patience. There are all kinds of people that are found inside
our churches and outside of them as well.
Jesus Christ calls all people to
salvation. His message is universal, for
everyone. He told His disciples, the
founders of our church, to baptize all nations, Panta ta Ethni, and as Christ
described Himself as the sower of the seed, so He calls all Christians to be
not only recipients of the Seed of truth in their hearts, not only to cultivate
the Seed in their own hearts, but to become sowers as well, to spread that seed
to everyone.
In this morning’s Gospel lesson, which
we read today in honor of the feast of St. Andrew, the first called of the
Apostles of Christ, we hear about Jesus’ call to the first disciples to follow
Him. John the Baptist was standing with
two of his followers when they saw Jesus approach them. John said to his followers: “Behold the Lamb
of God.” The two followers of John heard John speak and they followed Jesus.
They trusted John. Why? Because John had consistently been preaching
one message—“Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He preached the
truth. He didn’t make himself an
institution, he didn’t count the number of his followers. He just spoke the truth, and was hated by
some and followed by others because he spoke the truth, and they trusted and
believed. So that when he directed them
to Christ, they followed.
Jesus saw the two men following and
said to them, “What do you seek?” They
said to Jesus, “Rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying?” (John 1: 35-38) Giving Jesus the benefit of the doubt, and
trusting in the encouraging words of
Now, let’s zoom out for a minute from
the Gospel lesson and speak pragmatically about how this passage relates to the
church. The church, as an institution,
is supposed to take on the role of both John the Baptist and Jesus, from this
passage. It is supposed to encourage
people to follow Christ, as did John the Baptist, and invite them, in the same
manner as Christ invited these two men, “Come and see.” One cannot become a Christian without both
coming and seeing. One will not come
without an invitation, nor will he believe without seeing something worthy of
his belief, his faith or his time. So,
to the cynics of Christianity, we as an Orthodox Church must begin our defense
of Orthodoxy with these words of Jesus, “Come and see.” We must invite others
to see. We must be welcoming to everyone
who comes into the door of our church.
We must rejoice in the opportunity to bring someone new into the
fold. But we must know that they will
only stay based on what they see. And to
see what? To see the truth, in
action. So then we must make our actions
conform to the truth, so that it is truth in practice, not truth only in
words. So that we are not merely talking
the talk but walking the talk, so to speak.
We must offer things in our church that bring people closer to
Christ. That’s why as a church, we do not
put our primary focus on fundraisers, but on ministries that talk about Christ
and His message. And in those times when
we speak of money, we speak of stewardship, and offering something to God from
what He has first given to us. What we
do, how we approach our Christianity, it does affect how others look at
churches or at Christianity in general.
If we are churches of scandal, or laxity, or apathy, it gives cause to
the non-believers to criticize us and to the cynics among us to leave. If we are churches of truth, of consistency,
of enthusiasm, it will perhaps cause the cynics and the non-believers to
revisit their feelings towards God and the church, when they see churches of
deeds and not only empty words. And as
the church is the collective body of believers, and each of us is a member of
that body, the body is strengthened or weakened by what each of us does as
individuals. Are we individuals seeking
the truth, are we here for noble reasons?
Back to the Gospel passage of this
morning, Andrew was the first to follow Jesus and brought his brother Simon
Peter also. Next we read how Jesus found
Philip and called him. And Philip found
Nathanael and implored him also to follow Jesus. Nathanael was a little guarded in his
response, “Can anything good come out of
Nathanael took a chance and came to
Jesus. Jesus said to him, “Before Philip
called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael was very impressed, amazed even! He blurted out, “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1: 49)
Jesus answered him, ‘Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig
tree,’ do you believe? You will see
greater things than this. Truly I say to
you, you will see the heavens open and the angels of God ascending and
descending upon the Son of Man.”
Now on first glance, our church is
impressive to many. It’s very easy to
get caught up in the smells and bells so to speak. It’s very easy to be moved on Easter, and
even if we’re not moved, few can argue that it is a colorful ceremony, that’s
why so few miss it. But the choir and
incense and the pageantry on Easter are not the essence of Orthodox
Christianity. Orthodoxy is a way of life
where one experiences the things of God in a quiet beauty that is part of
everyday life.
There are lots of reasons to be cynical
about the church, lots of reasons to not believe. But for every reason there is to not believe
there are so many more reasons to want to believe. However, belief in God is something that
can’t be found in one moment, like Nathanael’s proclamation, but is cultivated
over time. Our first role then as a
Christian is a private one—a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, through
prayer, scripture, worship and a sacramental life, cultivated consistently. Our second role as a Christian is a community
role, inviting others the way Philip invited Nathanael, “We have found the
Lord. Come and see.”
Our first ministry is to the ten to
twenty percent in this very community who may be struggling to believe. Are we enthusiastically encouraging others,
or making them cynical through our own lack of faith, or lack of action? How about the ones whose faith has been
shaken by life’s cruel circumstances—Are we praying for these people, are we
listening to them? How about the ones
who are struggling to believe that there really is a God? Do we know enough about God, are we confident
enough in our own faith to teach others?
Do we care enough to encourage them?
Our second ministry is to the 21
percent of people in the world who don’t believe in God at all, and the other
13 percent whose faith is shaky. How
important are these people and their beliefs to us? Important enough to invite them? Or do we take the more casual attitude, “to
each his own”?
It’s sobering to hear how many people in
our country do not believe in God. It’s
upsetting, or it should be, to hear politicians and special interest groups
working to remove God’s name from everywhere, while at the same time corrupting
Christian values through words and images that are contrary to Christianity
under the guise of free speech. And it’s shocking to read that in the church so
many of us love, that even our own people are struggling to believe.
I’ve chosen to preach this sermon this
morning in response to this article as a way of getting us thinking as a church
community, and as individual members of the Body of Christ. Some people in the world do not believe
because they have not been invited to see. Others have seen and are lazy to
make a commitment to what they have seen.
And still others have seen and do not believe because they are disgusted
with what they have seen. A memorable
line in a popular movie is the phrase, “Get busy living or get busy
dying.” And to our church community as a
whole, I want us to think about this. All
church communities, our own included, better get busy living out the message of
Christ or we will die. We will be killed
externally by the politicians, the special interest groups and the media, and
internally by apathy and pettiness and lack of correct focus. To each of you as individual members of the
Body of Christ, I want you to think about this message from the church fathers,
“If you help save one soul, if you bring one person closer to Christ, you can
save your own; if you cause one person to lose their faith in Christ, you can
lose your own soul.” As we leave church
this morning, let us ask ourselves, “Am I someone who is bringing people closer
to Christ or driving them away.” And if
someone comes to our church and sees, will I be proud of what they come and
see? Nathanael was quick to fall prey to
a quick fix type of Christianity—Jesus said one incredible thing and Nathanael
reacted as if he was sold. Jesus said, “You
will see greater things than this.” But
these greater things are found in patience and consistency and effort, and in
these things come the love of God and the beauty of an everyday relationship
with Him as Your Lord and Savior. There
is no such thing as quick fix Christianity.
And when we open the doors of our church for anything, whether it be
Liturgy or a meeting or a social event, the message should always be the
same—it should convey the beauty and the power of an everyday relationship with
Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Amen.