I love the Nicodemus passage in the Gospel of John. That is always a fun text to preach. If we had read farther in Paul's letter to the Romans, we would have found some challenging stuff. I chose to read less of that passage than was originally noted. It did remind me that even as I seem to make a clear statement about one issue, in this case salvation, I open the door to other issues, in this case free will and God's sovereignty. it reminds me that we can never quite grasp who God is -- we can merely hope for glimpses of gospel along the way.
I particularly enjoyed this sermon because it reminded me of my time on internship during my seminary years. Those two years not only shaped me in formative ways that still impact who I am as a minister today, but my internship connected me with some wonderful people who still act as models for what Christian discipleship looks like (not to mention having a lot of fun while on internship).
"Am I Saved?" Romans 5: 6-21; John 3: 1-21 Sept. 29, 2013; FPC, Troy
Introduction: Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a
leader of the Jews, a person whom Jesus acknowledged as a teacher. He knew his stuff, but he seems perplexed in
this story in the Gospel of John.
He comes to
Jesus in the dark of the night (which we know in the Gospel of John is the sign
of confusion) to ask Jesus how a person who is grown can climb back in the womb
to be born again?
If he were
not a Pharisee, I would have guessed from that question that Nicodemus was a
Presbyterian. So rational in his
thinking.
Most days I
love being Presbyterian with all our thinking and analyzing; but some days, I
wish tings could be a lot simpler.
One of
those days has always been when some of my more evangelical friends talk about
when they were saved. Or perhaps more
specifically, when they tell me about being saved and then ask, “Are you
saved?”
I envy
there simple answer as I speak a lot of words to explain salvation in the
Presbyterian tradition.
Let me
share a few of those thoughts on salvation in the Presbyterian tradition this
morning.
Move 1: Salvation question is about more than our
personal salvation.
a. To ask “are you saved?” is to make
the act of salvation into a very personal, a very private, and a very
particular act.
1. It makes it about me. Or about you.
2. We Presbyterians want to push back
on that notion of salvation being so private by pointing out that salvation is
first and foremost about God.
3. About the God who comes in Christ.
4. About the God who comes in Christ to
save and redeem the world.
5. About the God, who as Paul
describes, sends Christ to die for us while we were yet sinners.
6. Salvation is primarily about the God
who acts to save, not about our choice of accepting God’s offer of salvation.
b. It is
why infant baptism works well with our Presbyterian theology.
1. In traditions where baptism is
only linked to a person’s acceptance of Christ, the emphasis is on the person’s
decision.
2. In infant baptism, we emphasize God’s
grace that claims us in the waters of baptism.
3. We proclaim the God who declares,
“You7 are mine” even before we even know enough about God to make a personal
faith statement.
In other
words, we Presbyterians shift the question from “Are you saved?” do the
affirmation, “God saves!”
Move 2: We Presbyterians also shift the
“Are you saved?” answer from one moment to a process
a.
IN more evangelical traditions, the salvation question is often met with
a very precise answer.
1.
A date and time when the person
was saved.
2.
A specific moment – maybe at a church campfire on the last night of
camp.
3.
Or listening to a particular sermon on a particular Sunday.
4.
Or after an event like a car accident where the person felt that God had
literally steered her to safety.
b.
It does not seem to work that way for Nicodemus.
1.
Jesus invites him into what seems
like a process.
2.
Not a single moment, but a changed life.
3.
In some ways, how much easier it is simply to remember the exact date
and time you were saved.
4.
A lot harder to live each day as
a person who has been changed by following Christ.
c.
I am reminded of someone who
asked, “Why don’t we pray to become worthy of being
saved, instead of for personal salvation?”
1.
Not that we can ever be worthy of God’s grace, but notice the shift from
“look what I got from Christ” to “watch what I do as I follow Christ.”
2. It might in fact be easier for
Nicodemus to figure out a way to climb back into the womb to be born again than
to give up his Pharisaical ways and follow Christ each day for the rest of his
life.
3. That’s why Jesus introduces the role
of the Holy Spirit at this point.
4. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit
can Nicodemus be born again and live his life as the new creation God calls him
to be.
The
Presbyterian understanding of salvation invites us into a process of changing
our ways as we follow Christ.
Move 3: But, I have also come to recognize the
importance of moment, or in keeping with the idea that we understand salvation lived
out in a process, a moment or two or three!
a.
Baptist funeral.
1. Best fired of the
dead man was a Deacon.
2. He was invited to do
the eulogy.
3. Shared his dead friend’s desire that everyone
accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
4. Funeral became an
altar call.
5. I have participated
in lots of funerals and memorial services and have never quite gotten there,
but I now recognize a bit about what that man was saying.
b. We need those moments of clarity,
those times when we commit, or recommit ourselves to following Christ.
1. Samuel Shoemaker in his book How to Become a Christian writes
about how salvation comes from God, but people need to make a Christian
commitment: "No man [person] can redeem himself [herself]. No
man [person] can make a cross of his [her] own that saves [him]....I am shocked
to find how many people in our churches have never anywhere made a decisive
Christian commitment. They oozed into church membership on a
conventional kind of basis, but no one has ever effectively dealt with
the spiritually, or helped them make a Christian decision" (67-70).
2. One of the challenges for we who practice infant baptism is
to find a way for those who were baptized as infants to feel that claim that
God has on their lives and make their commitment to following Christ.
5.
Why
confirmation is a big deal.
5. Why they will profess their faith in
public worship and be anointed.
6. We want our confirmands to have that
moment when they know they are committing themselves as followers of Christ.
7. In fact, it’s why our new members stand before the
congregation in worship and reaffirm their faith – a moment for them to lay
claim to their faith.
d. Work to provide moments
of clarity.
1.
It cannot, of course, be scripted entirely, but that’s why we
renew our baptismal vows periodically.
2.
Go back to Kirkmont and gather around the campfire for worship.
3.
Have a labyrinth that people can walk.
4.
The God of grace who saves us continually calls us to new commitments.
Conclusion: If someone asks you, “Are you saved?’ the short,
Presbyterian answer is “Yes” (and then I would suggest leaving the scene
immediately).
The not quite so short answer is, “Yes, God
acted to save me in Christ.” And then
fill in the answers with the details you know, the details that you have lived
as you have experienced Christ in your life.
Of course, answering the question is the easy
part. The hard part is living each day
as a person who is changed by Christ’s gift, as a person who commits and
recommits to serving Christ in the world.
Amen.
Although not
specifically quoted, I consulted with Being Presbyterian in the Bible Belt
by Ted Foote and Alex Thornburg as part of my work on this sermon. As a personal aside, I was the last in a line
of interns who served First Presbyterian Church in Pasadena , TX
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