Starting Point: Christianity is Something that Happened

Everything that exists had a starting point . . . including you. You may have started on purpose. You may have started by accident (from your parent’s perspective). You may even have started through the magic of medical science. Whatever the circumstances, you had a starting point and it began before you were aware of it. Physical life is one of many starting points. Your formal education had a starting point – we all go to school, or went to school, and everything built upon something else. Your career had a starting point – you started at the bottom, somewhere, doing something you knew you didn’t want to. Your romantic life had a starting point – your first crush was dreamy, until you realized that it was your first cousin. Your experience as a parent had a starting point. Faith has a starting point as well. I remember when I was younger, my parents would tell us the story of Samuel, who was in the care of Eli the prophet. They would tell me that if I hear somebody call my name, just answer “hear I am lord, your servant is listening.” and I would pray, “God don’t talk to me because I’m already to scared to come out from under the covers. I know some of you are too young to remember or can’t pin point where your faith started, but God did something outrageous in this outrageous world he created. He wants you to know about it because it has personal implications for you. The starting point for adult faith is not a Bible Story. It’s not even the Bible. It’s a question: “Who is this Jesus?” The starting point for adult faith is a person. Jesus came to remove the mystery, to make what was previously unknown, known. Jesus came to bring light to a dark world. Let’s go to John 12.

37 Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet:

“Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

39 For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.”

41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him. 42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved human praise more than praise from God. 44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. 47 “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn them at the last day. 49 For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. 50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”

A lot of us only come to church because God did something incredible in our lives. The sad part is that a lot of us will not believe in God even though this something incredible changed our lives forever. In fact, a lot of people that you meet will accept God because He did something incredible in their lives, but the problem is that the way they see it, He didn’t do enough to make them want to change their lives for God. In 2 Thessalonians 2:10, Paul writes, “They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” Me: I just read an opt-ed in the NYT written by former heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson. In it he wrote about his addiction to drugs and alcohol, “I couldn’t stop myself, I waited for somebody to stop me– like the police or an accident. But then my daughter died in an accident and I knew my life needed to change.” There is enough evidence in our daily lives that Jesus is alive and working that it is impossible to ignore it. Write this down in your notes: God is not believable, when I choose to be irresponsible. Now write this down: The starting point of faith requires me to open my eyes to Jesus’ point for my life. Let’s see what that looks like. Once we start a journey of faith that goes for a life time, there must be a journey we embark on to live it. Verse 42, let’s go. V42 – the starting point for any journey begins with believing that there is a journey to go on. John says that a lot of people believed but they were afraid to actually go on the journey. How many of us want to live the rest of our lives knowing that there is something else out there. Something bigger than yourself and always live with the question of why? Isn’t it better that we just go, get out there and embark on the journey itself? V43 – People are afraid of stepping out on their journey because of other people. If you know you are created for more than what you’re doing now, why not do something more? Why not step up and take charge of something you always wanted? This is a starting point. Nicodemus is an example of this. In John 3 we see Nicodemus for the first time coming to Jesus in the “dark.” “Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:1-2). We see Nicodemus again after Jesus died, because it no longer mattered what others would say to him. He believed that when he spoke with and to Jesus and started on the journey of faith, he would be in the light. It is evidenced in chapter 19. “38 Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. 39 He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. 40 Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.” (John 19:38-40). Believing requires us to follow through at a starting point. For many of us that starting point of faith will require us to stand up for what we believe. For others of us, it will require us to make incredible sacrifices to make a way for going to where we know we belong. Regardless of what that starting point is, we know that when Jesus entered into our lives and our faith journeys began, we were about to enter into a life where darkness no longer really works. In 2014, I pray that this memory verse becomes the banner cry of our faith journey. That we will no longer be in darkness because we believe in Jesus, who has come to heal us. Let’s pray.