11/25/07                                                                      COLOSSIANS 1:11-20

“FAITH, DOUBT AND A MASSIVE CLAIM”

Rev. James Singleton

        Recently one of our Sunday school classes conducted a survey among the members of the class regarding their doubts about the Christian faith. The survey asked them: “Do you ever doubt…” and then listed seven of the central beliefs of Christianity. Here are the results from the 12 members who took the survey that day:
         

Do you ever doubt:

·        The existence of God—8 said yes

·        The divinity of Jesus—5 said yes

·        That your prayers are heard—9 said yes

·        That there is a Heaven or Hell—7 said yes

·        That God loves you—7 said yes

·        That your sins are forgiven—8 said yes

·        That God has a plan for you—10 said yes

We doubt because we do not know for certain. Certainty comes from proof. Certainty comes from the ability to experiment and reach verifiable conclusions. God, however, is not so easy to fit into a test tube or under a microscope.
 

How does one prove that Jesus is Lord and Savior of the world or that sins are forgiven or that there is a divine plan for our lives? There is no litmus test that would prove any of these for certain. It requires faith. And where there is a need for faith, there will be doubts.  

In 1983 a prominent German Professor of New Testament studies at the University of Gottingen, Gerd Ludemann, startled many when he confessed, “I no longer describe myself as a Christian.” Explaining his remark Ludemann said that Christian descriptions of Jesus as “Lord of the world” were “arrogant and ignore reality.” He went on, “I don’t think Christians know what they mean when they proclaim Christ as Lord of the world. That is a massive claim.”

Yes, proclaiming Jesus as Lord of the World is a massive claim. For if Jesus is Lord of the World then God exists, Jesus is divine, our prayers are heard, there is life after death, God loves us, our sins are forgiven, and there is a divine plan for the universe that includes all of us.

Our passage of Scripture today was written to Christians who were struggling, just like we do, with that massive claim about Lord Jesus. Apparently there were many other teachings that were being spread around the church at Colossae that refuted all of the above claims about Jesus and people were beginning to doubt and question their faith, like we do.

So the Apostle Paul writes them a letter. The primary reason for the letter was to reiterate what Christians believe about Jesus. Paul does not lay out scientific proofs for what he claims, he just simply and forthrightly preaches what he accepts as the truth, a truth he believes in so strongly that he is willing to base his entire life upon it—and he is hoping that we will too.

NASA scientists spend a great deal of money and effort trying to determine the origins of the universe. Whether it is on space telescopes that seek to peer into the beginning of time or gathering space dust from passing comets to analyze its substance, scientists try to answer the questions about how we got here and who we are.

While science can answer questions about how things came into being, science can’t answer the ultimate questions of why things came into being and who brought them into being. The Apostle Paul says that if we want to truly know the origins of our universe and the purpose of all life, we can do all the scientific analysis we want and we can still miss the revelation. For Paul claims that in the single, solitary life of Jesus Christ is found the secret to understanding who we are and why we are here.

 
    To begin with, “Jesus is the image of the invisible God.”

 We cannot see God directly, that’s the problem we all start with. If God is invisible then who knows if God exists or what God is like? Is God cruel, vindictive, hateful, revengeful, and lustful? The Greeks portrayed god in all of those ways.

Is God just a figment of our imaginations; a projection of our wills, wants and hopes? Is God a Creator who just sits back and watches impassively the events set in motion or is God a troublesome meddler into our affairs, bringing havoc, causing accidents, taking lives at whim? How do we know what God is like?

Christianity’s great claim is that we see God in Jesus! Jesus is the image of the invisible God. In this one life, we see God’s life. In his actions we see God’s actions. But Jesus is more than a reflection of God. 

 Paul says that “in Jesus all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible…all things have been created through him and for him.”

 This Jesus is not only the image of God, but the power and purpose of God made visible. All things, which include galaxies, atoms, animals, plants, minerals, mosquitoes, protoplasm, fish, birds, our lives, our children, our friends and enemies, all things were created by and for this one we call Jesus. We all trace our origins to Him. We all exist because He called us into existence. He is the power that holds the universe together.

 This is not a universe that exists from accident. We do not have life because of some random lucky collision between subatomic particles that started a chain reaction. That doesn’t mean that is not how life started. God can use any process God chooses. But however it happened, it was no accident. It was the result of a Mind behind it all. You are meant to be. This entire great and mysterious world is meant to be.

In addition, Paul says that “For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created…whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers…”  

In other words, we are not at the mercy of political tyrants, power hungry Ayatollahs, crazy Middle Eastern presidents, wacky South American dictators, or even our own well intentioned but often misguided American politicians who parade around as powerful people.  

        Neither is our fate tied up with the powers of this world that create such fear and havoc: the economy, terrorism, natural disasters or future events. None of them are the ultimate power in the world. They can raise our concern, they demand our attention, but they cannot take away our hope in the future. They do not hold the entire future in their hands. Only one has the whole world in His hands.  

Paul continues, “He is the head of the body, the church.” How did the Church get into this grand and glorious song of praise to Christ? Compared to the universe and creation, it seems out of place to mention that Christ is the head of the Church. The Church can seem so trivial. Why would Paul mention the church in the same breath as he mentions all of creation?

 It is not enough to simply create life and then leave it alone to grope its way along in the darkness of ignorance. The Church is created to witness to the world who its Lord is. The Church exists to exhibit the life we are to live based upon the life of Jesus.  

“Christians believe that God’s salvation is of all creation,” writes Methodist Bishop William Willimon. “It is cosmic, large. Yet none of this is self-evident to the world. So we gather on a weekly basis to testify that the resurrection of Jesus has changed the world, to tell and to embody a story the world cannot know apart from the witness of the church.” 

What the world needs now is not more ethical rules but greater imagination. We need the gift to believe that our lives are part of something far greater than ourselves. It is the Church’s task to fire people’s imaginations to the degree that they no longer understand themselves as the center of the universe but as a satellite that revolves around the Son who is the center. It is our mission to be light to the world.

Paul’s next verse claims, “He is the firstborn from the dead.”  

The one thing about this life is that all things die. Nothing and no one gets out of this world alive. So how can we live without going crazy? What absurd act was it to create a world teeming with life, give that life an awareness of its mortality, and then let it live every day knowing it will die into oblivion and nothing that it does and becomes will in the end amount to a thing?  

But if the world is created by and for the crucified one who was raised from the dead—then everything changes. All that we are and all that we do will not be lost in death. Death becomes merely one of the powers that Jesus controls and uses in creation. Death becomes the putty that is used to mold our old lives into the new creation of eternal life.

The end of all things is not to simply drift endlessly apart into utter oblivion. The end of all things is not to go up in a nuclear fire ball. The end of all things is reconciliation. The forward thrust of this life is to head toward reunion in Christ. We will find our true home in Him.

Paul reaches his crescendo when he says, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.”

We crucify him, we doubt him, we forsake him, we ignore him, and we disbelieve in him. But rather than commanding his powers to destroy us, Jesus uses his cross to save us. Upon that cross all of our sins, our doubts, and our foolishness are absorbed and absolved.

I understand why many of you have doubts about the existence of God, the divinity of Christ, whether there is a plan for your life, etc. I have my own doubts. In fact, the Christian writer Frederick Buechner wrote that “doubt is the ants in the pants of faith.” It keeps us jumping and learning. But make certain it doesn’t tear you away from faith and hope.

We doubt because we cannot definitively and conclusively prove. I admit that. For every statement made by a Christian, an atheist can counter it. But ultimately it comes down to what kind of world do you believe you live in?

Is it a world created by a will for the purpose of love or is it a world of accident created by nothing for the purpose of nothing? What are the ultimate powers that rule: grace and love or death and oblivion?  

Bishop Andrea Degroot-Nesdahl tells about a hushed hospital room where a dying patient who has struggled bravely against cancer is surrounded by spouse and children. The cancer has not been conquered, and it will soon win this battle.  

 Bishop Nesdahl writes, “Standing all around this bed is a family, holding hands in a circle. After all they have been through together, knowing that the end is near, these weary and grieving people are singing, ever so softly, and gently smiling at their loved one. ‘Away in a manger ... the little Lord Jesus’ ... singing of the baby Christ, the baby King, whose sweet triumph is about to engulf their loved one, and all of them one day.

“‘Be near me, Lord Jesus. I ask thee to stay. Peace in all hearts in this hospital room, even as those hearts are breaking. Close by me forever and love me I pray.’ The final words hang in the air as does the final breath ... ‘and fit us for heaven to live with thee there.’”

 
Yes, to proclaim Jesus as Lord is a massive claim. But in the end, despite our doubts, it is faith in the Lord Jesus that gives us the strength to endure, to hope, to live.

AMEN