Life In The Son
“He
who has the Son has life; he who does not have the
Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12)
There are times for confession
in our lives and I confess to you right now that my
wife and I have been watching cable news
broadcasts. Included are CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and I
watch the BBC news in an attempt to get the
“European” viewpoint. (See – confession is good for
you). The news networks do seem to be discovering
that they can relentlessly pull our “heart strings”
to gain viewers. And often, the news can be very
sad indeed.
As I was putting the final
“touches” on last week’s sermon and was uploading it
to the First Church On The Net (www.FridayStudy.org)
website, Pope John Paul II died. The sermon for
4/3/05 touched on the life and death of Terri
Schiavo, the brain-damaged woman who died of thirst
and starvation after the U.S. Courts decided that it
would be her husband, not her parents, who would
decide whether or not to remove her feeding tube.
It must have been terrible to be a part of those
events, for it was awful to even WATCH them unfold.
Then it was over, and with a sigh, most no doubt
intended to go back to whatever we were doing before
those disturbing events took place.
Then the Pope died! Before we
could catch a breath from the ordeal of not only
Terri herself, but also the suffering of her parents
and all who were concerned about the moral issues
involved, suddenly, Pope John Paul II was gone, and
the news broadcasting frenzy continued! A different
context, but millions were concerned! The reporters
dashed away from the family of Terri Schiavo in
Florida, and jumped onto airplanes to report the
news in Vatican City. (Don’t reporters have lives
of their own?)
The deaths of Terri Schiavo and
Pope John Paul II will always be interwoven for a
lot of people, not unlike the deaths of Mother
Teresa and Princess Diana of England, who passed on
within days of each other in l997. When Mother
Teresa died, the mourning began, but then Princess
Diana was killed and the one event eclipsed the
other, much like our thoughts were wrenched from
that brain-damaged girl to the now-dead Pope in
Rome. The sufferings of Terri and John Paul somehow
wove together and it caused many of us to THINK
about the life and death that fills our world.
The sheer FORCE of these events
impacted just about everyone who had a TV set, and
it’s interesting that even the bizarre Michael
Jackson trial in California and the continuing
circumstances in Iraq were, for a moment in time,
knocked right off the news reports by the deaths of
Terri Schiavo and Pope John Paul II.
The last week on earth for John
Paul II, reminded many of the time, in the 1970’s,
when Pope John Paul I left earth after only 33 days
in office. His predecessors, Pope Paul VI and John
XXIII were gone, and John Paul I was expected to
fill their shoes, but then HE was gone, too! People
are hungry for LEADERSHIP and they’re troubled when
leaders are suddenly wrenched from the world.
Years ago, while living in
Arizona, I went to Arizona State University’s
Stadium to see and hear Pope John Paul II while he
was in the Phoenix Valley. I LISTENED to his words,
CURIOUS about this man who touched the lives of so
many and I remember deciding, after hearing him
speak: This man knows the Lord! He glorified
the Lord in that talk, not himself, not the church,
and he did so in a very REAL way. I don’t know what
you thought of the Pope, but I do know this: In a
time of politicians and religious leaders who, in
many cases, seem like they are just not quite up to
the job of leading our world, he was a man of
courage, a man of conviction, and what is so rare in
humanity, a man greater than many of the events of
his time.
And of course, he SHOULD be
such a man! As church leaders, no matter what our
religion, it should be a given that the “pastors” of
the “flock” should love the Lord and honor Him.
That should be the number one qualification for the
job; but I took Church History classes in college
and know that our predecessors, Catholic, Protestant
or whatever, have often been mere political
leaders. If you look carefully at church history,
far too many leaders have often been, well,
“questionable” in their motives: Did they serve the
Lord and the people they teach, or in the case of
all too many, did they serve themselves?
The stakes are very high and we
don’t have the time, any of us, to listen to someone
who glorifies themselves or some religious idea.
Today’s Scripture is very clear that, “he
who has the Son has life; he who does not have the
Son of God does not have life” (1 John
5:12). Those words were written by another man
named John, the Apostle John, who penned them in a
letter some years after the death of Jesus Christ.
If you and I are going to listen to anyone, it
should be someone who knows what they are talking
about, and that is especially be true of a man who
SAW the Risen Lord.
Here are John’s qualifications:
He had no formal education or training. He was
imprisoned for a lengthy time on a small island in
the Mediterranean Sea, called Patmos. That’s not so
good, but before you stamp “Insufficient” on his
resume, there’s more, and it’s best if you just read
his words: “What was from
the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen
with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched
with our hands, concerning the Word of Life - and
the life was manifested, and we have seen and
testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which
was with the Father and was manifested to us - what
we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so
that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed
our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son
Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:1-4)
John, along with hundreds of
others, SAW the Risen Jesus Christ. He touched Him,
listened to Him, and through unmistakable signs,
KNEW Him for who He was (and is): the Son of God who
died for our sins and was victoriously raised from
the dead. Jesus is the “Word
of Life” who defined history, then, now and
forever. We all die physically, but that’s not the
end. Those who believe in Jesus are given “life”
like we never even thought about before. Without
Him, we have nothing at all. Let’s make sure we
have His “life”
right now:
Father, thank You for sending
Your Son to die for our sins. We want the LIFE
offered in Christ Jesus and we ask for it right
now. We confess that we are sinners and in need of
Him. I trust in You now, Lord Jesus. Thank You for
saving me. In Jesus Name. Amen.
