This morning, we are going to read a scripture found in the First Letter of John which is found towards the end of the New Testament. We have been reading our way through the letter. The author of the letter, nicknamed the Elder, is concerned about Christian unity and emphasizes that God love us, and we therefore must love each other. This morning, we read a portion of the Elder’s concluding remarks – he sums up the Christian faith as testimony to the reality that Jesus is God’s son, and we must therefore follow Jesus if we wish to follow God. Listen to his words as they were written down in the first letter of John, chapter 5, verses 9 through 13:
Scripture Lesson 1 John 5:9-13 (the Message)
If we take human testimony at face value, how much more should we be reassured when God gives testimony as he does here, testifying concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God inwardly confirms God’s testimony. Whoever refuses to believe in effect calls God a liar, refusing to believe God’s own testimony regarding his Son.
This is the testimony in essence: God gave us eternal life; the life is in his Son. So, whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life.
My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion.
Here ends this reading of the Word of God for the People of God. Thanks be to God! Amen.
Sermon God’s Testimony
This morning, we conclude our Vacation Bible School weekend with a worship service and a picnic. We have been blessed to join with the children this weekend by singing, hearing stories, doing crafts, getting wet, playing games, eating, and making merry! Even though we have a small group of kids, we have had an exuberant adventure with them as we all learned more about the Water of Life – The Holy Spirit of God that Jesus shared with the people of the earth.
The Biblical stories we used for Vacation Bible school this year were all water-related. On Friday, Ned taught the kids about Jesus’ baptism by his cousin, John the Baptist. On Saturday morning, June taught the kids about Jesus Walking on Water to meet his friends. In the afternoon, Lee taught the kids the story of Jesus’ conversation with a Samaritan woman at a well – he offered her living water, the water of life.
Each of these stories include a connection to water and a connection to testimony. A testimony is a statement that we make when we verify something is true. In our reading from 1st John, the Elder who wrote the letter says that God testified, gave testimony, that Jesus was God's son and we should believe in him – Jesus spoke on behalf of God to the people of the earth. Testimony also plays into each of our Vacation Bible School stories...At Jesus’ baptism, the voice of God called down from the heavens and testified that Jesus was God’s son and we should listen to him. On the occasion when Jesus walked on water, his followers were spellbound – after Jesus climbed into the boat, the people in the boat worshiped him and testified that Jesus truly was the son of God. After the Samaritan woman met Jesus and he offered her the water of life, she testified to her whole town that she had met the Messiah.
In each of this weekend’s Biblical stories, testifying to our faith is emphasized. In our day and age, we are more likely to use the concept of “testifying” when we are in court. When we are part of a judicial trial, we give our testimony about the issue at hand – this is what I witnessed, this is how I experienced the issue, this is how my health was affected by the problem. When we testify in court, we swear to tell the truth.
When we tell other people why we are Christians, we are telling the truth and testifying to our beliefs. Like the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well, our lives are enriched when we chose to have a relationship with Jesus. There are many people who are not believers and who wonder why we have chosen this faith for ourselves. People who don’t believe wonder why we believe, why we take time out of our lives to participate in a Christian community, and what we get out of having faith in God. As we know, more and more people are not believers in Christianity....some of those people previously were Christians and have now stopped believing; some believe in other religions; some have never had a faith. They are curious about why we believe and why we are motivated to be here.
So, for those of us who are Christians, we must be prepared to testify to others about what and why we believe. Many of us have story to share about what our lives were like before we committed to our faith in contrast to what are lives are like now...even if we consider ourselves life-long Christians, we have had to choose again and again to keep believing in Christianity. When we tell others we are Christians, we must be prepared to explain what our lives were like before we committed to our faith and what event or experience happened to us that made us take on this faith for ourselves.
Other people are curious. They want to hear something authentic about why we are Christians...anything too formulaic or polished is unhelpful. They want to hear why our lives are better because of our faith. They want to know why the Christian faith meets our needs.
We must practice telling our faith story. Others need to hear our motivation to accept this faith for ourselves. Perhaps we find it comforting to know that we are confident that our lives will continue with God when this life is over – that we have salvation because of our faith in Jesus. Others will want to know that our faith gives our lives purpose – it helps us to have a structure of how to live, how to treat others, how to make decisions that would otherwise be morally ambiguous. Others will want to know we take comfort in having God guide our lives and listen to us when we pray. Despite the trials we have experienced, our God and our faith has helped sustain us and guide us through those times.
Today, as we prepare for our week ahead and enjoy the deliciousness at our picnic, let us consider how we talk to others about our choice to follow Jesus. Let’s prepare our testimonies. Because we know that our faith in God, the teachings of Jesus, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit have made our lives better. We find in our faith wisdom, encouragement and comfort. Let us work to share the message of our faith with others.
Amen.
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