John 17: 6-17
One Sunday a pastor
told his congregation that the church needed some extra money and asked the
people to prayerfully consider giving a little extra in the offering plate. He
said that whoever gave the most would be able to pick out three hymns.
After the offering
plates were passed, the pastor glanced down and noticed that someone had placed
a $10,000 check in the offering. He was so excited that he immediately shared
his joy with his congregation and said he'd like to personally thank the person
who placed the money in the plate.
A lady all the way in
the back shyly raised her hand. The pastor asked her to come to the front.
Slowly she made her way to the pastor. He told her how wonderful it was that
she gave so much and in thanksgiving asked her to pick out three hymns.
Her eyes brightened as she looked over the congregation, pointed to the three most handsome men in the building, and said, "I'll take him and him and him!
Her eyes brightened as she looked over the congregation, pointed to the three most handsome men in the building, and said, "I'll take him and him and him!
There’s no information available that
tells us what happens after that, but I bet it was interesting. Let’s read our
Gospel lesson for today:
"I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
I
am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on
behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours,
and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.
And
now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to
you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that
they may be one, as we are one.
While
I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I
guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost,
so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I
speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in
themselves.
I
have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not
belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you
to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil
one. They do not belong to the world, just
as I do not belong to the world.
Sanctify
them in the truth; your word is truth.
As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the
world. And for their sakes I sanctify
myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.
How many of you have heard a pastor
preach or a teacher teach, who started out with a story or phrase that grabbed
you right away? That happened to me in a systematic theology class at a
seminary I attended in Orlando, Florida.
The professor came in, looked around at
all of us and said: “Lot was a Christian. Remember, he followed Abraham.”
That rather intriguing comment was made in the context of looking at the Book of Genesis and reviewing what people believe regarding the promise of a Messiah, the promise first disclosed all the way back in Genesis 3:15, that people would follow the seed of the woman as opposed to the seed of the serpent.
God promised Eve that a Kinsman Redeemer
would come who would resolve the issue of sin and overcome the actions of the
devil and the serpent.
Now if we extend this promise from Eve
to Jesus, then Abraham, the father of many nations, was a Christian as well. As
was probably most of the Godly line of Seth, at least that portion of it
detailed in Genesis 5 (remember that these people had many sons and daughters
besides the men named).
In fact I guess you could say that even Adam
and Eve, after sinning, and facing God, believed the promise of redemption given
by God, making them the very first Christians following the logic of God’s
promise.
The point being made was that there was
a promise of a Messiah that runs through almost the entirety of Scripture, and
that the Bible isn’t being viewed correctly if both the Old and New Testaments don’t
center on our Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a kind of red thread woven into
Scripture, and it proves to be unbreakable, it proves to be unbeatable, and it
signifies our connection to God love and grace.
(Distribute the red yarn around the
sanctuary).
Every person who follows the promise of
the seed of the woman in Genesis 3:15 is woven deeply into the Biblical story
through Christ, and we can do worse than to call them Christians, even though a
purist would say their faith predates the knowledge any on earth would have had
of the person of Jesus Christ.
Of course, Acts 11: 26 says “…And the
disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” And that is true; believers, the body of Christ, followers of
Jesus Christ were first called Christians there. As such, all believers are
woven into the red thread, because we believe in the promise of Messiah, for we
have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior.
We believe in the promise manifested in
the person of Jesus. But there were many who believed God’s promise before
Christ came to save us through His death, resurrection and ascension into
heaven; these are woven into the red thread as well.
I called the thread unbreakable and
unbeatable, just think of all that was done to attempt to stop fulfillment of
the promise or to keep people from claiming it today. The yarn we use as a
representation is frail and only a poor imitation of God’s perfect spinning
wheel.
Think of the twists and turns of the
lives of those God selected to be in the linage of the seed of the woman. Think
of the triumphs and tragedies, think of their failings as humans but their nurture
through faith in the steady but rock-solid promise.
Think of the crucial pivot of history in
the earthly ministry of Jesus, how He obeyed the Father’s will, how He accepted
that will in the Garden of Gethsemane and vanquished the enemy once and for
all, although the final victory has been deferred. Think of the power and
durable strength of the red thread at that moment in time. Think about what
transpired after.
“Remember, Jesus was mocked, lied about,
beaten, spat upon, scourged, stripped naked, and in fact, Jesus Himself was
abandoned by all of His disciples except John when He was nailed to the cross.”
The world and we sinners put our Savior
through hell on earth. But even what we put Him through could not snap the red
thread, strengthened and tempered by the sinless and obedient nature of Christ
on earth, and woven by the love and grace of God in heaven.
Nothing can break the red thread. We, as
believers, as members of the body of Christ, are blessed to be called
Christians.
Those who believed the promise before
there was a church are deeply blessed as well.
I have no problem thinking of them as
Christians, for they believed the promise before it was manifested in Christ’s
sacrifice, and isn’t belief the bedrock to anchor one’s faith on?
The church building we see around us is
part of that thread, each of you is part of that thread, and the people to come
are as well. Our ancestors shed much blood and sweat equity building this church and maintaining it's witness and using the thread to bind them together.
The red thread began before eternity and
runs into eternity. Our God is known from the past, the present, and the
future.
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