Telling Is Never Enough!
Dr. Jim Wilson, April 25, 2010 It happened again on Thursday afternoon. As is always the case, I found myself first chuckling and then shaking my head in disbelief. I was at a middle school track meet in Wauconda. Mary Beth is on the Prairie girl’s team. While standing near the finish line for the running events, I was not far from the high jump pit. An eighth grade boy jumped---unsuccessfully, bar and boy tumbling onto the huge cushion. As the boy scrambled off the cushion, one of his team’s coaches walked by and shouted, “Steve, you need to jump higher!” Steve looked at his coach with a puzzled looked. The coach repeated his message, “You need to jump higher!” Steve shrugged his shoulders and said, “Okay.” Now unless this young man was completely out of touch with reality, I have to believe he had already figured out that he needed to jump higher. The question is “How do I do that?” I have heard many coaches and “wanna-be” coaches offer such ridiculous advice. They tell a runner who has just lost a race, “You gotta run faster!” or a batter who has just struck out, “You gotta start hitting!” One of my high school basketball coaches told us during a time out in a game we were losing by at least 15 points, “You guys gotta start hitting your shots!” Telling is never enough! You can tell the sales force that they need to sell more. But that’s never enough. A teacher can tell her students they need to do better on the next exam. But that is never enough. At some point, the players, the salespersons, the students must be shown how to do what is required; a strategy must be modeled. At that same track meet, I noticed later a coach working with the boys who were shot putters and discus throwers. After each boy threw, the coach took him aside and reviewed the throw. He would compliment and correct, always demonstrating how to make the next throw better. That coach was a real coach, a teacher who demonstrated the move from words to deeds, from the call to do better to how to do it better. It is never enough just to tell. Telling must be fulfilled in modeling the doing. That is the message which emerges from our text. John tells us Jesus is in Jerusalem, walking in the portico of Solomon, an outer area of the Temple precinct defined by giant colonnades. Rabbis frequently taught in this area. It is the Feast of Dedication, the celebration of the great victory of the Maccabeans over the Syrians in 160 BC. Today Jews celebrate this feast as Hanukah. It is at this Feast that Jesus is confronted by his opponents who demand, “How long will you keep us in suspense. If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” This is one more in a long series of controversies between Jesus and his opponents. Their strategy is transparent. If Jesus admits to being the Messiah, he can be charged with blasphemy according to Jewish law and leading an insurrection according to Roman law. Jesus refuses to answer their question directly. He basically says, “Even if I do tell you, I am the Messiah, you wouldn’t believe me.” Telling is never enough. “Besides,” Jesus goes on, “you have seen my works, which witness to my identity and yet you do not believe.” There may be yet a third reason for Jesus not answering directly, which though not stated here, is often cited in the Synpotic Gospels. This reason has to do with popular notions of the Messiah that are shaped by human expectations and wishes. Such expectations of the Messiah would make it unlikely for Jesus’ opponents to recognize him as God’s Anointed One. Jesus does go on to offer one final reason, one that trumps all the others. “You do not believe,” he says, “because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me.” In other words, his opponents’ hearts and minds are closed. Nothing he can say or do will enable them to believe. Yet, those whose hearts and minds are open hear his voice, see his deeds, and believe. By believing, they receive the gifts of eternal life and assurance they will never perish and that no one can ever snatch them from God’s hand. Telling, by itself, is never enough. It must be accompanied by actions, deeds that testify to the words. But above all, hearts and minds must be open to hear and see in order to believe. I believe that is a message we need to hear both for our coming to faith and our living as persons of faith. Faith is born as you and I hear and respond to Jesus’ Word; that is, as we encounter the Risen Lord through his teaching and promise, and then live lives that reflect that encounter. Telling is never enough. Just as Jesus cited his words and his deeds as ground for belief, so we must not just speak of our faith, we must live lives that give meaning to our words that witness to what we say we believe. Such a life, I believe, is a life of faithful stewardship. Without question, it is important in the life of faithful stewardship to tell of our faith in Jesus as Lord. Jesus himself in our text, after several refusals finally says, “The Father and I are one.” Yet, as he always does, Jesus follows the confession in word by pointing to his deeds to confirm what he has said. By doing so, he models faithfulness for us. Our words must be confirmed by our deeds, expressions of our stewardship, deeds that reflect our gratitude to God for God’s blessings. This the very heart of stewardship, a grateful heart that recognizes that all we have and all we are, even our faith itself, comes as a gift of a gracious God. Now our words of faith must take on flesh in how we live. Calling Jesus Lord, believing he is God’s Messiah, must move to lives that confirm these words. Jesus says that those who believe in him are given eternal life. Eternal life is a life that begins now and is no longer held captive to the powers of sin and death. It is a life free to give thanks, to express gratitude, to fill the words of faith with the life of faith. Telling now becomes fulfilled in living. To be faithful stewards of God’s gifts is to live with a grateful heart, to see all of life through the lens of God’s grace poured out for us, a love we encounter in the Risen Lord. This means faithful stewardship of our time is based in thanksgiving for the gift of time; faithful use of our talents, our spiritual gifts, is grounded in gratitude for these gifts; that the faithful use of our money is anchored in the acknowledgement that our financial resources come to us as a gift. Such are expressions of eternal life, life free of all restrictions and distortions; live free to be lived fully. The great missionary bishop, Leslie Newbigin, speaks of the church as the “primary reality” of the Christian faith, whereby the world will encounter Christ. He writes: I confess that I have come to feel that the primary reality of which we have to take account in seeking for a Christian impact on public life is the Christian congregation. How is it possible that the gospel should be credible, that people should come to believe that the last word in human affairs is represented by a man hanging on a cross? I am suggesting that the only answer is a congregation of men and women who believe it and live it. Jesus did not write a book, but formed a community. For Newbigin the primary witness to the truth of the Gospel is the church, a body of faithful people living the life of faithful stewardship. Again, faith becomes real when the words of faith find expression in lives lived in gracious thanksgiving. Tell, then finds fulfillment in faithful stewardship. A second characteristic of this life of faithful stewardship that fulfills our words is generosity. When we live what we say about Jesus that life will be lived with a generous spirit. The reason for this is relatively simple. Jesus tells us in our text that those who believe in him, who know him as the Good Shepherd, can be assured that “no one will snatch them” out of his hand. In other words, the faithful will dwell secure. In a world filled with insecurity, uncertainty, and ambiguity, these are welcome words. But again, telling is not enough. Jesus again points to his work to make this promise credible. Just so, you and I experience this promise as we live as faithful stewards with a spirit of generosity, convinced that our security is found not in things material, nor in power or position, but in the liberating and transforming love we encounter in Jesus. Because we are secure, we are free to be generous. Note I said “secure” not “safe.” Jesus does not promise safety. He promises security. There is a poignant scene in C.S. Lewis’ THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, where Lucy asks Mrs. Beaver if Aslan is safe. Aslan, you remember, is the great lion who represents Jesus. Mrs. Beaver replies, “Course he’s not safe. But he is good. He is the king, I can tell you.” I think much the same could be said about Jesus. He is not safe; in fact he can be dangerous. Following him can be quite risky. But he promises we will be secure, secure in his providing and protecting love. Because we are secure, we can be free to be generous, generously faithful stewards of God’ gifts. For me, one of the most powerful illustrations of this security that results in faithfulness is that final speech of Dr. Martin Luther King, on that fateful night before he was assassinated in Memphis some 42 years ago. You will remember that Dr. King was speaking to striking garbage workers. He spoke of difficult days ahead but countered, “this doesn’t really matter to me now,” for he said, “I only want to do the will of God.” He spoke of God taking him to the mountain top and allowing him to see the Promised Land and then he prophetically added, “I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the Promised Land.” He concluded by saying, “So I am happy tonight, I am not worried about anything, I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” Powerful words. Dr. King knew what he was doing was not safe, but he dwelt secure in his faith and generous in his spirit. Such is our calling; to allow the security we have in our encounter with Jesus to free us to be generously faithful in our stewardship. Telling really is never enough. Our words always await fulfillment in our living lives of grateful, generous stewardship. That witness confirms our faith and the truth of God’s gracious love in Christ Jesus, the grace from which we live. Thanks be to God! Amen! |
