One With the Father

Acts 13:15-16, 26-33; 1 Corinthians 15:19-26; John 10:22-30

Isn't it interesting how a people can be presented with solid evidence that something has taken place, only to reject the evidence, out of hand, and continue to believe what they want to believe? Prejudices are powerful. Prejudices are insidious. A person can have a prejudice and not even know it. A person can be a racist and not even know it.

I've lost count of the times in the past few days I have heard someone from Southern California, or some other place, say that they weren't racist or prejudiced. All you had to do in the past few days is tune in to CNN to one of those talk shows they have on in order to hear one telephone caller after another say, "I'm not a racist! I'm not prejudiced!" And what's even more amazing is that I've even heard Black people say that it is impossible for an oppressed Black person to be racist. Try explaining that to the white truck driver who got beat up by those rioters looking for any white person they could get their hands on.

Racism is certainly a sin that all persons share. And I don't care how innocent you think you are. I don't care how enlightened you think you are. I don't care what race you belong to. All of us sitting here today are tainted by the sin of racism. We all have at least a little bit of it in us. We can't help but have it in us, whether we realize it or not.

But, isn't it interesting how people will reject the evidence in order to believe something that they have chosen to believe? We all want to believe that policemen can be trusted. We all want to believe that all is still all right in the world even when we see someone being clubbed by a policeman. Many people have chosen to believe that Barney King deserved to have his leg broken and to have his face and body beaten after that high speed chase. "If he had just submitted to the police and put himself quietly to the pavement they wouldn't have touched him." These are words I've heard said. These are words I've said myself. But something also tells me that this isn't all there is to the story. Something tells me that those white policemen were a little more brutal, a little more eager than they might have otherwise been, because Barney King was Black. Following the incident they even used a racial slur as they described him on the radio: They called him a "gorilla in the mist." And, then, each of them in court denied that they were racists. And even after seeing home movies of the beating, the jury, each of them denying that they were racists or prejudiced, acquitted the policemen of all but one of the charges.

Yet, it is very true that persons will reject very hard evidence, picture proof, in order to believe something they want to believe. This is the problem that Jesus faced as he stood in the Temple in Jerusalem. His own people gathered around him. The very people who had seen him heal the sick; the very people who had witnessed him bringing sight and wholeness to the blind and to the lame; the very ones who had heard his marvelous teachings and been astounded by what he had said; these were the ones who asked Jesus, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."

We're more like those Jews of Jesus' day than we care to admit. It's been two thousand years since Jesus walked this planet, but the miracles are still happening because of his power in the lives of millions of people. Imagine: ten years ago, if you went to the Soviet Union carrying bibles in your suitcase to give to friends in Moscow, you and them could have been arrested by the KGB for conspiring to distribute subversive propaganda. But, today, the government of Russia is promoting the teaching of the Bible and religion in the public schools. Strange, but true! A kid growing up in Russia, today, is more likely to get a better religious education than a kid growing up in the U.S. where the teaching in public schools of religion and the Bible is restricted! I wonder how long it will be before Christians in Russia begin sending Bibles to us?

But, it truly seems that a miracle has taken place in our world. Hearts which were once hardened against Jesus, have mellowed. Angry people who once proudly proclaimed their atheism with the waving of red banners emblazoned with the hammer and the sickle have been replaced by a people of hope, now waving the Christian flag.

And yet we wonder: Do miracles still happen? Is Christ still working in this world? Is Jesus really Lord? Is that little baby born in the manger really the King of kings? Is that one for whom we painted Easter eggs, still the Savior of the world? How much more plainly can we have the answer to these questions given to us? What does it take to get us to believe the truth?

The fact of the matter is that the people of Jesus' day, his very own people, didn't accept the miracles and teachings of Jesus as proof of who he was, not because the miracles and teachings were not enough, but because they simply chose not to believe. They preferred to believe something else. In fact, Jesus said it, "You do not believe because you are not my sheep."

In our first and second lessons for today we read about the apostle Paul, having been dramatically converted from disbelief to belief, now preaching, trying to convince his fellow Jews that Jesus is the Christ. In the lesson from Acts Paul recounts the testimony of those who witnessed Christ's resurrection with their own eyes. In our second lesson Paul resorts to some pretty convincing logic. In our own day we can see the power of Christ at work in the world: in changed lives, in God's word reaching every corner of the globe, in the growth of the church even in places where preaching God's word is illegal. All we have to do is open our eyes to the evidence and believe.

Jesus told his people, "I and the Father are one." What a shocking statement that must have been for them to hear! And, yet, Jesus said it. And it is difficult for many people to accept this, today, as well. Even those who claim to be followers of Jehovah, the Jehovah's Witnesses have trouble believing that Jesus and the Father are one; that Jesus is the Son of God.

A Christian minister once had a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses in his audience who constantly interrupted the meeting by shouting and heckling. "You cannot prove that Jesus is the eternal Son of God," he said. "He was the FIRST-BORN of every creature; so he could not be God. The eternal Father must therefore be older than his Son; and if Christ is not as old as his Father, then he is not eternal; if he is not eternal, he cannot be God."

The preacher carefully considered the statement, "A father must be older than his son"; then he gave this withering reply: "While you might make such a point concerning an earthly parent, it certainly does not apply when we speak of God. I will prove that to you by your own words."

"You have just called God the eternal Father," the preacher continued." But how can God be the eternal Father (not just God) without having an eternal Son? Eternal Fatherhood demands eternal Sonship! When did your own paternal parent begin to be your father? At the very moment you became his son, and not before! While time must elapse before one can become a human father, this is not true of God. He is the eternal Father, and therefore he must have an eternal Son!" The Jehovah's Witness fell silent as he pondered the old preacher's words.

Isn't it amazing how people will reject overpowering evi dence, simply because they have chosen to believe something else?

Billy Graham once told the story of how way back in 1949 he was so filled with doubts about everything that when he stood to preach and made a statement, he would so to himself, "I wonder if that really is the truth. I wonder if I can really say that sincerely." He thought his ministry was over.

But, Graham says, "I then took the Bible up into the high Sierra Nevada mountains in California. I opened it and got on my knees. I pled, 'Father I cannot understand many things in this Book. I cannot come intellectually all the way, but I accept it by faith to be authoritative, the inspired Word of the living God!"

An old missionary put it another way: Working among a native tribe on an island in the Pacific, he found it hard to come up with a word in the native's own language for "believe."

Finally he found the solution. He chose the phrase, "lean your whole weight." In answer to the question, "What must I do to be saved?" he would answer, "Lean your whole weight upon the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved."

When we choose to believe, when we choose to lean our whole weight upon the Lord, when we accept the evidence, when we make that confession of faith, how our life is changed!

Amen.