Giving 200 Percent

John 1:1-14

 

Who do you trust?  Really trust.

          We have levels of trust that we affirm with certain people.

                   We are vulnerable with our loved ones

                             Until they break that trust by telling another

                                      Or by using that vulnerable moment

                                                In one of those arguments that is

                                                          inevitable in any relationship.

                   We trust our employer until we are laid off

                             Or discover health or retirement benefits

                                      Have been cut do to cost reduction.

                   We aren’t sure we can really trust our government

                             To care for our best interests when lobbyist

                                      And special interest groups seem to

                                                Have their ear and when disasters hit

 and our government seems to be

       ineffective and unresponsive

                   We even struggle to trust the church because

like any human institution it sometimes

          lets us down when we need it most.

 

What would it be if we really could trust each other?

          Last weekend I was at Little Rock with Joan and

                   My family including my grandsons.

          As we played in the pool I noticed a marked difference

 between our older grandson Ashton (4 years old)

          and our younger grandson, Ethan (2 years old)

 

Ethan trusted everyone.  He trusted the whole world.

          We threw him in the air and the water back and forth

                   From Uncle Adam to Uncle Josh to me.

          He jumped in the water to every one of us and one time

                   He just ran and jumped in without any of us

                             And just about caused his old grand dad

a heart attack as I pulled him

out of the pool laughing joyfully,

          trusting the whole world.

 

Somewhere that trust gets knocked out of us as I noticed

          That Ashton only wanted his dad to catch him

                   And hold him as he swam in the pool.

He likes the rest of us, especially Uncle Adam,

          But he didn’t completely trust anyone except his dad.

 

In the first article of the Brief Statement of Faith

          That we repeated in the Call to Worship today we say

                   “We trust in Jesus Christ, fully human, fully God.”

                             And that word “trust” is well chosen.

          We don’t say “We believe” or “We have faith in”

                   But say “We trust”.

                             And it is not a thing that we trust or concept

                                      But a person “Jesus Christ.”

 

The word trust comes from the Greek Word pisteuo

          And it is sometime translated as faith or belief

                   But I’m glad that they chose the word trust.

                             It means that we actually “live in reliance on”

                                      And “in relationship with” someone,

                                                And that someone is Jesus Christ.

 

To say we trust in Jesus Christ means that we

          Live in relationship with him and rely on him

when life is good and easy and joyful;

          And we are in relationship with him and rely on him

 when things are difficult and desperate and bad.

          That’s trust.  Not naïve Garden of Eden trust

                   Like Ethan has for the whole word.

 

That’s the trust that little Aston has with his Dad

in the midst of the dangers and struggles

and disappointments of the world

     and that is the trust we have with our

 heavenly Father through Jesus Christ.

 

How can we have that trust when everyone else in the world

       Seems to disappoint us at some time or another.

          No other person or institution seems to fully understand us

                   And yet God does.  It’s because God does not ask of us

                             To do or be anything that he is unwilling to

                                      Do and be in Jesus Christ.

 

God is like the ancient king who doesn’t just send his country to war

          But actually leads his country into war or sends his son

                   To lead the country into battle.

          And so the people trusted the king because he was with them

                   And so we trust God be God is with us, “Emmanuel”

                             God is there in the flesh, “incarnate”.

          A few years ago song by Joan Osborne

                    “What if God was one of us?”

                   And a Television show ‘Joan of Arcadia”

                             Explored the question of how God would interact

                   In the flesh with us today.

They were both interesting exercises of theological imagination

          And they asked helpful questions about the incarnate God

at work in the world today but the implication for both

          is that the revelation of God in Jesus Christ

                   was an ancient revelation and that God

                             needs to reveal himself anew today.

 

The proclamation of our Brief Statement of Faith is

          That the incarnation is still in effect.

                   That the Jesus who dwells at the right hand of God

                             Is still fully human and fully divine.

Jesus did not give up his humanity to sit at the right hand of God

          And in fact when we say in our assurance of pardon that

                   Jesus prays for us, it is at the right hand of God

                             That Jesus offers that prayer.

          It is the same Jesus ‘fully human, fully God”

                   Who is at the right hand of the Father.

                            

I did see a film recently that took seriously the presence of Christ

          In the world today- in the struggles of everyday life.

               It was a football film “Facing the Giants”

                   It is a smaltzy film in which everything comes out right

                             But the power of the film wasn’t the improbable

                                      And happy, Hollywood ending

but the message of trust in God

      through Jesus Christ

that was discovered.

 

The football team moved from a purpose of

“winning football games” to the purpose

of “Glorifying God and giving God your very best.”

I listened throughout the film for the football cliché:

“Give 110 percent” but I never heard it.

          We always think that 110 percent is a lot to give

                   Until we realize that when we are dealing with God

                             That it really isn’t very much.

                   I had an elder at one of the church I served

                             Who had an adage that he offered at

 stewardship time “You can’t out give God”.

          I think that saying is true anytime.

 

We confess to believe that Jesus Christ was

 “fully human, fully God”.

          That means that in Jesus God was and is giving

                   200 percent of himself- 100 percent God and

                             100 percent humanity.

It’s not a 50/50 proposition where Jesus is half God, half human

          And he can draw on which ever part of himself he wants

                   To deal with the issues before him.

         

When God became incarnate in Jesus Christ his is fully human

          Not partially but fully human- he could be tired (and he was)

                   He could be disappointed (and he was);

                             He could cry (and he did);

                                      He could die (and he was crucified for us).

          He participated in our humanity 100%.

                    In Christ we find out what it is to be fully human-

                             As opposed to “only human”.

          We learn that to be human is to be compassionate with

                   Each other; obedient to God; forgiving of fellow

                             humans; reverent and worshipful to God.

          Theologian, Paul Lehman says that “In Christ we learn

                   What it is to be fully human.”

Likewise when Jesus is on earth he is still fully and completely God.

          And that is helpful for us to remember the person of Christ

                   When we strive to understand God.  God is not a vengeful,

                             Scorekeeping deity who tries to catch us in sin;

          But rather God is one who listens to us like a father,

                   Protects us like a mother,

                             Heals us, comforts us and challenges us

                                      And love us as Christ did and does.

In the words of Jesus “IF you have seen me, you have seen the Father”

 

And in Jesus, God and humans can be in relationship with each other.

          We are not in the situation of the ancient Hebrews who felt

                   That to see the face of God was to die.

          God has made his face knowable, and seeable in Jesus

                   So that we can be in a relationship of trust with God.

In Jesus Christ, God and humanity are together.

          That is the incarnation of Jesus Christ- God giving 200%

so that we might be reconciled in Him. Amen