Prove Yourself!

This morning I didn't feel like I lost an hour of sleep, I think because the dogs didn't wake us up an hour before the alarm.  But you could sure tell that people were a little off today in worship.  It seemed like full conversations were going on at the communion rail, chatter throughout various other parts of the service and a few missteps were done by the worship assistant and a few others. Fortunately we are a casual enough community that nothing seemed out of place.


The gospel lesson for today was Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus being tempted in the wilderness by the devil.  I decided to focus on the idea that Jesus was asked to prove himself but even when people were given proof they denied him and we too are asked to prove ourselves, but regardless of what we say or do, it will not be enough for some people.  


The sermon I preached had an additional ending, however I left my notes on the lectern and I'm too lazy after removing tree stumps this afternoon to go over to the church and get it so I can give you, dear reader, the full ending.  Do not worry though, it was just a summary, nothing amazing or earth shattering.  In fact it is probably a good thing that I do not put that ending on the interwebs for all to read as it has some works righteousness/second use of the law things (because God loves us you should do ____ type stuff).  So maybe you are getting the better ending.


Enjoy!

Do you ever feel pressure, or at least get asked to prove your faith?

Maybe it is in the form of those emails which start with a cute story.  They always have about 20 different font colors and the flashing icons and smiley faces, and then the email sucks you in to a story about some little kid learning a valuable lesson or a guy realizing that he is not alone in the world after all, whatever the story it probably was published in one of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books. And then you get the end and BAM the email ends with something like “If you love Jesus you will send this to everyone in your address book because I love Jesus and decided to send it to you so you will know that Jesus’ love is great and wonderful and it needed to be shared with you.”   And of course there is the part that is not being written but might as well be since it is so strongly implied “If you decide to delete this email without forwarding it to anyone, it means that you must not really love Jesus and therefore you are going to HELL!!!!”  (of course with 600 exclamation marks behind it.)

Or maybe you feel pressure to prove your faith in the form of a status update on facebook.  One that I saw this week read “I believe in Jesus Christ and have accepted Him as my personal Savior. One person on FB has challenged all believers to put this on their wall...In the Bible it says, if you deny Me in front of your peers, I will deny you before my Father at The Gates of Heaven. (Mat 10:33) This is simple...If you love God and you are not afraid to show it, re-post this. Just copy and paste. ...no shame here” 

And you may have even had the experience of a person preaching on the street corner asking you if you are Christian.  And even if your answer is yes, it seems to never be good enough as they want to you prove it. 

We are often asked to prove our faith, both directly and indirectly.  But how do you prove such a thing?  Just saying that you are one is often not a good enough answer for the asker.  Anyone can forward an email or copy and paste a status update.  Wearing a cross necklace is as much a fashion statement as it is a faith statement.  And some of the best atheists that I know can spout scripture easier and the average Christian.  And saying because you go to church you are Christian is not anymore true than saying you are a car because you are standing in a garage.  We cannot prove our faith, at least not to one another. At some point people will just have to believe us that we have faith.

Jesus was asked to prove that he was the Son of God.  Twice the devil says to him “If you are the Son of God.”  The devil was trying to put doubt in Jesus’ head.  Jesus was just baptized and the Holy Spirit landing on him in the form of a dove and a voice from heaven said “This is my son, my beloved with whom I am well pleased.”  And now the devil is trying to have Jesus doubt that he really was the Son of God.  And yet that is something Jesus could not and still cannot prove to many people.  Regardless of how many miracles he preformed, regardless of how many people he healed, regardless of how much love he preached, people still questioned and still do today, if he is the Son of God.   At some point people just have to believe that Jesus is the Son of God. 

Jesus did not need to prove his divinity to the devil or any one else.  And yet in this wilderness it is not the devil or others he is most tempted to prove that he is the Son of God to but he is most tempted to prove that he is the Son of God to himself.  The devil was within him, asking him to question, causing him to doubt, leading him to argue with God and scripture. 

And the devil is inside us asking us to question, causing us to doubt, leading us to argue with God and scripture.  We do not need to prove our faith to anyone, nor have anyone prove their faith to us.  God knows what is in our hearts; God knows what is on our minds.  It is God who knows our faith.  We are not here to prove our faith, but we are here to nurture it.  In scripture and song we hear and read God’s word so that our mind may be recharge.  In prayer we give up our concerns and celebrations to God so that we may do God’s work in this world.  At the table we feed and nourish our souls so that we might leave her full, able to spend about week out in the world, before we return next week empty, only to be refilled again.  The church does not exist so that we can prove our faith but so that faith can grow in us and that we in return can go out in the world and help others explore their faith and allow it to grow. 

Those email stories can be wonderful ways to lift the spirit, and can bring a smile to your day, just do me a favor and if you send them to me, delete the part about needing to prove your faith by forwarding it on.  Facebook and other social media have become strong ministry tools as you are able to keep in touch with friends around the world and send prayer request to all to a lot of people at once.  But shaming someone into posting something is not a healthy way of spreading and growing faith.  And maybe some day I’ll be able to come up with adequate response to the street preacher when he asks if I’m Christian (thus far holding up my cross necklace, saying I’m a pastor and just saying yes have not been good enough answers) but in the mean time, I would rather take the time to ask people to tell me their faith story, and listen to where God is working in their lives so that faith has a chance to grow and spread instead of feeling a need to be proven which it never can be.