Sermon on May 1, 2011

Well, I fell behind again. Here is my sermon of May 1:

“Witnessing Christ” (Psalm 16; Acts 2:14a, 22-32)
May 1, 2011 (First Sunday After Easter)
Rev. John B. Erthein, Euchee Valley Presbyterian Church

One of my favorite TV shows (you’ll notice I like a lot of TV shows) was the original Law and Order (although I think it went fatally downhill after Jerry Orbach left). I still enjoy Law and Order SVU (Special Victims Unit). They are my favorite crime dramas. Maybe you all remember some of your favorites from past years, like Columbo, or Kojak, or Starsky and Hutch. I also enjoy some of movies made about crime. One of my favorite is “12 Angry Men,” starring Henry Fonda, made back in 1956, I believe. It was quite extraordinary that the movie held your interest even though the entire movie took place in a jury room. No elaborate sets or special effects there, just great dialog and tension between the characters.

In crime dramas, a key role is that of the witness. A witness picks out the potential criminal from a line up. A witness testifies at trial. What the witness heard and saw and understood can mean the difference between the accused being found guilty or not guilty.

A witness is really indispensable. Most criminal trials are by jury. There are twelve people who are hopefully sober and serious citizens. They will do their best to reach a just verdict. But they have the disadvantage of not having seen the alleged crime. They have to rely on the evidence presented to them, and a vital part of the evidence will be witness testimony. The jury will have to consider the credibility of the witnesses and weigh their testimony.

Have you considered that our faith is based on a great cloud of witnesses? That is because the very center of our faith is a series of events. The Christian church was built on the witness of many people to these events. The book of Acts describes the founding and growth of the early church. In chapter 2, Peter addresses a large group of Jews (“men of Israel”). He reminds them of the events they had witnessed. They saw “mighty works and wonders and signs” performed by Jesus, through whom God’s power flowed. They also witnessed, and many participated in the betrayal and crucifixion of Jesus. And, most importantly, they witnessed the resurrection of Jesus.

Here we come to a vital question. What is the credibility of these witnesses? This question brings to my mind an Easter sermon given many years ago by the late D. James Kennedy, in which the theme was “Who Would Die for a Lie?” or “Would You Die for a Lie?” I don’t recall exactly. But what Kennedy said was this: it is undisputed that many of Jesus’ earliest followers were martyred, including the Apostle Peter whose words I just read. Why did they allow themselves to be killed? Can you imagine being in that situation yourself, where your very life would depend on the answer you gave to the questions: “who is your Lord and Savior? Did Jesus rise from the dead? Do you confess that our Roman Emperor is God?” If you gave the wrong answer to those questions, you could easily pay with your life. And not, I might add, in the way criminals may pay with their lives today for their crimes. No lethal injection or gas chamber or anything meant to be quick and relatively painless (and relatively private, with a small number of witnesses). No, the Romans made a gruesome spectacle out of death. A Christian might expect a horrible death in the coliseum in front of screaming crowds, killed by wild animals or gladiators. The early followers of Jesus, having witnessed the agony of Christ’s merciless flogging and awful crucifixion, knew what kind of authority they dealt with.

And so try to imagine yourself in the place of these men and women, knowing that if you gave the answer the authorities did not want to hear, that the penalty would be a painful death in front of jeering enemies?

Would you go through that torment for something you knew was not true? Would you go through that for something you thought might not be true? How about if you had any doubt at all that it was true? That just makes no rational sense, does it? You would have to be 100% certain of something to go to death for it.

And indeed, it’s possible you could believe something completely and still not want to suffer and die for whatever it is you believe. I read the novel 1984 (and saw the movie, as well. The novel was better, in my opinion). Anyway, the protagonist, Winston Smith, was a secret rebel against the oppressive government headed by the mysterious “Big Brother.” But in that society, secrets could never be kept for long, and Smith was arrested by the dreaded Thought Police, and so awfully tortured that he would come to say anything to stop the pain. He was even willing to agree with his torturer that two plus two equals five, because that is what the all-powerful leading Party wanted him to say.

I think it is worth remembering that Winston Smith did not believe in God, so it really was just him against the all-powerful state. How can one man stand against such power without God?

So, sometimes even the truth itself cannot withstand terror and a desire for self-preservation. And certainly, falsehood cannot. People will crumple easily if called on a falsehood if the consequences are serious enough. If we think again about TV or movie crime dramas, a witness who lies may well change his story if threatened with a prosecution for perjury … a penalty far less severe than death.

And yet, in spite of the threat of a painful death, these early witnesses to the resurrection maintained their faith … and the church grew. These earliest witnesses who sacrificed themselves were witnessed by others, who were greatly moved and themselves became willing to make the supreme sacrifice if necessary. And others came after them, over generations. And there have been martyrs for the faith over the centuries, up to this very day, where Christians in parts of Africa and Asia … in many places with Muslim or (less frequently) Hindu majorities … risk their lives for their testimony for Jesus Christ.

Do you have confidence in these first witnesses, and the witnesses to the witnesses, and so on through the years? Have you joined them as witnesses to the faith? While you are almost certainly not going to be martyred for your faith (although even in this country it can happen.). Do you remember the horrific Columbine massacre of over a decade ago?

One of those murdered was a young woman named Cassie Bernal. One of the deranged teenage gunmen asked her, “do you believe in God?” And, as she looked into the barrel of the gun pointed at her head, she said … “Yes.” And she gave up her life for that one word.

Do you believe in the resurrection event as much as Cassie Bernal? I know it is daunting to think of sacrificing everything for the faith. None of us can entirely know what we would do in such a situation. But consider this: there would not be a church without these brave witnesses. There would be no building here. You would not be sitting here on this Sunday morning were it not for those millions of people throughout the ages who have been willing to die … and not for a lie, but for the truth.

And what is that truth? None other than David foresaw the importance of the Messiah. God had sworn an oath to him that one of his descendants would sit on his throne. “He foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.” And in that prophetic utterance, David expressed the confidence in his own salvation. All of God’s elect will experience salvation through Jesus Christ. And that is the truth above all truths … the truth that by God’s grace and mercy we may be spared the hideous second death of eternal separation from God. Even those who contributed to Christ’s crucifixion could be forgiven! That is the truth for which these men and women witnessed. Do you believe them?

May God’s Holy Spirit convict us of the great truth that these witnesses proclaimed, lived for, and often died for. In Jesus’ name. Amen.