JESUS CHRIST: SAVIOR

Isaiah 53: 1-7; and John 10: 7-16

In spite of this special day when we remember the people and places that shaped the Protestant Reformation, I continue with my year long series of sermons on doctrines related to The Christian Believer and his or her understanding of the faith. Today we look at the last letter of the acronym “ICHTHUS” the name for fish, with letters from early Christianity ascribed to stand for “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior.  The idea of a Savior is powerful to African Americans who were put in the bondage of slavery years ago; it was powerful for the martyrs in the first and second centuries who kept the faith but lost their lives; it is powerful today for women in countries where oppressive male regimes keep them poor, ignorant, and subservient. But do Americans need a Savior? Do Canadians, many of whom are here today, need a Savior, or other civilized countries?  How do we fit the idea of a savior into our virtually foolproof and protected lives?  Children that used to be allowed to play in old sandlot fields, playgrounds, or in the woods behind a neighborhood now are in supervised programs or have a parent watching them. Those on their own are often labeled “troubled kids” who just roam streets on skateboards or bicycles.  Teenagers and college aged students leave the houses and dorms armed with safety nets: a cell phone for emergencies and/or alarms on the key fobs of their cars.  For people of all ages there are other devices:  for Christmas I received a Garmin navigational system which alleviates any need to ask for directions, if I ever had such a need, (which, of course, as a man, I didn’t J) Some cars come equipped with “On Star” which is like having a Garmin along with a police cruiser, ambulance, and a tow truck following you at all times.  Each of my kids got battery chargers that stay in their cars so if they have a dead battery they have the means to start them: no need for a neighbor or a Good Samaritan. Is that a service or a disservice to them?  Sea travel is still threatening even though there are enough lifeboats: a bad list to one side can disable half of them.  Air travel, in spite of the warnings and instructions on each take off, is still a problem getting a plane loaded with people safely onto the ground if there is a major malfunction. And automobiles are safer and safer, if we choose to use their safety devices, but even driving well we can be struck from the front or the side and be badly hurt or killed.  There are some times we feel less safe than others.

But in the world of the spiritual, it is a frightening time: frightening in the sense that our Reformation forebears would shudder.  There are universalists who believe in a general way that everyone gets to heaven. No Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Roman Catholic, or any of two dozen other Christian denominations or non-denominational churches believes that!  But many in the world do:  when the average nominal Christian or non-Christian dies, most family members still expect the officiating clergy to say he or she will be in heaven. Youth who gather by the hundreds to pay respects to a classmate who was killed from drinking and driving overwhelmingly think he or she is in heaven when there may not be evidence of the classmate’s faith. Positive thinking places that are called churches sometimes strip auditoriums of all symbols of faith: no cross, and altars and communion tables are replaced with a stage. Preaching is conversational and dress is casual to make people more comfortable with the message which, like the name of beers, tongue in cheek has been called Gospel “Light.” Some have little mention of sin or repentance or the 10 Commandments or the agony of the cross that Jesus endured. “Why?” Surveys say “it keeps people from coming to church.” The Reformers would not believe our world. And so our world that so often glosses over the high price that Jesus paid for the saving of all souls that acknowledge they need to be saved!  Perhaps you’ve heard the old riddle, “How many pastoral counselors does it take to screw in a light bulb?” Only one, if the bulb has to want to be changed! So in today’s “we’re all going to heaven” worldview and the hugely tolerant viewpoints that some believe, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, New Agers, and Muslims are all going to the same place as Christians. Do you believe that? If so why do we need a Savior?  Why do Christians need Christ if that is true?  You see, in fact the opposite is the position of our New Testaments:  That God loved the world so much that Jesus came into it as a child, and grew and taught and was killed, so that those who believe in him might be saved! The New Testament teaches that Jesus is the Way, and that his cross is the bridge that has been built to connect us with Heaven. Of course, God is all powerful and has the right to save who God wants to save, but there is no Scriptural text that, like a game of hide and seek, says God will call “olly olly oxen free” and all will get to go safely home to heaven without price.  There is no place that says that, and people who believe the world view that “it really doesn’t matter what  you believe, but that you believe have a fool as a teacher. Neither John Calvin or John Knox, John Wesley or John the Baptist, John the Apostle (lots of men named “John,” aren’t there?) or Jesus himself taught  that!  Jesus tried to teach the opposite using so many metaphors. In our John text today, for example, Jesus said he was the door for his sheep (that’s you and me if you follow him!) “Whoever enters by me will be saved!” he announced.   He says he’s the “Good Shepherd,” and that only matters if you believe yourself to be sheep in his flock, incapable of being saved; incapable of finding food, or healing yourself, or being helped out of trouble!  And in case you now believe you, in fact do need a Savior, I have Good News for you: there is one; one who will go to the wall for you; one who will have your back. He said, “My Father loves me, because I lay down my life for you, and it is of my own free will that I do that.” I’ve heard of amazing people donating a kidney or some other organ; but on the fields of battle, it is the one who will lay down his life for you that gives you the courage to face each new day.  The assurance that your soul is saved today and that Jesus is preparing a place for you is not through the power of any other name, but at the name of Jesus that apostles and disciples and Reformers and every stripe of Christian have laid down their lives and taken their stand.  There is no solid rock on which to stand other then on his name.

Ages before Jesus’ birth, a prophet named Isaiah gave a description of a suffering servant that was read today. It’s a troubling description, and some have said it is a picture of Jesus.  But verse two troubles me: “He had no form or majesty (the King James says ‘comeliness’ as in ‘attractiveness’) that we might desire to look at him; nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.”  But there must have been something about the man Jesus that made crowds follow him like a pop star, make people quit their jobs to accept a commission in his ranks; to listen to him and have even women and children find him most inviting and kind.  No there is something about the one some have called “The Lord of the Dance.” There is something about the man who was also God, the one whose sandals his cousin, John, did not feel worthy to untie.  There is something about his name that is above every other name. May the sense of fuzzy cultural thinking that says all roads lead to Heaven not lull you into complacency. Do you need a Savior, not for your car or your grades, or your job, but for your soul? Choose the one sent from Heaven with that job description; choose Christ, the one who saves souls.  Amen.

Jeffrey Sumner                                                                January 20, 2008