This was written for and given at the Lynnville (IL) UMC on July 6, 2003… The Scripture is from the 8th chapter of the Gospel of John, verses 31-59…
PRAYER FOR THE NATION
Father, I pray in Jesus’ name that You would restore a social conscience to our nation. I pray that we would again see the value of teaching our children the virtue of being good citizens—to not only live for the good of the individual but the good of others as well.
All: Dear Father, I desire to see our nation restored to godly integrity and excellence, so that our children and our citizens can be proud of their nation and proud to be called citizens of it.
In recognizing our duty to God and our country, keep us mindful to pray for our nation not only in our churches and our homes, but also in the quietness of our daily lives. Amen
Did you know that Davy Crocket was killed in a bar when he was only three? No, wait a minute… that was ‘killed him a bar’ when he was only three’. And do you remember that Davy was the man with three ears: a right ear, a left ear and a wild frontier? Surely most of you remember this Bob Dylan phrase from a song that was done by many performers but perhaps most famously by Peter, Paul, and Mary, “The ants are my friends, they’re blowing in the wind.”
These misheard lyrics are called mondegreens. The term originated from Sylvia Wright’s mishearing the Scottish folk song, The Bonny Earl Of Morray. Instead of, “Oh, they have slain the Earl of Morray and laid him on the green”, she heard “Oh, they have slain the Earl of Morray and Lady Mondegreen”.
Having had trouble, myself, understanding the lyrics to many songs over the years, I have often been shocked after somehow learning the true words to realize that what I had been singing wasn’t even close! Perhaps that’s one reason why I enjoy discovering the sources of various words and phrases.
Take, for example, the phrase, “Hell has no fury like a woman scorned.” It’s credited to William Congreve, 1670-1729, who actually said, ‘Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.’ My source, however, gave no indication as to WHY he said it! However, Benjamin Franklin was writing a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy in 1789 when he said, ‘In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.’ We can probably guess what that was about. And in Matthew 7, verse six, the Living Bible reads, “Don’t give holy things to depraved men. Don’t give pearls to swine! They will trample the pearls and turn and attack you.” If I said, “Into your hands I commit my spirit…” would you think of Jesus’ last words on the cross? In fact, He was quoting from Psalms 31:5.
The fact is, many of our most well-known sayings are from the Bible or are Biblically based. The idea of something just being a ‘drop in the bucket’ comes from Isaiah 40:15, which says that, “… for all the peoples of the world are nothing in comparison with him-they are but a drop in the bucket, dust on the scales.” And in 1 Samuel 13:14, Samuel tells Saul that, “… now your dynasty must end, for the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart… for you have not obeyed the LORD’s command.”
During the mid sixties there was a very beautiful song released by the Byrds entitled Turn! Turn! Turn! Imagine my shock, when perusing the concordance of my Bible one day to turn to and read this from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
In the second verse of today’s Gospel reading, we hear Jesus saying another of these well-known sayings; “… you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Being a fan of a lot of science-fiction stories, I have heard this phrase used an awful lot. It seems as if there are always injustices being perpetrated somewhere in the universe that can only be resolved by revealing the ‘truth’. Truth is a word used a lot by politicians and political activists (though I’m not always certain they know what it means.) And the word ‘truth’ is proclaimed from pulpits and soapboxes, alike, all over the world. I, myself, have stood up here and preached to you about “the truth that we know is in the Bible!” In the Gospel of John, chapter 3, verse 21, we read, “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” But… just what is this ‘truth’?
In the rock-opera Jesus Christ – Superstar, Jesus proclaims to Pilate, “I search for truth and find that I get damned!” Pilate’s response has always haunted me… “But what is truth? Is truth unchanging law? We all have truths… are mine the same as yours?” Now, we must keep in mind that most of these words are from Andrew Lloyd Weber, not any of the Gospels, but still, that idea of questioning what truth actually is has affected much of how I go about looking at life and all that goes on around me. And yes, there have been times when I have questioned God’s Word! But you know what? I have never found it wanting nor lacking in anything! As hard as I might have tried at different times in my life to find fault or error in it, I have never been able to! So… what is this truth that Jesus is speaking about, and how will it set us free?
That is the very question asked by some in the crowd He was addressing… “(We) have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” Yet, the Life Application Commentary points out that “the crowd’s denial of the obvious seems apparent even to us. The Jewish ancestors of these people had been enslaved by the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians, and they were ruled by the Romans at the moment Jesus spoke. But they insisted that as Abraham’s descendants they were free people. They also claimed that Abraham’s righteousness guaranteed their righteousness. Their spiritual superiority made them blind to their real slavery to sin. Jesus bluntly challenged their claims.
Not only was the crowd wrong about their national history, they were also wrong about the meaning of Jesus’ statement. Jesus spoke of a different liberation — that of the soul set free from sin. He pointed out that they did indeed need to be set free, because, “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.”
Jesus forcefully challenged the leaders’ claim that they were God’s children. “If God were your Father,” He said, “you would love me.” In other words, if those people truly loved God as their Father, then they would recognize and love the Son. And he repeated for them his origin and mission: “I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me.” Jesus came as the one sent by the Father to bring God’s word to his people.”
Jesus’ audience was hardened and deaf; the life-giving, enlightening word could not penetrate their closed hearts, ears, and minds. And this was very dangerous because not being open to the words of God made them receptive targets for the devil’s lies. The religious leaders were unable to understand because they refused to listen. Satan used their stubbornness, pride, and prejudices to keep them from believing in Jesus.
The attitudes and actions of the Jewish leaders clearly identified them as followers of Satan, though they may not have been conscious of this. But their hatred of truth… their lies… and their murderous intentions indicate how much control the devil had over them.
Sin has a way of enslaving us, controlling us, dominating us, and dictating our actions. It manifests itself in self-centeredness, rebelliousness, possessiveness, dysfunctional love, and addictive behaviors. Jesus can free us from this slavery that keeps us from becoming the person God created us to be. Even if sin is restraining, mastering, or enslaving us, Jesus can break its power over our life. Jesus himself is the truth that sets us free. He is the source of truth… the perfect standard of what is right. He shows us clearly the way to eternal life with God. Thus Jesus does not give us freedom to do what we want, but freedom to follow God. As we seek to serve God, Jesus’ perfect truth frees us to be all that God meant us to be.”
In the New International Version of the Bible there are 222 separate references to ‘truth’. In Isaiah 45:19 we read, “I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness; I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right.”
In the 6th chapter of John, when asked… “What must we do to do the works God requires?”, Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
So they asked him, “What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'”
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who (gave) you the bread from heaven, but my Father… For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
“Sir,” they said, “from now on give us this bread.”
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
That is the truth that we most need to be aware of… that Jesus is the ‘Bread of life’! That whoever comes to Him will never go hungry… that whoever believes in Him will never be thirsty… that anyone who believes His teachings will never die! That is the truth that we must build our lives around… that is the truth that protects us from the lies and slavery of sin… that is the truth that we must pass on to all of those around us… that is the truth which will set us free!
scluebbert 