Past Sermon

Sermon Title: "Finding Jesus... For the First Time"
Date: January 27, 2008
Minister: Rev. Charles E. Ensley, Jr.

Lesson:  Matthew 4:12-23

Sermon request:  “How does an adult find Christian faith?  Could be non-church goes as a child, someone from different culture (i.e., Asia, Muslim, etc.).

Over the 35 years that I have taken new members into the three congregations I’ve served, I’ve noticed a shift.  It used to be that most everyone had a Christian background in some church or another, either growing up, or more recently as they decided to transfer their membership—either due to relocation or personal preference—to the new congregation they were joining.  And I imagine that might be the case for a great number of people worshipping here this morning.  You were brought up in the faith by your parents, and you’ve always considered yourself a Christian believer.

But the shift I’ve experienced, particularly in the past decade, is people who say they have no particular church background.  I see it frequently among couples I marry, often mid 20s to mid 30s.  On the wedding information sheet, they write Church Affiliation:  None.  They remember going to church when visiting their grandmother as a child, but they may never have been baptized, never attended Sunday School or worship regularly, Confirmation, youth groups, church camp or vacation Bible school; in short, never had a relationship with Christ.  So how do they find Jesus, discover Christ, perhaps for the first time?

I am aware that this church, and many others, has visitors who have very little—or no—Christian background.  Over the decades, Salwa Morris has hosted dozens of foreign students in her home while they attend Cal State, Long Beach.  From time to time, some of them have accompanied her to worship here.  She introduces them to me at the door after worship, and sometimes says they’ve never been in a church before.  What if one of those students was curious, even turned on by something they heard about Jesus?  What if they wanted to know more about him, and perhaps even become a follower, a disciple, a Christian?

When you look at today’s Gospel lesson, the fishermen Jesus called to follow him were in much the same boat, no pun intended!  They weren’t looking for him.  They didn’t know him.  There they were at the seaside—Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, casting their net for fish; James and his brother John, mending their nets.  Jesus walks by, declares, “Follow me…”, and they drop their nets and follow him.  They didn’t know that morning they were going to follow Jesus, but he called them, and they did.  Have you ever wondered what old Zebedee must have thought, sitting there on the edge of another boat, as his two sons dropped their nets and walked off after this stranger?  No longer was the family business known as “Zebedee and Sons, Fresh Fish.”

We all know people who appear to have certain vague inclinations toward something “spiritual.”  That word is very much in vogue now.  People say, “I’m not particularly religious, but I’m ‘spiritual.’”  I guess that means they get a warm feeling inside, feel closer to some greater power, when they gaze into a lit candle.  This is not the same as the good news of Christ.  Christians are those who believe that the gospel proclamation of the incarnation, life, work, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ remains the normative path to God.

The Apostle Paul says, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing comes from the preaching of Christ.”  (Romans 10:17)  There may be religions that come to you through long walks in the woods, or pondering your psyche, or gazing up at the stars.  Christianity is not one of them.  This faith comes from the outside, by hearing something we would not have known had not the church told us.

For those not of the faith who wish to find Jesus for the first time, I suggest they try worship in some different churches.  Find a style that they’re comfortable with.  That’s the wondrous thing about the plethora of Christian denominations:  they are so many different styles.  If you like more a more liturgical style, try the Episcopal or Lutheran churches.  If you wish a more contemporary expression of faith, try one of the many Southland churches that don’t even claim a denominational affiliation.  Their style of music and presenting the message through varied media is different from ours, and is attractive to some.  Even within our own United Church of Christ there is great variation.  Our style of worship here is more traditional, even semi-formal; someone called it the best 1950s worship around.  Other UCC churches are more informal and contemporary, using multimedia and pulsing music.  I believe finding a place where you can hear the message best is a first step in coming to the faith.

Next, the person seeking to find Jesus needs to listen.  What did he say and do, as recorded in the Gospels?  What did the first followers say and do, and what was the message of the first century church, as found in Paul’s letters and other epistles?  What do Biblical scholars and contemporary writers say?  What do those of us called and entrusted to interpret and preach the word say?  What do Bible study leaders and group members say?  Again, finding a place where you are comfortable and receptive to hearing the message is key.

Theologian Karl Barth said that the main difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is a “noetic [or ‘intellectual’] difference”; that is, Christians are not necessarily better people than non-Christians, nor smarter.  We are simply those who have heard something, whereas non-Christians have not yet heard.  As Isaiah says (9:2), as quoted today in Matthew’s gospel (4:16), “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death, light has dawned.”  Light comes into the darkness for those who come to believe, light not of our own devising, and that makes us see differently.

When does someone who wishes to come to Jesus know when he or she is there?  Sometimes in popular American evangelical Christianity, we get this wrong.  We say, “Since I gave my life to Jesus…”, or “Since I decided to follow Jesus…”  The story is that you don’t take Jesus anywhere—he takes you places!  You didn’t just “give your life to Christ.”  He took it.  Remember the fishermen?  They weren’t looking for him; he was looking for them.

To become a Christian, to find Jesus for the first time if you haven’t yet believed him to be God’s Son and our Savior, is to be intellectually open to the possibility that something’s afoot, that the life you live may not be your own, that God really does mean to have God’s way with the world through you.  It is to believe that God really is determined to have you, come what may; that God has plans for you.  We are here because God, in Jesus Christ, journeyed out and got us and put us here, just like he’s done since he called Simon Peter and Andrew, James and John.  He took them places they would never have gone by themselves.

And he’s still doing it.