“Calibrating Your Faith and Life”
John 1:29

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Second Sunday after the Epiphany—January 15, 2017

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

When our son Jacob was about five years old we got him “Super Karts,” a go-kart racing computer program.  We also got a joystick to go with it.  But, when we first tried to race, our car would just sit there and spin its wheels, no matter what we did with the joystick.  It turned out the joystick needed calibrating, it had to be centered on the correct X-Y axes.  We weren’t going anywhere because the joystick was pointing off in some crazy direction, the wrong way.  But, once we had it correctly calibrated and pointing the right way, everything worked great, and Jacob was ecstatic.

In today’s Gospel Reading, John the Baptist provides SPIRITUAL “calibration” for his disciples, and for us:

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!  This is the one I meant when I said, “A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.”’”

John wants to make sure that his disciples, and us, are SPIRITUALLY “calibrated,” with OUR LIVES properly centered, so that we’re not stuck, spinning our wheels in life, going off the wrong way, in some crazy direction.

The most obvious way to get your spiritual calibration out of whack is to follow a false religion.  Paul says in Galatians, “These people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. . . .  It is a fine thing to be zealous, provided the purpose is good.”

Some of you may have been watching the gripping television documentary series featuring former members of the cult Scientology.  Many of them were leaders at the highest levels, who for decades gave their entire lives to this destructive cult.  Now they look back with regret on their wasted lives, and realize it was all for nothing.  They were indeed very zealous, but for no good.  Now they realize all that time they were just spinning their wheels, going nowhere, accomplishing nothing.  Because, that cult and their lives were centered on the wrong thing—not on the true God and eternal life, but on a false messiah and his false teachings.  “It is a fine thing to be zealous, provided the purpose is good.”

Already back at the time of Jesus there were all sorts of other, self-proclaimed messiahs—PHONY messiahs, with made-up, false religions.  John and his disciples could have chosen to follow one of these phonies, as many did.  And there were also different denominations back then, Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, Zealots, not to mention all the pagan religions.  With all these religious options, John doesn’t want his disciples to make the same mistake as those regretful Scientologists, wasting their lives, spinning their wheels, accomplishing nothing, because it’s all centered on the wrong thing, a phony messiah and his false teachings. So, John directs his disciples the RIGHT way—the ONLY way to eternal life.  “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Two thousand years later, YOU are faced with dozens of denominations in our community, hundreds or even thousands of different churches in the metropolitan area, not to mention non-Christian religions and cults, the new age movement, even outright witchcraft and Satanism are on the rise.  How can you get spiritually calibrated, spiritually pointed the right direction in your life?  “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”  The two halves of that verse are like the X-Y axes upon which to calibrate your faith and center your life.

First of all, Jesus of Nazareth is THE Lamb of God, the only way of salvation.  “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life,” he says.  “No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Peter says in Acts, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

That is first axis on which to calibrate your faith, the question, “Who is Jesus?”  “Behold, the Lamb of God.”  That axis immediately knocks out non-Christian religions and cults. 

However, for a correct calibration, you also need the second axis, not only who Jesus is—“the Lamb of God”—but also WHAT Jesus does: “Who takes away the sin of the world.”

That is the #1 teaching of our Christian faith, that your sins are all forgiven, and you are right with God on account of Christ.  Paul puts it so beautifully in Colossians: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.  Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.  But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.” 

Those beautiful words are talking about YOU.  Because of Christ’s sacrifice for you, YOU are “holy in [God’s] sight, without blemish and free from accusation.”  As the Apostle John says, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. . .  And the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from every sin.”

That is the #1 teaching of our Christian faith, but every erring religion will try to rob you of that comfort.  Every erring religion will in some way deny that Christ has truly TAKEN AWAY your sins, instead substituting the false hope of salvation on account of something you do.  With all the religious choices and options that you face, calibrate and center your faith on the X-Y axes John the Baptist proclaims: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Another way for your life to get spiritually off center is less obvious than following a false religion, but just as dangerous: making something besides Christ the center of your life.  Jesus puts it this way: “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve both God and money.”  The example Jesus gives is money, but it could be any worldly thing that you put above Christ in your life.  “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” Jesus says, “and all these things will be given to you as well.”

In the Cleveland Museum of Art there is a dramatic, life-size, bronze statue of John the Baptist by August Rodin, the sculptor most famous for “The Thinker.”  Rodin’s sculpture of John pictures him with his arm stretched straight out as far as possible, emphatically pointing his finger at the moment he cries, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 

John wants to make sure that his disciples, and us, are spiritually calibrated, pointed the right way, so we’re not stuck, spinning our wheels in life, going off the wrong way in some crazy direction.  Calibrate your faith and center your life on the two axes John proclaims: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”