“Calibrating Your Faith and
Life”
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!” Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office
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