Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC's - Fourth Sunday of Easter - 04/17/16 Sermon - “I have told you, but you don't believe"

Sunday 04/17/16 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s

Sermon Title: “I have told you, but you don’t believe”

                            

New Testament Scripture: Psalm 23

                                            

New Testament Scripture: Revelation 7:9-17

Gospel Lesson: John 10:22-30

          My friends, my sisters and brothers, welcome on this the Fourth Sunday in this Easter Season. This season that is one of new life, one of resurrection, and one where millions upon millions of Christians worldwide declare: He is risen! He is risen indeed!

          We will remain in this season of Easter, this season of resurrection, until Pentecost Sunday on Sunday May 15^th. Pentecost Sunday is the day that we celebrate the power of the Holy Spirit that moved in the disciples and the early church.

          This morning however, we are still in the Season of Easter. Since Easter Sunday a few weeks ago, I have preached on how the Apostle Thomas doubted that Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead. Last Sunday, I preached on how Jesus was reconciled with the Apostle Peter, after Peter denied him three times. The last two gospel lessons that we have had, and the one from today, connect with doubt and denial. The scriptures get to the core of the questions of “what do we believe?” “Who do we say that Jesus Christ is?”

It would seem that sometimes we are told things in our lives, but we just don’t believe what we are told. Or maybe we believe, but maybe we then get scared, and we say or do something that we don’t mean. This morning some religious leaders ask Jesus, “How long will you test our patience? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly” (Jn. 10:24, CEB).

How many of us here this morning have been told something that was true, and was real, but we didn’t get it or believe it fully? Or how many of us have been told what we should do, but we didn’t do it?

How many of us here were ever told by a parent or a grandparent to not touch those cookies or that desert, because it will ruin our dinner? How many of us were told that if we eat that much sugar that we will get a stomach ache and get sick? Yet how many of us did it anyway. Jesus says this morning, “I have told you, but you don’t understand” (Jn. 10:25, CEB).

 Maybe you have told your children or your grandchildren shortly after getting their driver’s licenses that if they speed they will get a speeding ticket. Then maybe you child or grandchild thought of you and said, “Well what do they know!” Or, “I won’t get caught!” Then for some of us maybe we then got a speeding ticket, or got caught.

For some of us, we were told to not stay up to late at night watching television or listening to the radio, as we would likely be tired the next day for school. For some of us, our parents told us to not go out on a date with that girl, or that boy, as they were “trouble”.

It would seem that for all of us, for our whole lives, we have been told certain truths and or told certain expectations. We also have also been told some things that were not true, or were not necessary. Yet, looking back, can we now say that any of the things that we were told, taught, or shown, were in fact correct? This morning Jesus says “I have told you, but you don’t understand” (Jn. 10:25, CEB).

Were our parents wrong then when they told us to get to bed early, to study for that test, to save our money, and etc.? Sometimes though, I think that we hear the truth, sometimes we even see truth, and sometimes we even experience truth, but yet we sometimes still reject truth.

The Apostle Thomas rejected that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, even though he was presented with truth from the other disciples. Peter denied Jesus Christ three times even though he knew who Jesus was. This morning some religious leaders are asking Jesus who he is. Jesus then says, “I have told you, but you don’t believe” (Jn. 10:25a, CEB). I wonder how many of us have ever had a parent say something like this to us, “see, I told you this would happen if you did this!” Sometimes when we do the things that we do, we know in the back of heads that maybe, just maybe, doing 65 in a 30 in our car, might not be a good idea. Then when we get home with a speeding ticket, what can we say to mom, other than she was right.

This morning in our gospel reading, the problem isn’t that Jesus Christ hasn’t told people who he is, the problem is that some don’t believe it. Sometimes some of us have had experiences were are told something but we doubt, we deny, or we struggle. We also sometimes struggle to know who is telling the truth, and who we can believe.

I know for me this is true in a presidential election cycle. Right now we have five remaining presidential candidates, who all seem to want to convince us that they are the best, and that they are speaking the truth. Who is telling the truth, and who isn’t? Maybe the religious leaders had many people that said many things, and lied. Perhaps they were skeptical and cynical in general.

You know, I have heard folks at different times tell me that they went to the doctor because they didn’t feel well. Sometimes when some of these folks went to the doctor, the doctor told some of these people that there was nothing wrong with them, and sometimes the doctors were right with that assessment. Yet sometimes people have gone to the doctor and the doctor was wrong, and there was a problem.

This morning, the religious leaders seem to not be satisfied with what Jesus has said so far. The religious leaders apparently were not satisfied with the miracles, the teachings, and all that Jesus had done up to that point.

Within this, I think that there also some folks today that believe in Jesus Christ in their heads, but they have never felt God’s presence inside of them. There are some folks that have never heard the voice of God, and have never experienced personally God’s power. You see, I can invite people to church, I can tell them about Jesus Christ, but only God can reveal this to your heart. Only God can fill you with his spirit, and only God can speak in the fullness of grace and truth.

It would seem that this morning that these religious leaders and others heard what Jesus said in their heads, but Christ’s words didn’t enter into their hearts. They didn’t receive the grace, the love, and the power that Christ was offering, and as such, to them it was like a parent telling us what we should or should not do. Until we internalize the words, until they fill us, they are just words, just ideas.

When we come to know Jesus Christ, when we feel his love, when we are moved by the Holy Spirit, we hear his voice. Our faith in Jesus Christ, shouldn’t just be one where believe things in our heads, but one where we feel Jesus in our hearts and our souls. In the Wesleyan or Methodist tradition, we have a tradition of uniting our heads with our hearts.

Many believe in Jesus Christ in their heads, but they haven’t yet felt him in their hearts. I think that this morning, the people that were questioning Jesus had heard and seen him with their heads, but they hadn’t heard or seen him with their hearts. As one of my bible commentaries says it well: listening “includes both hearing with one’s ears and responding in obedience from one’s heart” (Africa Bible Commentary). My brothers and sisters, the day that I repented of my sins to Jesus Christ, and I felt the Holy Spirit literally move through me, on that day, I knew that God was real. On that day, I began to hear his voice, and to follow him.

Before diving into this morning’s gospel reading more closely, we are given this morning, a great Psalm and a scripture from the Book of Revelation. This Psalm, Psalm 23 is a Psalm that many of us know all too well. This Psalm speaks of trusting God, no matter what the circumstances are. Believing that “even in the valley of the shadow of death,” that God is with us. In a similar way, Jesus says in the gospel reading for this morning to believe in him, and to hear him.

In our reading from the Book of Revelation from this morning, that speaks of the second coming of Christ, we hear that people from all over the world are assembled before the throne of God (Rev. 7:9a, CEB). In white robes they praise God, praised Jesus, and their angels were all around (Rev. 7:9-10, CEB). In this scene, Jesus Christ is glorified, and everyone praises his power and his saving grace (Rev. 7:11-17, CEB).

In this Psalm and in this reading from the Book of Revelation, we hear of great faith in God, and in the Book of Revelation reading, of great faith in Jesus Christ. Yet as we look more closely to the reading from the Gospel of John this morning, we have some religious leaders who don’t believe in Jesus. They question him, they doubt. Perhaps they have knowledge in their heads, but they haven’t had a change of heart.

The text of the Gospel begins this morning telling us that, “The time came for the Festival of Dedication in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple walking in the covered porch named for Solomon” (Jn. 10:22-23, CEB). As a point of reference, the “Feast of Dedication” is also known as the “Feast of Maccabees,” or most commonly today “Hanukkah” (Jn. 10:22, CEB). This story then occurred during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. The “porch named for Solomon” was part of the temple in Jerusalem dedicated to the former King of Israel, King Solomon.

So as Jesus is walking through that part of the temple in Jerusalem that was dedicated to King Solomon, during Hanukkah, the gospel says, “The Jewish opposition circles around him and asked, “How long will you test our patience? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly” (Jn. 10:24, CEB).

Jesus then replies, “I have told you, but you don’t believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you won’t believe because you don’t belong to my sheep” (Jn. 10:25-26, CEB). Jesus is saying you have heard my words, you have seen what I have done in front of you, but your heart has not yet been opened to me.

Jesus then says, “My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life. They will never die, and no one will snatch them from my hand. My Father, who had given them to me, is greater than all, and not one is able to snatch them from my Father’s hand” (Jn. 10:27-29, CEB).

For many of us, we can say that we have heard the voice of God. For many of us, we can say that we have heard Jesus, and as such, we follow him. Sometimes though, whether it be our parents, our family members, or our friends, sometimes they still tell us, “I have told you, but you don’t understand” (Jn. 10:25, CEB).

Today in the world that we live in, some are hostile towards the Christian faith, and some are hostile towards Jesus. Yet I wonder if they have heard his voice? I wonder if they have ever let Jesus touch their hearts?

To end this gospel reading, Jesus says the words, “I and the Father are one” (Jn. 10:30, CEB). Jesus is saying that God and He are one in the same. Jesus declares that he comes in grace and truth, and that the words he speaks are of God and are in God.

When we come to church then, and when a pastor like me tell you about God, Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit, are you spiritually changed? Or, do we just feel good, and leave spiritual unchanged? Jesus says this morning, “I have told you, but you don’t understand” (Jn. 10:25, CEB). Jesus promises us that in him, there is truth, life, light, love, and eternal life. In order to begin to understand this though, we have to hear him in our hearts, and be changed.

Jesus Christ says in the Gospel of John his seven “I am” Statements. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (Jn. 6:35, NKJV). Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (Jn. 8:12, NKJV). “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture” (Jn.10:9, NKJV). “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (Jn. 10:11, NKJV). Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (Jn. 11:25, NKJV). Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn. 14:6, NKJV). “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser” (Jn. 15:1, NKJV).

Some my sisters and brothers, do we know Jesus Christ in our hearts, and well as in our heads, or does Jesus say to us today, “I have told you, but you don’t understand” (Jn. 10:25, CEB). Let us all open our hearts to the love of God, the forgiven and salvation that is offered through his son Jesus Christ, and may be filled and renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit on this day. Amen.