We Might Be Wrong
Today’s narrative is a little different. This is a sermon I gave a few weeks ago to my congregations. I usually try to keep from preaching on here but I think this message is important.
May it be a blessing to you,
Rachel
Scripture: Acts 3:12-19
12 Seeing this, Peter addressed the people:
“You Israelites, why are you amazed at this?
Why are you staring at us as if we made him walk by our own power or piety?
13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God of our ancestors—has glorified his servant Jesus.
This is the one you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence, even though he had already decided to release him. 14 You rejected the holy and righteous one, and asked that a murderer be released to you instead.15 You killed the author of life, the very one whom God raised from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
16 His name itself has made this man strong. That is, because of faith in Jesus’ name, God has strengthened this man whom you see and know. The faith that comes through Jesus gave him complete health right before your eyes.
17 “Brothers and sisters, I know you acted in ignorance. So did your rulers. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he foretold through all the prophets: that his Christ would suffer.
19 Change your hearts and lives! Turn back to God so that your sins may be wiped away.
It feels like ages ago now, Easter, but it was really only two weeks ago… I got to help host a community worship service in Pleasanton on Good Friday. I was visiting with a couple from the Nazarene church. They were lovely. We chatted about how closely related the Methodists and the Nazarenes are in theology, and they told me about their new pastor. I got to meet him, and I’m excited to work with him in the ministerial alliance there in Pleasanton. The ministerial alliance there has been working to find a way to host once a month youth activities, with the churches taking turns planning and hosting. We’re still in very early idea phases, but it's an idea that I’m excited about, and I was telling the couple about it. This couple made a comment that has sort of bothered me. They said, “Well, as long as you stay away from doctrine, I guess that would be fine.”
I thought to myself, Wait, we can’t stay away from doctrines. Our Christian doctrines are important! Doctrines like salvation, resurrection, incarnation these are the core of our faith. In their minds, there was no way that the 6 or so churches could ever agree on such foundational matters.
In their minds, the divide was too wide for us to ever work together to teach youth about salvation, resurrection, or incarnation. But maybe they were kind of right?
The church long ago worked out most of these fundamentals for us, but it wasn’t pretty. The Council of Nicaea was convened at the urging of Emperor Constantine to resolve issues dividing the Christian Church.[1] The council approved addressed the larger issue of rejecting Arianism, any claims that “the Word,” Jesus was less divine than God,[2] by writing creeds to be adopted throughout the Church.[3] We say the Nicene creed as part of our own affirmations and proclamations of our Christian faith. Most Sunday morning liturgies in many churches include the recitation of creeds. The Apostle's creed or the Nicene Creed, generally said in unison as part of communion practice, these creeds establish the unity of beliefs in the community before entering communion and unity of the Spirit. The Nicene Creed’s function to reject Arianism[4] has diminished with time but this creed still stands as the definition of Trinitarian relationship to many Christian communities. Even churches that don’t recite these creeds regularly, their idea of the Triune God is found in the principles of these creeds.
I would love to tell you that a long time ago, a bunch of men gathered and argued out all the details of God, and we’ve been in Christian harmony since then. But we have not, since then, there have been wars, executions, and massacres over Christian practice. Christians killing Christians over Christianity. No wonder that lovely Nazarene couple was sure of denominational disparity. Nicene Christianity and the creed’s centrality to Christian practice would insinuate that there is a large agreement to specifics such as how Jesus as Christ related to God, and how a Trinitarian God works in salvation and relation to the world. Yet, some of the same arguments reemerge throughout Christian history.[5]
Even today, there is a wide disparity in beliefs around the Trinity and God. I wanted to share with you some survey results that came out last year from 2020 that really highlight what Christians in the United States believe about Jesus, the nature of God, and the presence of the Holy Spirit – the very basics of our Christian doctrines.
The 2020 State of American Theology Study is the fourth in a series of surveys of American adults examining their theological beliefs.
Ligonier Ministries sponsored the 2020 State of American Theology Study conducted by LifeWay Research to measure the current theological awareness of adult Americans and to expand upon earlier findings. Ligonier Ministries identified specific doctrines and heresies to test. LifeWay Research helped refine these questions and subsequently surveyed 3,002 Americans. This is a pretty large sample size from across the country and across denominational and political lines.
I was a little surprised by these results.
On all 4 surveys, two-thirds of Americans have considered the resurrection of Jesus an actual occurrence.But, a majority of Americans deny the deity of Christ (that Jesus was fully human and fully divine) and that Jesus has always existed, and that Jesus was with God in the beginning and in Creation.
Almost 6 in 10 categorize the Holy Spirit as being a force rather than a personal being. Consistent 7 in 10 Americans believe in one true God in three person
Apostles
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
Nicene
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
The survey goes on to tell us that:
· 52% of Americans agree “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.”
· 55% of Americans agree that “Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God.”
But wait, didn’t we iron those details out in our Creeds?
Apostles
And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
Nicene
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
These survey results were especially bothersome to me, as I sort of consider myself an evangelist. It’s my job to tell you all and others about Christ.
· Americans with Evangelical Beliefs are more likely to Agree with these statements than those without Evangelical Beliefs (65% v. 52%).
· Americans who attend a religious service at least once or twice a month are more likely to Agree than those who do not (84% v. 44%).
· Americans age 35-49 (67%) and 50-64 (66%) are more likely to Agree than those 18-34 (57%) and 65+ (57%).
So from this, The people who are attending church regularly, especially evangelicals in my age group are most likely to have no idea who our Church tradition teaches us that Jesus is. This tradition that is inspired by scripture. Has been prayed and discerned by millions of Christians for millennia now
Just to clear things up, within Western Trinitarian Christianity, Jesus was God, A member of the Trinity but also inseparable from the Godhead, Eternally begotten – true God from true God – of one being with the Father. So, How is it that most Christians do not believe what our creedal beliefs have established for the last 1700 years.
Let’s look at what they think about the Holy Spirit
· 59% of Americans agree “The Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being.”
· The Holy Spirit gives a spiritual new birth or new life before a person has faith in Jesus Christ.
o Americans who attend a religious service at least once or twice a month are more likely to Agree than those who do not (63% v. 42%).
Apostles
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
Nicene
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son
is worshiped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
What do you think? Does that sound right?
72% of Americans agree that “There is one true God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.”
But wait, I thought most Christians didn’t think that Jesus was God or that the Holy Spirit is a personal being. It is as important as ever for the Church to have common ground on which to do God’s work.
In my discussion with the couple from the Nazarene church, when they said our pie-in-the-sky idea for an ecumenical, multi-denominational youth group might be successful if we avoid talking about doctrines, My response to the couple from the Nazarene church was “Well, even if we are able to just teach the youth the things that we all agree on, we’ll be in pretty good shape.”
If these survey results reflect Pleasanton, Kansas, Maybe I’m wrong, though. If we don’t know what we believe. What thousands of years of Christians, Christian tradition and God’s revelations have taught us about God’s nature, it’s going to be impossible to find a starting place for middle ground. How could we ever answer the questions that youth and society, for that matter, ask us about things like abortion, gender, God’s plan for gender identity, and what the bible says about homosexuality?
We won’t be able to. If we don’t know what our own scriptures tell us about Christ, The very fully human and fully divine person that our scripture hinges around, How are we ever going to be able to speak scripture truth into our world on these things?
Many of them aren’t even directly mentioned in the bible, and if they are mentioned, they are in completely different contexts than our present American society.
We certainly do have those discussions though, they happen all over the media.
If most Christians don’t understand who Christ is, Based on scripture, Our Christian tradition, and Our own human reasoning of trying to understand God, How do we have a leg to stand on when speaking about what Christ would want us to do about these hard things?
I think that what happens with these complicated moral, medical, and modern issues is the same thing that happens with our beliefs about Jesus. Instead of praying for clarity with an open heart and mind, Instead of reading scripture and praying that God speak to us through them waiting for our personal experiences with God to help guide us, Instead of thinking, to the best of our ability, with the mind of Christ; I’m afraid that we hear everyone else’s opinion.
Not only about these hard modern issues, But about the very nature of the Christ who we claim to be our savior. We hear what other people say about who Christ is, People who speak with conviction, Speak with snark sometimes, Speak in clear black-and-white language, Speak the words that we want to hear, and affirm our upbringing or political beliefs. And that’s what we believe.
Most people, especially people in my personal demographic, my peers, most of them don’t know what they are talking about when they talk to me about who Jesus is as Trinitarian Protestants.
There is no way that most people in my demographic can be crystal clear on their beliefs about hard modern issues. Clear about what Christ tells them about these Or clear about what the bible says Because they clearly don’t know what the bible says!
Most people have no idea what they are talking about when it comes to who God is in the belief structures they claim to belong to.
Our current state of Christianity is not so different from that is Peter’s time.
In our scripture today, Peter reminds his fellow Israelites about the actions of his people and the actions of Jesus in the crucifixion and resurrection. Peter concludes, “Brothers and sisters, I know you acted in ignorance. So did your rulers.
Peter is pretty much smacking them aside the head and saying, People, You are clearly not always RIGHT!
You know all this history about how God has been with us. You form your identity around these stories, but you still get it wrong. You killed Jesus. You killed the author of life, the very one whom God raised from the dead. We are witnesses of this! We saw it with our own eyes.
Then Peter reminds them of the Gospel. You were wrong. You killed our Messiah. But God is always with us and worked to make all things work for God’s goodness and God’s plan for creation,
And God works with us now. Change your hearts and lives! Turn back to God so that your sins may be wiped away.”
We are just like the early church y’all. We may be wrong. Apparently, a majority of Christians in the United States have no idea who Jesus is let alone how to use their beliefs in him to shape their lives.
Peter reminds us that Easter means that it is ok to be wrong.
It’s not the end of our story to do the absolute worst thing that humans can do. Kill the author of life, the very one who God raised from the dead. It’s not the end of our story either when we…
Change our hearts and lives!
Turn back to God so that your sins may be wiped away.
So what do I say to this very sweet Nazarene couple?
So, how do we work together to form a community-based youth group in Pleasanton?
We admit that we might be wrong.
As a matter of fact, all signs point to the fact that we probably are wrong when it comes to any details of our faith at all. Each of us, every individual and denomination could be wrong.
That’s what it means to fear God.
To revere that God may be incomprehensible.
To be humble.
We are probably wrong.
We are probably wrong about all the intricacies of the person of Christ.
We are probably wrong – no matter what side we each are on – about abortion and gender and homosexuality – at least on some of the details.
We are probably wrong.
The same humility translates to us in Peter’s urging, Change your hearts and lives! Turn back to God so that your sins may be wiped away. The sin of absolute certainty. Human certainty.
Quit thinking you know it all.
Just like the only way to understand Christ is in humility, In studying the scripture, In praying…
The only way we will ever be able to work together as Christians in Pleasanton for a pie-in-the-sky all-church youth group is in humility, in studying scripture, in prayer, in teaching the things that we agree on:
that God created us, that Christ Died for us, That God through Christ raised us from the dead, and that the Holy Spirit is always with us. And because of these things, we are free to live in a way that is not constrained by the opinions of others or the weight of our human mistakes and limits. That we each have a personal relationship with God
We have all the tools we need, just ourselves, some praying hands, and a humble mind and open heart, to live the way that God planned for us. We don’t have to live how others tell us to Because just like we might be wrong.
They might be wrong too.
We can create a space in our communities where it is ok to be wrong.
That’s what the Gospel means.
It’s ok to be wrong here, you can be humble and learn because of the Risen Christ.
But in this humility, what we can all agree on is that who is always right is God in Christ. The Gospel tells us that just as God has always been with us, even when we were wrong
Christ is with us now. Even if we are wrong. But when we change our hearts and minds to humility.
We can rest assured that this is truth and leave the rest of the details to Jesus to sort out
This is how we, as United Methodists, will stay united. This is how we as Christians will act like Christians in this election season. This is how we will work to bring the kingdom of God.
By the grace of God, let it be so.
[1] González, 181.
[2] González, 189.
[3] González, 187–89.
[4] González, 188.
[5] St Patrick’s Bad Trinity Analogies.
