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The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost                                   August 2, 2015


This Weekend's Readings (click each reading to view the passage)

Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15Psalm 78:23-29Ephesians 4:1-16John 6:24-35
 
Pr. Christine's Sermon - I Don't Have an Opinon on Jesus
Pr. Christine's Sermon - I Don't Have an Opinion on Jesus

Children's Sermon - Bread of Life
Children's Sermon - Bread of Life

Thursday Evening VBS Program
Thursday Evening VBS Program


Article: No, it's not your opinion.  You're just wrong




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Sermon Notes from Pastor Christine... 

 

I don't know how many of you saw the 'op-ed' piece which was published this past week in the Houston Press entitled, No, it's not your opinion. You're just wrong.

Anyone read it?

If not, it's a brief, easy read; I'd certainly recommend it. Makes you think. In it, the author Jeff Rouner, opens up by explaining to the 'reader' that there is one word in the English language he has come to loath more than any other word.

'Opinion'. He can't stand the word 'opinion'.

Throughout the piece he dismantles the popular notion that an opinion - one's own preference for or judgment of something - cannot be wrong because it's an opinion. He uses varying examples to support his argument. Such as, one can believe the holocaust never happened; it can be one's opinion, but that does not make the opinion a valid one.

The underlying thesis of his case is that by shielding every poorly conceived notion as acceptable because it's veiled under the heading of 'opinion' we end up degrading the truth.

I think there's a lot of validity to his proposal.  

But what really caught my attention was he states that people use the words 'belief' and 'opinion' synonymously, saying things like:

It's my opinion that Montgomery County needs better public transportation.

-OR-

I believe Montgomery County needs better public transportation.

People do use them interchangeably. He said because of this he has a disdain for the word 'belief' too.

Because I can be a bit of a language geek, and I read this article just prior to reading today's Gospel message, and I can have a disdain for the word 'belief' also (but for entirely different reasons), what I rattled around in my head was is there a difference between:

It is my opinion that Jesus is the bread of life.

-OR-

I believe Jesus is the bread of life.

In this case, 'opinion' and 'belief' seem to hold rather different meanings and different weights. The reason I stir this pot is because when the disciples ask Jesus what they must do to perform the works of God, Jesus responds, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him...".

Hmmmm.

Jesus doesn't say, have an opinion of Him.

I'd venture to guess that everyone who has ever heard of Jesus has an opinion of Him. Those opinions vary from:

Jesus is a figment of our imaginations.

Jesus was a good man who helped a lot of people.

Jesus was a prophet who preached a lot about God and God's ways, but He's not God.

Jesus is God.

There are probably more...

But when Jesus told his disciples to believe, when Jesus tells us to believe, it has to mean more than holding the 'right' opinions about God, the Bible, and religion.

So, what does Jesus mean when he beckons us to believe He is the bread of life?  

Before I deal with 'belief', maybe we should briefly talk about 'unbelief'....For a few reasons:

Jesus says that it's work to believe. This statement by Jesus seems to fly in the face of much of what we hear and say about faith - things like "Just believe," or "Just have faith". The fact that Jesus says it's 'work' actually brings me a great amount of comfort, because belief in Jesus doesn't come so easy for many of us.

Most of us, if we're honest, at some point in our lives will struggle with what we believe about God. As your pastor, I think we should be able to name this reality within the walls of the church - allowing for belief and unbelief, because the understandings we held dearly as children will only carry us so far. Our beliefs expand as our opinions evolve.

However, that last statement - "Our beliefs expand as our opinions evolve," is often when we find ourselves teetering on the edge of belief and unbelief.

Now the truth is, it is easy to 'believe' if we haven't been assailed by radical unbelief. If we've had no occasion to discover the actual weaknesses and flaws of our belief system, then maybe we won't demand signs from Jesus to 'prove' it.

But usually, once life 'happens' - and you know what I mean by 'life happening' - unexplained deaths, unexpected medical problems, painful family discordances, heartbreaking conversations...

Most of us feel very similar to the crowds clamoring after Jesus. We want something, anything, to hold onto so that we know our 'belief' in things which seem so unbelievable is well-placed.

And Jesus tells us He's the bread of life. Great... You're the bread of life. How does that help me?

Now, I'm all about metaphor. Metaphors are fun because they allow for interpretation, varying opinions, and convey depths that flat information cannot.

But they are not fun when we want facts. Not fun when we want to understand. Not fun when we want proof. And not fun when we ask Jesus a question and just want an answer.

There are so many interpretations of what bread does and why bread is needed that it is unclear how this helps us believe Jesus is God, or even in God.

See, I want to be able to form an opinion on whether or not I like this bread, so that I know if I want to partake, know if I believe.

Remember how I said at the beginning that I hold a disdain for the word belief, just as the author of the article does, but for different reasons? Often our faith has been turned into a matter of opinion and dogma which charades as belief.

I dislike the word 'belief', because sometimes the ways we explain our belief in Jesus is by having affirmative responses to statements like:

Yes, I believe in the resurrection.

Yes, I believe in the trinity.

Yes, I believe in the virgin birth.

So....?

'Belief' becomes a test, an argument about principles which then allows us to determine if we are a 'lost' soul going to hell in a hand basket or a 'saved' soul who will be invited to the feast of God that has no end. Having the right or wrong opinions doesn't equal belief.  

And, I doubt (and I think Jesus would totally agree with me on this) belief ever comes to anyone as a result of argumentation, reasoning, or proving this or that. Belief is born of engagement and relationship. If it were simply a human possibility... then I could argue you into belief. But I can't. I can't make you believe.

Jesus couldn't and didn't even argue people into it. Jesus doesn't want us to just form opinions about Him; he wants to shape belief in Him.

Which is why he often talks in metaphor, so that when the questions of the 'how's' of God creep up, we can also ask, "What does this mean."

Which is precisely why He says he's bread...

He actually could've said He's chocolate, or a dog, or a GPS.

He could've given us any metaphor that makes us engage, makes us wonder why, makes us think. Something we know a lot about at an organic, sensory, feeling level. Something that gets beyond the intellect.

This is the difference between belief and opinion. Belief is organic; opinion is intellect. Both are important. However, we - consciously or unconsciously - interpret the world through our beliefs. We don't do that with opinions; they can only help form our beliefs.

So, let's take something radical! Let's take the resurrection. I mean, after all, it's often one of the bigger stumbling blocks in 'belief' and most people, whether they claim a 'belief' in Jesus or not have an opinion on it. And for some of us, 'how' the resurrection occurred becomes an impediment to faith.

Jesus cannot be the bread of life, if the bread of life ends up toast on a cross. However according to the Christian belief, we try to 'toast' him, but it didn't work.

Is the point of the resurrection how it occurred? Or why it occurred? One is an opinion question; the other is a belief question.

See, I can't tell you how the resurrection occurred. And funny thing - Jesus didn't tell the disciples either. Heck, I don't even think they ever asked.

But I can tell you the difference my belief in the resurrection makes in my worldview. I can tell you the difference my belief in the resurrection makes in my personal life. What Jesus does by inviting people to believe in Him is help us look more closely at what it means to live as someone who believes in Jesus. What it means to live as someone who believes in something larger than themselves.

I believe that there is hope, no matter how terribly ugly life might look; there is hope. And I can point to the cross and say it doesn't get uglier than that. And I can point to the resurrection and say that's my worldview; my life view. That hope rises. This belief shapes how I encounter the world.

That is because of belief in Jesus. Not opinion on Jesus.  

If you have hope - whether you name Jesus as the center of that hope or not - it is my opinion (yup - I can't make you believe) that your hope comes from God.

In many ways belief is a decision to trust someone or something other than yourself.

Belief in Jesus is a decision to trust Him. To trust that he really does know what He's talking about; that He really is the bread of life.

Jesus isn't actually bread, we know that.

What Jesus is does is invite us into a belief system that God will always provide, even in the darkest of circumstances; a belief that this is hope beyond the grave; a belief that you are loved more than life itself.

I'm not going to end this sermon with a pithy, "just believe" or "just trust" or "just have faith". It would've been neater, I know. But, it would diminish the work of belief.

What I will say is, God does not depend on our belief in God. God is 'with you' and 'for you' even when you don't believe, or think you don't believe, or only half-believe , or even when you're standing on the edge of faith.

This I know without a shadow of a doubt.

And I will remind you of Jesus' promise, that feeds the growling hunger of the soul:

"I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."

Amen.