From August 20, 2017
Rev. Shawn Coons

For the next three weeks we are going to be looking at three questions. Three simple questions, at least simple in the terms that they are brief, and only require a yes or no answer.  Today, “Is science the enemy of faith?” And then in the following weeks: “Can God save non-Christians?” and “Will God forgive me for anything?”

I think it’s important to ask these questions and answer these questions. Why? Because these are questions that some people outside the church are asking. Often assuming the question has already been answered. “Why do Christian think science is bad?” “Why do Christians think God will punish everyone but them?”

Millions of people assume they know what you believe, what I believe, simply because that’s the impression they get from other Christians.  If we don’t actively engage and correct these misperceptions, then we encourage them. I want to share with you a story about Jenny, a member of a church in Arizona.  It’s told from the perspective of her pastor, Eric Elnes. It beings with Jenny saying something a little odd to her pastor.

“I’m tired of being a Christian butt,” Jenny exclaimed with obvious exasperation.

I thought this was rather unusual language coming from a high school choral director and member of my congregation in Scottsdale, Arizona. It’s not her choice of words but the sentiment that surprised me. In the past few years, I have only seen Jenny get more excited about her faith, not less. When Jenny first cautiously started coming to my church, she had not actively participated in a church for over twenty years.

She considered herself “spiritual but not religious.” “I have a problem with organized religion,” she had told the friend who originally invited her. “Not to worry,” her friend said. “My church is more like disorganized religion. [Through her involvement in the church Jenny had] her personal “Great Awakening” about Christianity. Since that day, she has been like the Energizer Bunny of spiritual exploration and discipleship. She has rarely been immersed in less than three or four small groups. She has helped with our teen mentoring program and assisted in our outreach to homeless families. Jenny almost never misses a Sunday worship experience and sometimes helps lead it.

So you can imagine my surprise when Jenny used Christian as a modifier for butt. “What do you mean by that?” I asked. “I mean,” she replied without hesitation, “I’m tired of having always to qualify the word Christian when I tell people I’m going to church. I might as well say I’m radioactive. They get a surprised look on their face and say, “Not you, Jenny. You don’t seem like the Christian type.” So I find myself throwing in more and more buts all the time: ‘I’m a Christian, but . . . but . . . but . . .Why should I have to explain to people, ‘I’m a Christian, but I don’t think [people who are gay] are evil.... I’m a Christian, but I believe women are equal to men . . . but I’m concerned about poverty . . . but I care about the earth . . . but I don’t think people who believe differently from me will fry in hell for eternity . . .’?”

If we ignore these questions and aren’t proactive in asking and answering them, then we may simply remain a “Christian, but.”

So let’s dive into the first simple question: Is science the enemy of faith? In 2011 the Barna Group published the results of a study surveying young adults about their perceptions of Christianity and the church. 3 out of 10 young adults feel that that “churches are out of step with the scientific world we live in.”  1 out of 4 young adults believe that “Christianity is anti-science.”

Are you familiar with the “Jesus fish?”  How about the Darwin Fish?  How about the Truth fish eating the Darwin fish?

Is it any wonder people think science and faith aren’t compatible. So let’s put this to rest right now. Is science the enemy of faith? No. No, science is not the enemy of faith. Not in any way shape or form.  But don’t trust my word, let me walk you through a Presbyterian understanding of faith and science.

Let’s start in the beginning, literally in the beginning with Genesis 1:1.

1In the beginning when God created* the heavens and the earth, 2the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God* swept over the face of the waters. 3Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

6 And God said, ‘Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ 7So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. 8God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

Our understanding of faith and science is rooted in Genesis. In the belief that it is God who created the universes, it is God who is the power behind all of creation. Now in the Presbyterian church, we don’t necessarily mean that God created the universe in six 24 hour days, or that the earth is only 6,000 years old. We understand that in Genesis, what we are reading is a poetic origin story, not meant to teach us scientific cosmology or scientific truth, but a different kind of truth. Truth about God.

And we believe that these truths are complementary not oppositional. We see science as running parallel, alongside theology.  That is to say, that theology is a way of talking about God, a way of trying to learn more about God, about us, about God’s world and the relationships between God, us and the world.  What is God like, what are the characteristics of God, what kinds of things does God do.  Who are we? What did God make us for? How does God expect us to act in the world?

For centuries in the Christian church, science has been seen as answering a different set of questions, but still related to God. Randy read from Psalm 19 a moment ago:

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of God’s hands.

A Christian understanding of science understands the knowledge and discoveries learned through science illuminates the universe created by God.  So the more we learn through science about the world, nature, the universe, ourselves, the more we learn about God.  Think of it like learning about an artist by viewing and studying their artwork. By examining their handiwork, the techniques they use, the subjects they paint or draw or sculpt, the materials they employ. All of those things give you clues to who the artist is.

From early on in Christian history, the Bible was not seen as the only source of truth given to us by God.  In the 5th century, there lived a man named Augustine. He was a theologian and writer from Northern Africa, and one of the most influential people in church history.  He cautioned Christians not to elevate claims about the natural world found in Scripture above human reason and experience. He was worried that doing so would make Christians appear ignorant, and cause people of faith to be scorned and laughed at.

John Calvin, one of the most influential theologians in our Presbyterian tradition, taught that reason, mathematics, and science were gifts from God bestowed on us, and to not use them would be a slap in the face of God.

More recently, in 1947 the Presbyterian Church put out a paper on science and faith in which they said:

There is no conflict between religion and science.  Each new discovery demonstrates the infinite wisdom, logic and consistency of the omnipotent Creator. 

A Presbyterian paper from 2016 says:

Scientific inquiry to date has provided descriptions and ever more profound understandings of the scope of God’s creation in space and time.

We have a long Christian tradition of valuing science as a God-given source of truth to which we are called to apply our God given minds, and powers of reason and observation.  But, it would be dishonest to say that the Christian church and even the Presbyterian church has always lived up to this.

You may remember that the findings ofGalileo and Copernicus were both denounced by many Christian authorities, including the Pope, Martin Luther, and John Calvin.  They all felt that the finding that the earth revolved around the Sun, that the earth was not the center of the universe, was heretical and must be wrong because parts of the Bible indicate that the sun and the heavens rotate around the Earth.  As Martin Luther said in reference to Joshua chapter 10, where God, working through Joshua, stopped the sun in the sky: “He ordered the sun to stand still and not the Earth.”

More recently in Presbyterian history we have William Jennings Bryan, most famous for arguing against the teaching of evolution in the Scopes “Monkey” trial.  Bryan was a Presbyterian elder, who almost became moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly. In his time as a Presbyterian, he tried to get the denomination to cut off funds to schools that taught evolution.

We’ve had a long history of respecting science as a partner to faith and theology, but we have not always lived up to that ideal.  As Presbyterians, we not only believe that science informs our faith, we believe the reverse is true, that Christian faith can inform science.  Not in the sense, that the Bible teaches scientific truth, but in the sense that science needs moral and ethical guidance and constraints, and that theology and faith can be a valuable conversation partner in this area.

Have you ever seen Jurassic Park? It’s the movie from several decades ago where someone thinks it’s a good idea to take DNA from fossils and use it to bring back dinosaurs.  What could go wrong?  There’s a famous line from the movie, spoken by Jeff Goldbloom’s character:

It is common sense to most people that just because science has enabled us to do something, doesn’t mean we should do it.  Swedish Fish flavored Oreos, may just be evidence of that (confession: I think they are kind of tasty).  How to use what scientific discoveries make possible, is not a question that can be answered through science alone.  Science created the atomic bomb, but science couldn’t tell us when to or not to use it.  Science has enabled us to live longer, and prolong death in new and unheard of ways. But science cannot tell us whether life is worth preserving at any cost, or with extraordinary measures, or when quality of life should be weighed against length of life.

Surely Christian faith is not the only source of wisdom in these matters, but for the millions of Christians around the world, our faith must not remain silent in these matters.

A 1982, Presbyterian study paper state:

Theology and natural science though oriented to different “objects”—theology to God, science to nature—have common concerns. If they are to be effective and directed rightly, they ought not only recognize one another’s importance, they ought consciously to be in dialogue with one another and even depend upon one another.

Furthermore, as Christians we are obligated by God to use our minds, our intellects, scientific pursuits and discoveries, to serve God and the world as best we can.  In Genesis, God gives all of creation to the care of humanity, and to ignore what science tells us about caring for our environment, is to turn our back on how God created us and what God created us for. To deny the truths found in science, that help us to exercise care over creation, is like being given a shovel to dig a hole and deciding to use our hands instead.

To recap. Science is not the enemy of faith. Christians can and should embrace the knowledge and truths science bring us to help us serve God and others as best we can.  What we do with the capabilities that science provides is a question that science alone cannot answer, and should be determined by moral and ethical considerations, which Christian faith has a lot to day about.

I want to close this sermon with a short video from Mayim Bialik, who you may know as Amy on the Big Bang Theory, or Blossom from years ago. She is an actor, but she also has a Ph.D. in neuroscience, and a self-described “Modern Othodox Jew.”    In this video she talks briefly about her thoughts on faith and science.

I’m with her. Understanding that there is a force that underlies all of this “beautiful chaos” and understanding the proper relationship of faith and science makes me a better Christian and a more complete person.

Is sciene the enemy of faith? No.

From August 13, 2017
Rev. Shawn Coons

We’re on our final week of our Half-Truths series. This series is based on a book by Rev. Adam Hamilton called Half-Truths. In this series we are looking at common sayings that are often associated with Christianity and said by many Christians. And at first, they may sound OK, and we often mean well when we say them. But when we look a little closer we realize that these sayings aren’t as true or as Christian as we first might have thought.  The final saying we are looking at today is “Love the sinner. Hate the sin.”

This weekend, as I watched the news out of Charlottesville, I debated writing a completely different sermon for this morning. When neo-Nazis and KKK members are marching in broad daylight on the streets of America, their words and actions filled with hatred and racism, then there is the need for the word of God to be heard.  When people are killed and injured by an act of domestic terrorism for the world to see on TV. The church should not remain silent.

So yesterday, I wrestled with whether I should throw out what I had written and instead devote this sermon solely to what is taking place in Charlottesville, and what it says about what is taking place all over America. But in the end, I decided to mostly remain with my original sermon. I did this for two reasons.

First, I was unsure that I could come up with the words needed to theologically address the events taking place in Charlottesville. Like many of you, I am still trying to make sense of what has taken place, and how God is calling us to actively engage in opposition to hate, racism and white supremacy. The second reason that I stuck with this sermon is because I think it does speak, in several important ways, to the events of this weekend.  We need to be talking about love. We need to be talking about sin. We need to be talking about hate.  And it’s more important than ever, that we speak loudly of love and tread carefully when talking about hate, sin and sinners.

Love the sinner. Hate the sin.  It sounds Ok, on first read.  How can it be bad to love anybody?  And doesn’t it sound really Christ-like to love sinners? And shouldn’t we hate sin? Especially if we think of sin as things that we do that hurt ourselves, others, or hurt God.

The phrase is not in the Bible, though.  It is thought to have originated with St. Augustineseveral hundred years after Jesus.  In one of his letters he called for early Christians to have a “love for mankind and a hatred of sins.”  Over the ages, this saying has appeared in various forms, but they all mean basically the same thing.  If we know of someone who is sinning, we should continue to love them as a sinner, but hate and condemn the sinful actions they do.  And this does sound true, right?

Never stop loving someone no matter what horrible things they’ve done.  But here’s the catch. Rarely, are we ever able to contain our hatred only to the sin. Ghandi once spoke about this saying: “Hate the sin and not the sinner is a precept which, though easy enough to understand, is rarely practiced, and that is why the poison of hatred spreads in the world.”

Love the sinner. Hate the sin. If we practice this, we end up focusing much more on sin and the label of sinner, much more than we focus on love.  Jesus never said love the sinner. Jesus said love your neighbor.  Jesus knew that if he commanded people to love the sinner, they would begin looking people more as sinners than neighbor.

Think about it. If I said to you right now, I want you to love everyone sitting here in the congregation today, especially those who have been recently diagnosed with a highly contagious form of smallpox. Are you going to focus on loving your neighbor, or on who looks a little under the weather today.

Love the sinner. Hate the sin, doesn’t lead us to love, instead it leads us immediately to a place of judging who is a sinner and what sins are they guilty of.  Love the sinner. Hate the sin, is often used as code for saying “I judge you. You are a sinner, you should be ashamed that you do _____, but even though I am better than you, I will love you anyway.”

This is a good time to read our second scripture this morning. Because it addresses this very topic.

Luke 18: 9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: 10‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. 11The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. 12I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.”13But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” 14I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’

In Jesus day, the Pharisees were Jewish authorities, who by all accounts, should be considered as righteous. They strictly lived their lives according to proper Jewish laws. And to many who first head Jesus tell this story, they would probably agree with the Pharisee’s self-assessment. He was a righteous man, especially when compared with the tax-collector.  The tax-collector would have even agreed that the Pharisee was more righteous than he was.

But in a twist at the end of the story it is the tax collector who is justified by God, and not the righteous Pharisee.  Seminary professor, David Lose says this about the story:

“Here is the essential contrast. One makes a claim to righteousness based on his own accomplishments, while the other relies entirely upon the Lord's benevolence. Rather than be grateful for his blessings, the Pharisee appears smug to the point of despising others. In his mind there are two kinds of people: the righteous and the immoral, and he is grateful that he has placed himself among the righteous. The tax collector, on the other hand, isn't so much humble as desperate. He is too overwhelmed by his plight to take time to divide humanity into sides. All he recognizes as he stands near the Temple is his own great need. He therefore stakes his hopes and claims not on anything he has done or deserved but entirely on the mercy of God.”

What matters to God in this story, and in our own lives, is not who is righteous, but who is judgmental and who is not. Not who lives a so-called perfect life, but who realizes their dependence on God and that righteousness is a gift from God and not our own doing.

So coming back to Love the sinner. Hate the sin. The problem with this saying is that it focuses us on the sins of others, on judgment of others, rather than on our own sin and being honest about where we are with God.  Love the Sinner. Hate the sin, at its heart focuses on the sins of others and our judgment of them.

In the Half-Truths book, Adam Hamilton tells this story about Billy Graham:

Some time ago I read an interview with Billy Graham’s eldest daughter, Gigi. She was her father’s date to Time magazine’s seventy-fifth anniversary party, a banquet in Washington, DC. President Bill Clinton spoke at the event. He had just been impeached by the House of Representatives for perjury and obstruction of justice. The charge of perjury involved what President Clinton had said, under oath, about his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. At the banquet, her father sat with President and Mrs. Clinton. He was warm and gracious to them. After the dinner ended and Graham and Gigi were riding back to their hotel, the two discussed difficulties the president and First Lady were going through with so many people gossiping and judging. Gigi said her father’s simple comment was, “It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict; it’s God’s job to judge; and it’s our job to love.”

It is our job to love. Not to judge. It is our job to love.  When we label someone as sinner, we stop seeing the person and we start seeing the sin. Our job is not to convict but to love.

Should we keep silent about the problem of sin? Of course not. There are absolutely times when Christians must stand up and name sin and evil for what it is.  This moment in the life of our country is one of those times.  We must name hatred, racism, white supremacy, and the failure to condemn them as sin.  Any Christian who engages in actions or rhetoric motivated by hate or racism, has ceased to represent Christ. Any Christian who remains silent in the face of racism and hatred, will have to answer to God for their complicity.

But we must resist the urge to judge and label those protestors in Charlottesville simply as sinners or to think of them as lesser people, not as holy and righteous as we are.  Our job is not to convict but to love. In fact, Adam Hamilton says:

The truth in “Love the sinner, hate the sin” stops with the first word: Love.

Let me ask you this. Where have you most often heard the phrase Love the Sinner, hate the sin, used? I have most often heard it used in terms of homosexuality. For those Christians, who believe that Bible says that homosexuality is sinful, this verse has been used to explain how someone can condemn a large part of someone’s identity while still claiming to love that person. Ask someone who is gay, ask someone who is transgender, ask them if they feel loved by people who say love the sinner, hate the sin.

When we use this saying we are first and foremost defining that person as a sinner, rather than as someone we love. Furthermore, as you heard Kelsey read from Matthew, we should not be judging other people, we have enough sin in our own lives that makes us liable to judgement.  The only person we should label as sinner is ourselves. Love the sinner, hate the sin should be rewritten and we should instead be saying, I love you, even despite the fact that I am a sinner.

·         Everything happens for a reason.

·         God helps those who help themselves.

·         God wont’ give you more than you can handle.

·         God said it. I believe it. That settles it.

·         Love the sinner. Hate the sin.

Five half-truths. So if I have done my math correctly, that makes 2.5 whole truths. And isn’t that better than no truth?  If there is some truth to these why do we really need to be worried about saying these things? If we mean well, isn’t that enough. Unfortunately, that’s not enough. The reality is these half-truths can hurt people who need hope and healing. These half-truths can be destructive to someone in a time of need. These half-truths can discourage people and turn people away from God and Christianity.

And even more importantly, why would we give someone a half-truth when we could give them the whole truth of a God who loves them and is there to support and guide them every step of the way.

I am indebted to Rev. Adam Hamilton and his Church in Kansas that made the inspiration for this sermon series available to other churches and preachers, and so I’d like to close with his words today:

I’d like remind you of the “whole truths” we found behind the half truths we have rejected. We reject the idea that everything that happens is God’s will. Instead we say that whatever happens, God is able to able to work through it, to redeem it, and to bring good from it.

We reject the idea that God only helps those who help themselves. We recognize that God expects us to do what we can to help ourselves. We pray and we work. But ultimately the very definition of grace and mercy is that God helps those who cannot help themselves.

We reject the idea that God won’t give us more than we can handle. This is partly because we reject the idea that whatever adversity we face is given to us by God. What we do believe is that God will help us handle all the adversity life will give us.

We reject the idea that every verse of Scripture should be read, out of context, as the literal words of God. Instead we recognize that the biblical authors were people, influenced by God but not merely stenographers. Like all of us they were shaped by, and responded to, the historical circumstances in which they lived. And thus we believe that, when they are rightly interpreted, God speaks through the words of Scripture in order to teach, guide, shape, and encourage us.

Finally, we reject the notion that God calls upon Christians to “love the sinner, hate the sin.” When we choose to focus on the sins of others and speak of hating their sin, we violate the words and spirit of Jesus. Paul calls us to hate our sins, and Jesus calls us to love our neighbors, all of whom are sinners. When we demonstrate love and not judgment, we draw people to Christ rather than repel them from him.

From July 30, 2017
Rev. Shawn Coons

We’re on the home stretch of our Half-Truths series, where we look at sayings that are commonly associated with Christianity, often said by Christians, but when we examine these sayings we find that they aren’t quite as true or as Christian as they appear.

This morning, we are looking at “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.”

And when we look at this saying at face value, I’m tempted to call it a whole truth. Taken simply, it’s hard to argue with. God said it. I believe it. That settles it.  In the Presbyterian tradition we place a strong emphasis on the sovereignty of God.  God is the ultimate power in the universe, the ultimate authority. God is our creator and the power and force within and throughout creation.  So if God speaks, then who are we, who is anyone, to contradict God.

Furthermore, we believe that because of sin, because we are imperfect people, that are judgment is off. It’s not completely gone, or unreliable. But in our tradition we believe that we will make mistakes, we will choose the wrong course of action, believe things that are lies.

So if God says something, if God who is supreme tells us something, then we have no standing to say that God is wrong and we are right. God said it. I believe it. That settles it.  It’s kind of like parenting.  I think there comes a time for every mother, for every father, when they tell their child to do something. The child responds with, “Why?” and we could go into the details about why that’s the best thing for them to do right now, and eventually they will see that even if they don’t know. But instead when they say, “Why do I have to do that?” we respond with, “Because I said so.”

Now, I will be the first to admit that there are times when I have said that and it is simply because I didn’t want to argue, I said it just to end the discussion. But often for parents, we say that because we have years of experience and knowledge and living and we can see that what we’ve asked them to do is the best thing for them, but there is no way we can convince our children of that.

So when a mother tells her son “Because I said so” what she means is you’ll have to trust me and my authority that this is for the best, and someday you will understand why getting a tattoo of Rihanna on your face isn’t a great long-term decision.

In that sense, “God said it. I believe it. That settles it,” expresses something we need to keep in mind. As Christians there should be time where our Christian faith corrects us.  There should be times where our natural instinct or decision is to do or say one thing, but when we think about how our faith guides us, we reconsider and change our course because of what God wants for us. 

I’ve always liked this Peanuts cartoon, because I think it expresses a fundamental posture that Christians should take.  “Has it ever occurred to you that you may be wrong?”  We should constantly be measuring and adjusting and correcting what we do, what we say, how we spend our time and money, based on what our faith teaches.

When God speaks, we listen, and we obey.  So God said it. That settles it. I believe it.  How can that be a half-truth?  I want to suggest to you that while the plain statement may be more true than not, how we use it often renders it half true (or less).  So how does this get used?

If you are visiting today. If you don’t know much about Christianity and Christians, I want to let you in on a little secret. Sometimes Christians disagree with one another about matters of faith.  There are times when we don’t see eye to eye on something, when well-meaning, faithful and intelligent questions disagree on matter of Christian practice or doctrine.

It can be about how we worship, God and politics, family life, marriage, abortion, capital punishment, or a whole host of other things. Many times, Christians discuss these differences well. We listen, we try to understand where the other person is coming from, we listen to how their experience and understanding of God and the Bible led them to believe what they believe. Other times, we trade talking points, sound bites, and Bible verses back and forth without really listening. And at some point, someone gets frustrated and says something like, “Well, that’s what the Bible says, and so I guess you don’t believe in the Bible.” Or “I’m sorry if you don’t like what Scripture says, but it’s right there on the page.”  Or “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.”

And that’s meant to be the end of the conversation. We’ve gone to the Bible and so there is no more room for discussion. But what if that’s not the way it’s supposed to be.  Watch this video from Rachel Held Evans:

The Bible doesn’t always speak with one clear voice. How many thousands of Christian denominations do we have, that read various parts of the Bible differently? Now we are at the heart of the matter, how do we read the Bible?  How can Christians disagree on what the Bible says? Isn’t God’s word written clearly and simply in the pages of scripture? Don’t we just have to read it, believe it, and that settles it?

Well, let’s get to our second lesson for today.  This is from Mark chapter 2, and we join Jesus and his followers on the Sabbath.  The Jewish Sabbath was a day of rest, instituted by God at creation in Genesis chapter 1, further rules for the Sabbath were written in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.  And one of the biggest prohibitions for the Sabbath was work.  It was well understood that God had said that no work whatsoever was to be done on the Sabbath.  Food would be prepared ahead of time, just to avoid the need to get a meal ready this breaking the commandment not to work on the Sabbath.

Mark 2:23 One sabbath he was going through the cornfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?’25And he said to them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? 26He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.’ 27Then he said to them, ‘The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; 28so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.’

Jesus is walking through the fields on the Sabbath, and he and his followers travel they pick grain to be used in their meal later.  Tending to crops, picking food, that was work. That was a clear violation of what was laid out in Scripture.  Or so it was thought. But Jesus offers a different interpretation of scripture, or possibly even a contradiction of scripture. He goes back to the creation story and says that God made humankind first and the sabbath second.  He even references yet another part of Scripture were King David also went against “What God had said.”

Jesus does this in Matthew. He expands on scripture, reinterprets it when says a series of statements, “You have heard it said,” and then he quotes Jewish scripture. But then he says, “But I tell you,” and he offers a new interpretation of Scripture.

A simple fact of the Christian faith is that every Christian interprets scripture.  No one reads the Bible literally.  Jesus said things like “If your right eye causes you to sin then pluck it out.” “If you want to inherit eternal life you must sell everything you own and give it to the poor.” Paul said that women should remain silent in church, not braid there hair or wear gold jewelry. How many Christians do you know that take all those literally?  I don’t know of any.

We all interpret scripture. So the problem with God said it. I believe it. That settles it. Is that the “God said it” part just isn’t that straightforward. 

Some Christians have the idea that the Bible is God’s words dictated exactly to the authors.  But in our tradition we believe that the Bible is inspired by God and God’s interactions with God’s people, but not God’s exact words.  In our tradition we take the Bible seriously, but not literally.  We don’t ask people to believe in the Bible, we ask people to believe in the God that the Bible points to. 

So “God says it. I believe it. That settles it,” is only a half-truth, because first we have to spend time, and study, and prayer figuring out what God says, what the Bible says.  And there are a number of ways of doing this, but in our Presbyterian tradition we do have some guidelines that we follow.

When determining what God is saying through scripture we always approach the Bible seeking to be guided by God’s Holy Spirit.  Before every scripture reading in worship we offer a prayer for illumination. We understand that God did not stop speaking when these words were written 2000 years ago. God is still speaking and can speak to us and through us.

We also believe that scripture is best understood within a community. As we study scripture together and seek to hear from the Holy Spirit, we understand more clearly if we can bring multiple voices and perspectives to the Bible.

When looking at a particular Bible passage we also following the guideline that scripture interprets scripture. We don’t isolate a verse of the Bible and hold it up as true if the rest of Scripture says otherwise. Paul says women should be silent in church, but throughout the Bible women are raised up as teachers and leaders of faith. Jesus does this. He did it in our passage from today, he referenced the creation story, and the story of King David.

We study scripture in its historical context.  We understand that the Bible was written thousands of years ago and thousands of miles away.  It was set in a different culture and context. When Paul writes that slaves must obey their masters, we don’t take that literally, we realize that Paul was speaking in and to a different society.

There’s at least one more very important guideline for understanding scripture, and I want to go back to Rachel Held Evans to hear more about it.

When we study scripture to determine what it says for us today, how it should guide us and correct us, we interpret everything through the lens of Jesus and the rule of love. We always ask how does this particular interpretation of Scripture align with Jesus’ teaching and ministry?  And will this interpretation bring about actions of love?  If a particular interpretation of scripture brings harm or hatred, can it really be from God?

God said it. I believe it. That settles it.  True at first reading, not so true as most often used. What if we reword it just a bit?

God speaks in many ways.  Through love and prayer we do our best to listen and believe.  We settle on our best understanding of God but remain open to God expanding or even correcting our understanding.

Not as catchy is it? Hard to fit on a bumper sticker. But as we heard earlier, the Bible shouldn’t be used to end conversations, but to begin them. God’s word to us is not an end to an argument, but an invitation to deeper understanding and knowledge of God and of one another.

From July 23, 2017
Rev. Shawn Coons

9“So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? 12Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? 13If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

This is week 3 of our series on Half Truths, where we are looking at sayings that Christians often say, and that many think are found in the Bible, but when we look a little closer we learn they may not be as true or even as Christian as we first thought. This series is based on Rev. Adam Hamilton’s book Half-Truths.  We’ve talked about “everything happens for a reason,” and “God helps those who help themselves,” and this week we are tackling “God won’t give you more than you can handle.”

With each of these sayings, I’ve begun by acknowledging that many of us may have said this before, and when we have we meant well.  Often we might say, “God won’t give you more than you can handle,” to someone who is dealing with a lot of adversity. Maybe one hardship piled on top of another. And what we mean when we say it, is something like, “You’re strong. You’re tough. You can do this. You are up to the challenge. You will get through this.”

And there is nothing wrong with want to be encouraging, wanting to give someone hope in tough times.  It’s natural to want to tell someone that “this won’t defeat you, this won’t overwhelm you. God is in control still and he loves you and wouldn’t allow you to be defeated by this.”

There is even some scriptural support for this.  1 Corinthians 10:13

No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

“God is faithful and will not let you be tested beyond your strength.” That sounds similar to “God won’t give you more than you can handle.”  So let’s explore this verse a little bit more. It was written by the Apostle Paul to the Christian church in Corinth a couple decades after Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Corinth was a crossroads, Corinth was a very cosmopolitan town, with lots of activity and lots of people from different places and backgrounds.  The people there would have been labeled pagans in New Testament times, meaning they weren’t Jews of Christians.

The Corinthians would have worshiped a host of various gods and goddesses, and in a host of various ways. Idolatry, drunkenness, temple prostitutes.  It is these “pagans” that make up the first Christian church in Corinth, and in following Jesus they were called to give up their former religious practices.  The problem was, that they were tempted just by being in Corinth, where all these practices were still happening. So these early Christians struggled with sexual immorality, gluttony, drunkenness.

It is this situation that Paul is addressing.  In the Half-Truths book, Rev. Hamilton writes:

The context for this verse in 1 Corinthians is self-discipline in the face of temptation with the hope of avoiding sin, particularly the sins of sexual immorality and idolatry.

 Paul is telling the Corinthian Christians that their experience is not unique. Just as the Israelites were tempted, so too the Corinthians will be (and were being) tempted. In fact, we’ll all be tempted. Jesus himself experienced temptation. This passage is not about God declining to give you more burdens in life than you can handle. It is about God helping you when you are tempted…Temptation is indeed a test of your resolve, your character, and your faith. And that is what Paul is talking about here—not about adversity and the difficult circumstances that come into every life at some point.

There is something Paul is saying in this passage, but there are at least two things Paul is not saying. 1) Paul is not addressing tragic circumstance, hardship we may face, loss, pain, suffering. Paul is addressing temptation to former practices that are sinful or otherwise destructive. 2) Paul is not saying that God is authoring all sorts of hardship in your life. That God is making bad things happen to you. Paul is not saying “everything happens for a reason.”

When I was in middle school and high school, I was very involved in my youth group, it formed me in some very important and positive ways. But I also received some messages about Christian faith that weren’t so helpful. One of those messages is that God uses trials and tribulations to strengthen and refine us. Like a blacksmith who purifies a metal by heating it in the forge and then hammers out a strong tool through brute force. I was told that the hardships we may face could be God refining us and strengthening us.  There are several problems with that that we could go into, but let’s just say for now that metal doesn’t suffer or feel pain, and God doesn’t treat us like objects.

That’s not what Paul is saying in this verse. Paul is saying temptation is real. That we are tempted to do things that are not good for us, or others, or often both.  But those aren’t tests from God. There aren’t from God, usually they are from ourselves, right?

This past week we were having waffles for dinner, and we realized we were missing a key ingredient.  Chili.  Ok, when we have waffles we have several different kinds. Just plain waffles, sometimes with chocolate or butterscotch chips, topped with bananas, but we also have chili waffles.  Trust me, it’s good. But anyway, we didn’t have any chili so I ran to the store to get some.  Like many of you, I’m on a constant quest to improve how I eat. And I knew going to the grocery store at supper time, when I was hungry, was not a good time to avoid temptation. So I resolved going in that I was just coming out with a can of chili, and nothing else. And so I came out with a can of chili, and this box of Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts.

God didn’t put this box of Pop Tarts into my life to test me. God wasn’t sitting around saying, “War, poverty, racism, greed, what should I be doing now. Oh! Shawn’s going shopping, quick get the Pop Tarts!”  I was the author of my temptation. And God had already given me what I needed to avoid it.  Now that was a small temptation, right?  And unfortunately, we are all at one time or another, prone to giving into bigger temptations, with more drastic consequences than a few calories.

We may be tempted to drug or alcohol abuse, cheating at school, infidelity, self-harm, dishonesty at work, silence or apathy in the face of injustice. But when we are tempted to these destructive choices, God has provided us with a way out.  Paul is saying that we are not on our own in the face of temptation, even if it doesn’t feel like it we have a choice of what to do next.

Let’s face it. There will be times where it feels like we have no choice, like we are powerless to choose what’s healthy for us and that the destructive choice is just too strong. But even in those moments God gives us an alternative. Sometimes that only choice we have is to ask for help. To admit that we cannot help ourselves and that we need God, we need someone else to help us in this moment.

Unfortunately, asking for help is often portrayed as a weakness, isn’t it? We want to be self-sufficient, pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.  But there are times in our lives where asking for help is the bravest thing we can do.  Go to any Alcolohics Anonymous meeting, or Narcotics Anonymous, or Gamblers Anonymous. Every person there began their road to recovery by admitting they needed help, and coming to that group asking for help.

In our scripture lesson from Luke, Jesus says, ask and it will be given to you, everyone who asks shall receive!  This passage is preceded by a story about a man who needs something late at night and he goes to his neighbor’s house and bangs on the door. The neighbor doesn’t want to help him at this late hour, but ultimately can’t refuse such a need.  Jesus says that if even that neighbor can grudgingly help, imagine how ready God is to help you, God who loves you.

We all need help at various times in our lives, and God wants us to ask for help. God wants us to cry out in prayer for help, but God also wants us to turn towards each other. We are here as God’s answers to prayer. We are here to help on another. I received a phone call last month from a woman who wasn’t a Fairview member, but she wanted to talk to a pastor because of the hardship she was facing in her life.  I listened as she described the challenges she was facing, and at a later point I suggested that she may want to talk to a trained counselor or a therapist. She replied that she didn’t need that, because she had God.  So I asked her, if God’s help was all she needed then why did she call me?

God has put us here for one another, from the very beginning. Remember the second creation story. God forms Adam out of the dust, breathes life into him, and then says “it is not good for him to be alone.”  We were created to help each other.

Adam Hamilton writes:

I remember a conversation on this subject with a woman who told me, “For years this statement helped me when I was facing difficult things. I kept telling myself that God wouldn’t give me more than I could handle. It reassured me that somehow I was going to make it through. Then one day I was at my therapist’s office and mentioned it to him. He laughed and said, ‘Are you kidding me? Surely you don’t really believe that. I can tell you plenty of stories about people who had more than they could handle. In fact, my profession consists of helping just such people.’ ” The counselor reminded the woman that in her own case, she had come to him because the emotional pain and difficulty she was facing had been more than she could handle. In addition, the woman’s mother had committed suicide because life had become more difficult than she could handle. At first, the woman was angry that her therapist had called her belief into question. But the more she reflected on their conversation, the more she concluded that he was right.

We will face adversity in our lives. We will experience hardships. We, or someone we love, may face terminal illness. We may struggle with debilitating depression or suicidal thoughts or grief so heavy that we feel we’ll suffocate. We may walk through financial circumstances where it seems there is no way out. If we are like most human beings, at some point we absolutely will face things that are more than we can handle. The promise of Scripture is not that we won’t go through hard times. . . . What Scripture does promise is that at all times, good or bad, God wants to be our help and our strength.

It’s not that God won’t give you more than you can handle, but that God will help you handle all that you’ve been given.

It’s not that God won’t give you more than you can handle, but that God will help you handle all that you’ve been given. That’s an important message. I think it’s so important that I want you to take it home with you. As you leave today you will find a card that you can take, and put it somewhere that you will see regularly. In your car, by your toothbrush, in your purse or wallet, on the back of your phone.

And one last word I’d like to give. It’s possible someone is sitting here today, and feeling like they absolutely have more than they can handle. If that’s you, if you are facing a challenge that has overwhelmed you. Addiction, financial difficulties, relationship challenges, depression or other mental health issues, grief, pain, whatever it is. Please, ask for help. You can start this moment by asking God for help, but don’t stop there. Talk to someone, talk to a friend here this morning, talk to me, a teach, a family member, a therapist. God has put people in your life already that can help you.

It’s not that God won’t give you more than you can handle, but that God will help you handle all that you’ve been given.