The Cost of Discipleship - Week Two: The Mirror & The Cross

It’s (Still)The Season of Pentecost!

We are teaching through a sermon series in September, entitled “The Cost of Discipleship.” 

This series draws inspiration from the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  He was executed right at the end of World War II in Europe for being part of a plot to kill Hitler.  He wrote a book by the same name as this series.  

I'd like to share a quote with you from that book, one that speaks to what we're going to be talking about today:  

The community of the saints is not an "ideal" community consisting of perfect and sinless men and women, where there is no need of further repentance. No, it is a community which proves that it is worthy of the gospel of forgiveness by constantly and sincerely proclaiming God's forgiveness.

You and I, those of us who say that we are followers of Jesus, we need to constantly remind ourselves just how much we need Jesus.  Before we start condemning others, we need to take a hard look in the mirror.   

Today, we’re going to read perhaps one of the most famous verses in the Bible and how it has become so widely misinterpreted. 

What Do You Know About John 3:16?

It pops up everywhere.  It gets displayed on signs at sporting events, protests, and even athletes sport it in conspicuous ways.  

It was one of the first bible verses that I learned back in my Baptist days, right after "children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right."

And if you are wondering what John 3:16 says,  it goes like this: 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16 is also widely used to support an exclusive claim, which is why it's displayed so frequently by evangelical Christians.  

And that claim is that the only way that you can ensure that you will go to heaven instead of hell is to declare your belief that Jesus is the only way to make sure you do.  

But what if there was more to this beloved verse than meets the eye? 

What if it is meant to hold a mirror up to us so that we can see who we really are, and how we need Jesus and the grace that he proclaimed every single day?  This verse isn't meant for outsiders to the Christian faith to have a short answer to a really complicated question. 

Jesus was speaking to a religious insider when he said it.  This verse is for those of us who claim to follow Jesus.  It's a mirror that we need to hold up to remind ourselves that grace isn't cheap, but it's readily available, and exactly what we need every day of our lives.   

THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP LEADS TO SELF-AWARENESS

John 3:13-17

The context of this particular conversation needs a bit of explanation.  You see, Jesus was visited by a man named Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee, and who came to see Jesus at night because he didn't want his fellow religious pals to know he was doing it.  

He first declares to Jesus that his fellow Pharisees know that Jesus is something special.  He tells him that "We know that you are a teacher who comes from God, because no one could do the miracles that you are doing unless God is with him."

But what Nicodemus wanted to know was why Jesus seemed to be teaching things that seemed so out of line with the rules and the religious laws that the Pharisees held so dear. 

Jesus teaches Nicodemus that to see the Kingdom of God, a rebirth is required.  You can't just keep up the appearances of being religious, Jesus tells him, you have to have a change of heart.   

13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.

The Son of Man is a reference from the prophet Daniel.  It comes from a vision he had about a messianic figure that would set the world right.  Literally, it means "a human being," but in Jesus' time it had taken on the messianic meaning.  

 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[b] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

Let me explain this a bit.  In the book of Numbers chapter 21, there is a story from the 40 years that the Israelites spent wandering in the wilderness about how they were plagued by a bunch of poisonous snakes that infested their camp.  People were dying from being bitten. 

God tells Moses to create a bronze figure of a snake or snakes, put it on a pole, and lift it up so that anyone who looked at it who had been bitten would be healed.  

For centuries, this symbol has become synonymous with healing. 

It seems kind of strange, doesn't it?  The bronze serpent displayed the very thing that had caused pain, suffering and death, but to face it, would bring healing.  

The symbol of the cross becomes a mirror; What do we see in it? 

Then Jesus tells Nicodemus: 

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

The grammar of John 3:16 - It changes things a bit.  

For God loved the world in this way, that God gave the one and only Son, so that everyone who trusts (and follows) Jesus will not perish but will have eternal (abundant) life.

Then there’s John 3:17 - why this should matter to us.   

If you believe John 3:16 is on an island, you miss what comes before and what comes after: self-awareness and grace. 

When people look at Jesus lifted up on the cross, they’re not just seeing one man’s suffering. They’re seeing a mirror.

On that cross is the destructive power of empire—the cruelty of systems that crush the weak. On that cross is the oppression we sometimes ignore, or even participate in, without thinking. On that cross is the violence that pulses at the heart of human society.

And on that cross, we also see our tendency to scapegoat—to place blame on the innocent, to let others carry the weight of sins that don’t belong to them.

The cross holds up all of this for us to face. It shows us not only what was done to Jesus, but also what we, as human beings, are capable of doing to one another.

The cross is the symbol of misplaced blame and oppressive violence, and it is the means by which we repent of the cycle of blame and violence. We cannot be healed from a disease that remains hidden. - Jennifer Garcia Bashaw

What Do We Learn Here?

1. Just saying the words doesn’t mean that you get it. 

We know the why and the who of eternal, abundant life, but we need to know the how: Grace that comes at a cost, of letting go of our poisonous impulses.  

2. Are we still participating in the destruction or trying to heal it?  

It seems clear to most of us that violence and destruction seem to be ruling the day.  What can we do to end it?  

3. There’s nothing exclusive about the grace of God.  

We need to disabuse ourselves of the arrogance and hubris that come with an exclusive faith.  We know that God's desire is to rescue all of us.  Can we leave it at that, and let God be God?  We need saving more than most people.  

THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP LEADS TO SELF-AWARENESS