The drive home on Sunday (4/3) went quicker than expected and without much incident. We arrived home in plenty of time for me to clean up, rest, and prepare my heart and mind for the message I was to give that night at the 6:00 pm service.
My message was on living a life of purpose, a life given meaning by testifying to the truth of Christ and his love. Since we are in the Lenten season, the message was drawn from John 18:29-38 where Jesus stands before Pontius Pilate. In this passage, Pilate asks whether Jesus is a king. Jesus' response is amazing: "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world--to bear witness to the truth" (v. 37). What an amazing statement! Pilate, however, heard this and responded "What is truth?" and walked away, ignoring truth incarnate standing right in front of him.
From this passage I basically argued three points.
1.) There is Truth. Jesus can't bear witness to the truth if truth doesn't exist. This truth is absolute, coming from outside the world to change the world. It is a truth not affected by the world. It is a truth that was, is, and always will be true. It is a standard by which we can measure our life, the finish line at the end of our race. It is true. From this I argued against the relativistic, post-modern world. I argued that we needed to understand that there was truth before we could ever talk about purpose.
2.) Our purpose is to bear witness to the Truth. Just as we are slowly to take on the characteristics and personality of Jesus in our walk of sanctification, it makes sense that our purpose in life is like Jesus' purpose. So if He was here to bear witness to the truth, it makes sense that we are here to do the same. How we go about this took up the majority of my message from this point forward. I talked of how we could do all things in life with purpose and meaning if it were done with a heart of worship in love for God and our neighbor. After all, right after Jesus stated his purpose so categorically, he marched up a hill and committed the greatest act of love in the history of mankind. Thus, love has a lot to do with bearing witness to the truth. I won't go into all the details here of this point. You can listen to my sermon (linked below) for a fuller explication of where I took this.
3.) Don't be like Pilate and walk away. This was my call for response. I argued that our purpose is standing right in front of us. It is right here and right now. We need not ask questions of "where is God calling me?" and "what am I supposed to be doing for God?" God, I stated, would work out the specifics of our calling in his time and in his mercy as long as we were living a life which testifies the truth. We could grab that purpose now and apply it to wherever we were at in our walks. Don't walk away like Pilate, I warned. Commit to living a life of purpose and meaning here and now.
So that was the central scope of my message. If you are interested in listening to it, I have posted it online with some cheesy background pictures for atmosphere (thanks, Dad!). Here is the link: http://vimeo.com/22263980 . There is also a link on that page to the first sermon I ever preached at Hillsdale Free Methodist Church right before flying to Australia. You are welcome to watch that as well. Neither are great in my opinion, but I am trying my best. With two sermons under my belt now, I think I am well on my way to learning how to do it well. I am hoping that God has truly gifted me in this area.
I was so nervous about preaching the sermon in question though. This is partly because I vowed to do the whole thing with as little notes as possible. Thus, the sermon you hear is pretty much me preaching without anything in front of me. This is a huge step from my first sermon where I was tied quite a bit to my notes. To go from a bunch of notes to just a few scribbles on a page in my Bible is a big step. I was so nervous about forgetting stuff and not saying things the way I had planned them. After a few minutes, however, I fell into the flow of things and felt pretty comfortable with it. Of course, as soon as I was done my mind was racing over how many things I would have liked to say differently and what not. I will have to train myself to be content with what the Spirit laid on my heart during the message and not look back.
The sermon was well received by the congregation. I was quite happy to hear that people found it relevant and meaningful to where they were in their lives. Some even told me that I had them crying during certain parts. Praise God! The pastors here liked it as well. I am honored that they gave me their stamp of approval.
So that was my first sermon at Hope Valley. I will be preaching a couple more before I leave here and I look forward to growing in my abilities with each one.
After the sermon I went our with a few friends to the House of Pancakes, a local, 24-hour legend here in Adelaide. Though overpriced and nothing compared to American pancake places, I was quite happy to eat an old favorite and just chill with some wonderful people.
In Christ,
Chris
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