John 15:1-8
Pastor Chris Tweitmann
It happens to all of us.
Part of a conversation or an incident is shared with us.
We read or hear the headline of a news report.
Perceiving we have the full picture of what happened or what was said, we move forward sharing this information with others even as we form our own conclusions. But a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.
In such situations, how many times have we later found ourselves passing along information or jumping to conclusions based on limited data? We are misquoting, misunderstanding, and misinterpreting what really took place or what actually was said. What we were given was taken out of context. What we took away from a single headline or snippet of a conversation was only part of a much larger dialogue or story.
If we do that in our everyday lives, how likely are we to repeat this same mistake when it comes to the Bible and more specifically, reflecting Jesus to others?
As Christians, we look to Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Our understanding of who Jesus is and how we are to follow Him as disciples, derives from what He said as well as how the scriptures anticipate and reveal Him. Therefore, the words of Jesus and the good news of the Bible may be the most important knowledge ever shared with us. And yet, both have been taken out of context or just completely misquoted.
Far too often our understanding of God and the Gospel have been shaped by things that are not from the Bible. For 2,000 years, Christ has been misquoted so often that many of us are more familiar with the words He never said than the words He did. In the wake of all this, God’s revelation of grace intended to convey love, hope and truth has become obscured. Words meant to give life and bring salvation have become twisted, leaving confusion, frustration and pain in their wake.
This Sunday we come to the end of a sermon series, “Jesus Never Said That,” designed to counter this reality. Together, over these last few weeks, we have identified and corrected words wrongly attributed to Jesus and the scriptures. In declaring what is not the Gospel, we have more deeply considered what is the good news of the Bible as revealed through Christ.
Long held assumptions have been challenged. Things we’ve told ourselves, heard from and/or said to others, we’ve learned not only did not come from Jesus, but are antithetical to the message of the Gospel. It has been a surprising and disorienting journey. It also has proven to be liberating and healing as well, as the gap between what we’ve always believed about God and what we’ve experienced with God has closed.
As we close out this series, we will be address one last thing Jesus never said. It’s about desire – specifically, the desires of our heart. Does Jesus promise to give us everything we desire? If we pray correctly, can we unlock and get exactly what we want from God?
The particular statement we will be focusing on is a big one. An entire theology has been cultivated out of this one idea. It is an idea supposedly rooted not just in something Jesus said but in several other verses from the Bible. But is it true? Does Jesus or the Bible say that? Or have we, once again, been jumping to a conclusion based on limited data?
There’s a lot riding on this one. Let’s make sure we get it right!
Grace to you,
Pastor Chris
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