SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2008

THE SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT

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Dear Friends in Our Lord Jesus:

Over the centuries, a great many historians and theologians have made the shocking claim that the Christian faith is self-verifying -- that Christians themselves, by the way they live, prove the truth of their faith.

Think about it. There are, after all, few things more convincing than the countless stories about lives changed by the grace of God.

The modern evangelist Josh McDowell makes the same argument for the truth of our faith using the lives of the early apostles and disciples of the Lord Jesus as his case study. And he begins by asking this question: “What caused them to go everywhere telling the message of the risen Christ?”

Here is his answer: “Had there been any visible benefits accruing to them from their efforts -- prestige, wealth, increased social status or material benefits -- we might logically attempt to account for their actions, for the wholehearted and total allegiance to this ‘risen Christ.’ As a reward for their efforts, however, those early Christians were beaten, stoned to death, thrown to the lions, tortured, crucified. Every conceivable method was used to stop them from talking. Yet they were peaceful people. They forced their beliefs on no one. Rather, they laid down their lives as the ultimate proof of their complete confidence in the truth of their message. It has been rightly said that they went through the test of death to determine their veracity.”

He concludes in this manner: “It is important to remember that initially the disciples did NOT believe. But one convinced -- in spite of their doubts -- they were never to doubt again that Christ was raised from the dead” (McDowell, Christianity: Hoax or History?, 1989, Tyndale House).

The issue that confronts us today, as we make our way through the Season of Lent, is this: When people see the way WE live, do they see visible proof of OUR faith? Or, to put it another way: Can people see the love of God in our lives?

-- The Very Rev. Dr. Steve Sellers +