James Duff October 19th 2014
Many claim C.S Lewis as the greatest and most influential Christian author and thinker of the 20th century. In his famous book Mere Christianity, he humbly writes: “All I am doing is to ask people to face the facts, to understand the questions which Christianity claims to answer. And they are terrifying facts. I wish it was possible to say something more agreeable. But I must say what I think true. Of course, I quite agree that the Christian religion is, in the long run, a thing of unspeakable comfort. But it does not begin in comfort; it begins in the dismay I have been describing, and it is no use at all trying to go on to that comfort without first going through the dismay.” Lewis begs his readers to first ask the tough questions, questions that are fundamental to understanding who we are and why are we here? Recently I was having breakfast with the CEO of one of the most successful home-grown businesses in Western Australia. We were able to ask each other tough questions that could potentially cause discomfort. I asked him to contemplate the question, Why are we here? His answer took me by surprise. I am paraphrasing his response: “When I contemplate that question with any real thought I become deeply depressed, so I’d rather just ignore it, claim ignorance and make myself busy.” Such questions do cause discomfort. Many people, like my friend, ignore them by putting them in the ‘too hard’ basket. But the big question still remains: Do we face what Lewis said are the facts, or ignore them? Jesus himself answers some huge questions, such as, Why are we here? How do we live? He answered these and other big questions by saying that there is a God who is not detached from the earth or humanity but loves it and us more than we can ever fathom. He said there is a God who is the ultimate parent, giving life to us all and calling people to enjoy His love and grace today and forever, individually and as community.Jesus also said that nobody experiences this ultimate reality unless they know him and his plea is for all to come to know him and experience life to the full.Is it true that to know Jesus is to know and live in ultimate reality? Was Jesus who he said he was, or was he the greatest con man ever, or was he just completely crazy? Let me paraphrase Bono the lead singer of U2: “To believe that Jesus wasn’t who he said he was just takes too much faith. To think that a madman or liar is God to over 6 billion people today and the billions who have lived is just too far-fetched for me.”This week we have three families who are dedicating their children’s lives to Jesus. They believe that knowing Jesus and living for him is the most important thing a person can know and experience. They are saying that they turn from trying to create their own reality and trying to make up their own world-view, to deciding to believe that Jesus is the Lord of the world and that he has called all people, whether rich, poor, old, young, sick, healthy, sad or happy to come to him, for he promises to give life to the full now and for eternity.There is so much more that I could say, but to finish I invite you to investigate the claims of Jesus. Are they a lie or are they true? My prayer is that through Jesus you may come to know the Father for the first time or, for others, to experience His love for us again today as we celebrate through baptism and dedication the love of God through Jesus. BlessingsJames