Through a Lens

Right now my lovely assistants are passing something out to you. It is a key chain and you are welcome to keep them. You’ll also note that they are colored over with dry erase markers, be careful not to rub the maker off - I’m going to make a point. If it’s going to be too tempting, set it on the chair next to you until you need it.

Bedrock of Truth

For those of you who didn’t know, I love mathematics. When I graduated from Vanderbilt I had double majored in education studies and mathematics - doing my best to take mostly theoretical courses like number theory, transformational geometry, and cryptography. And I’ve had people ask me what the connection is between my interest in math and my interest in theology is, so I’ve thought about it a little bit. The conclusion I came to is this, one of the things I love about theoretical mathematics is the truth of it. In math, for something to be “proven” you have to be able to prove that it has always been true, will always be true, and is true in all circumstances. For example, if you add an even number and an even number, it will always equal an even number. And I can prove that has always been true as long as we’ve distinguished even and odd numbers.

Theology is the same way, there is a truth to it. This book I hold is true. From beginning to end, the Bible is inspired by God and inerrant. When we start talking about our faith, about how we view the world, about how we live and think and act - here is where we start. This is the bedrock we build on.

I’d like you all to hold that key chain up to your eye and cover the other eye with your hand. Can’t see anything right? If I were to ask you to walk to the front of the room and pick up a candle, you’d stumble around and I’m guessing the best case scenario is you burn your hand. Going through our lives without being grounded in the Scriptures is a lot like that, you might could stumble around for a while but in the end you’re not going to get where you want to go.

The Gospel Truth

That’s why in this text Paul warns Timothy about people who teach different doctrines. He says “the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” But the question is sincere faith in what, we look at the world through this lens of faith but what is that? The center of our doctrine, of our faith is the Gospel in a narrow sense. The truth that Jesus Christ was born, lived, died, and rose from the dead. The truth that His work has reconciled us with God and secured a place for us in heaven. The truth that God loves you and forgives you of anything you’ve ever done wrong. That is the center, the core of our doctrine that we can never leave behind.

I’d like you to carefully remove all of the dry erase from the center of the key chain, leave the marker on the outside, but clear a space in the center. Now hold it up and cover the other eye with your hand. It’s a lot better than when it was colored in right? You can mostly see what’s going on and if I were to give you a task you could probably complete it. When we go through our lives being grounded in the Scripture and in the Gospel of Jesus, we see the eternal paradise ahead of us and things become much more clear.

It Matters, Until It Doesn’t

Now there’s a reason I only had you erase the center of the key chain. When you hold it up to your eye, it’s still pretty annoying to have that colored in ring. It still makes it harder to see. That’s because while the Gospel is the most critical, most central part of Christian doctrine, the other parts of doctrine still matter.

If you’re a Christian, the doctrine of what it looks like to live like a Christian matters - that’s why Paul calls the Law good. If you’re a parent, the doctrine of what it looks like to lead a family matters. If you’re a citizen, the doctrine of balancing the demands of an earthly kingdom with the demands of the heavenly kingdom matters. If you’re in a relationship, the doctrine of the relationship between men and women matters. If you want to be a better person, the doctrine of sanctification matters. If you want to seriously discuss ethics, the doctrine of imago dei matters. If you want to more deeply understand the human condition, the doctrine of simul justus et peccator matters.

As I was writing this sermon, my full intention was to continue my list of doctrines making them increasingly obscure as we went until we got to some that almost no one really cares about. But the struggle was, I couldn’t find them. Until we reach the point that Paul warns against, the point of “myths and endless genealogies,” each doctrine of our faith is connected to the others. And while you don’t need to know them all to see the way forward, they each matter to what we believe, how we act, and who we are.

I’d like you to remove the rest of the dry erase from your key chain. Now hold it up and cover the other eye with your hand. It’s even better than just when the center was clear right? When we go through our lives being grounded in Scripture and in the Gospel, with a growing understanding of the rest of our faith, we start to see the world around us more and more clearly through that same lens.

Shine, Polish, and Buff

But you notice that, even with all the dry erase marker gone, these acrylic key chains still don’t let you see perfectly clearly. Until Christ returns and we can ask him certain things in person, we’re never going to perfectly understand everything about the faith. But until then, we do our best to make sure the center is clear. We do our best to make sure that nothing in our lives obscures or distorts the Gospel, the message that Christ loves us, died for us, and redeemed us. And we continue to learn and grow, we continue to clear more and more off the lens, making our faith more clear and helping us to see the beautiful reality that God has in front of us.

And Paul even gives us some tips for doing this, our reading telling us to take care to follow good, faithful teachers. If you need to know where to start, start with the doctrines that are closest to you, closest to the center. If you’re a father, look for a faithful approach to fatherhood. If you’re a wife, look for a faithful approach to being a wife. If you’re an employee, look for a faithful approach to being in that position. If you’re a friend, look for a faithful approach to being a friend. Let your faith be the lens you use to look at life, and strive to make that lens as clear as you can. Amen.