Tearing the Veil

Tearing the Veil

This is a sermon that I gave at High Peaks Church in Saranac Lake, NY on December 4, 2011. It was my first. The source text was John 9:1-3, where Jesus and his disciples encounter the blind man by the side of the road. His disciples assume that his blindness is because he or his parents sinned. This is a common Old Testament thought, which I talk about in the message. I also talk about why Jesus tells them they are wrong. I gave this message for a class, but I chose this text, because it is what I myself have been through. I have had people tell me that it was because I hadn't accepted Christ as my personal savior. I even got that from people after I got saved. A huge problem today with my fellow Christians is that they tend to cite only the Old Testament. When the veil was torn, a new covenant came to be. The old has gone, the new has come. Homosexuality, for example, is still a sin in the New Testament. At least, it is implied, which means it's open to interpretation; however, if you talk to the average Christian about it, they always cite Leviticus 18:22. They should try citing the New Testament; however, I see why they don't. There isn't anything in the New Testament that is anywhere near as explicit as Leviticus 18:22, hence the openness to interpretation. My sermon was about a couple of different things. It was an exhortation to do your best with the hand you're dealt and not play dead when an obstacle shows up. It was also an effort to get people to delve more into the New Testament. After all, the question we have to ask is "What would Jesus do?" He didn't preach messages of hate or defeat. He hung out with tax collectors and prostitutes. The Bible does say, "Be perfect as your Father is perfect." However, our perfection is not the same as God's perfection. Our perfection is purely legal. You follow the rules, you're perfect. But Jesus didn't follow the rules. He followed His rules. We need to stop using God to push messages of hate, and actually study the Word to see what it really says.