March 2024
Dear Friends,
This month, we will conclude our sermon series, 'Asking for a Friend.' This series was an opportunity for our church community to explore the challenging aspects of our faith that we might otherwise be apprehensive to discuss. It was a unique opportunity for us to ask and explore them together.
Along with Pastor Kirk and Pastor Alex, I enjoyed this series for many reasons. However, one reason shines most brightly as we approach Easter and celebrate our Lord's resurrection: it was an occasion to remember that God does not resent His children for asking challenging questions of faith, nor should we. Our sermon series embraced that truth.
In the United States, church attendance rates are decreasing, churches are closing, and fewer young people identify as Christian or even religious. In response to these discouraging trends, we must resist the urge to avoid problematic scripture verses, challenging questions of biblical teaching and history, and the implications of our ancient faith for an increasingly technological age. While it's true that these questions prompt some to deconstruct their faith, I tend to think that ignoring them is worse. Doing so signals that we lack confidence in the intellectual credibility of the Christian faith. Instead, I've seen how the robust and honest consideration of these complexities often deepens faith.
With that in mind, we remember this Easter season that the Christian movement began in and against a culture of profound skepticism. Its central claim, the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, was rejected by first-century Jews and Romans alike. Beyond that, confusion and doubt characterized even Christ's closest disciples after the crucifixion, not intellectual certainty. What led those first-century disciples to grow in conviction and number against all skeptical, even at times murderous, opposition? What eventually led many Jews and countless Romans to receive Christ as Savior and Lord? It sure wasn't ignoring the difficulties.
Indeed, the Christian faith did not become a global movement by avoiding difficult questions or changing its more problematic claims to make them more intellectually palatable or culturally acceptable. The New Testament describes how early Christians witnessed Jesus after His resurrection, struggled with significant questions and doubts, researched and studied the evidence until they found satisfactory answers, and ultimately gained genuine and unwavering confidence in Him as their resurrected Savior and Lord. This confidence was so strong that many of them were even willing to die for it, and as a result, the world forever changed.
And so, this Easter season, we do well to remember that God does not despise the sincere, even difficult, questions of His children. He uses them today, just as He has for millennia, to strengthen His people's understanding and convictions. Our age does not need a glossy version of Christian faith stripped of perplexity. Instead, it requires our continued and robust willingness to address the difficult questions of belief in God openly and honestly, trusting that Scripture holds internally coherent and intellectually satisfying answers to life's most vexing questions if we're bold enough in His love, grace, and mercy to seek them.
If you've not done so already, please plan to join us for Easter Sunday worship on March 31, 2024, at 10:45 AM. Whether in person or online, we look forward to worshipping with you.
He is risen!
Kevin Labby, Lead Pastor
First Free Church