Sermon preached by Pam Northrup at St. Philip Lutheran Church, Raleigh, NC. June 3, 2018.
Today, we begin a sermon series based on a book by Rev. Adam Hamilton called Half-Truths. In this series, we are looking at common sayings that are often associated with Christianity and said by many Christians. They are simple phrases. They even sound like something you might find in the Bible. They capture some element of truth – yet they also miss the point in very important ways, that’s why they are called “half-truths.”
Over the next several weeks, we’ll consider statements like: Everything happens for a reason. God won’t give you more than you handle. Love the sinner, hate the sinner. Money is the root of all evil. And, God helps those who help themselves.
This morning we begin with a saying that you might have seen on a billboard or bumper sticker: GOD SAID IT, I BELIEVE IT, THAT SETTLES IT.
People say this for many reasons:
- Maybe, they are asserting their belief in the Bible.
- Maybe they are declaring their complete trust in God.
- Maybe they believe that it’s the “right” way, or the “expected” way to approach scripture.
- Maybe they are uncomfortable with whatever is being talked about, so they fall back on “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.”
As true as the phrase “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.” might sound to us, the reality is that when it comes to speaking of the Bible, it doesn’t capture the whole truth about the nature of Scripture, how we read it, and how we apply it in our lives.
“God said it.” The challenge with this phrase is that it assumes that the words of Scripture were dictated by God to the biblical authors. This is an over-simplistic way of understanding God’s involvement with scripture.
Let’s look at a scripture from Deuteronomy 23:12-14. It’s here that we read the Bible’s teaching regarding relieving oneself. I’ll read it for us: “You shall have a designated area outside the camp to which you shall go. With your utensils you shall have a trowel; when you relieve yourself outside, you shall dig a hole with it and then cover up your excrement. Because the LORD your God travels along with your camp, to save you and to hand over your enemies to you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.”
While many of us read this passage when we were reading the Bible in 90 days, it doesn’t appear in our 3-year lectionary, so you probably haven’t heard a sermon preached on it. It probably wasn’t used in Vacation Bible School or a children’s Sunday school class. But, GOD SAID IT, I BELIEVE IT, THAT SETTLES IT. Right?
In the 1880s in America, there were preachers using this text in sermons because indoor plumbing was arriving and there were people who dared to suggest their churches would benefit by having indoor facilities. In the light of that potential debate, listen to this again from Deuteronomy 23.
Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself.
Imagine a preacher using this text in the sermon when there were people in the church who dared to suggest the church should put in indoor toilets. You can almost hear it, “But God has promised to turn away from us if you go to the bathroom inside the camp! The church is the camp and you can understand that God doesn’t want to see the indecent things that you will do in the bathroom so we’re going to keep the outhouses out back where they should be because the Bible says it, I believe it and that settles it!”
That may sound a little silly to us today, but it was a serious debate in the 1880s. Here is a passage of Scripture which seems to say that if God sees you going to the bathroom inside the church then you would not receive God’s blessing and God would turn away from you.
I’m not trying to make light of a passage that is certainly illustrating an important truth about God’s holiness, I’m simply pointing out that none of us have a problem interpreting this in a way that makes it non-binding to us today. If we are going to try to apply today’s phrase in a literal way, there are many other issues we will find in the Scripture that we are going to need to wrestle with.
There are verses in the Bible that prohibit the eating of shrimp, and bacon, and baby back ribs. That prohibits the wearing of clothing made of mixed fibers and prohibit men from trimming the edges of their beards.
According to Exodus 21:15, if a child ever curses his father or mother they are to be put to death. If they are persistently rebellious they are to be put to death.
According to Exodus 35:2 if someone works on the Sabbath—Saturday—they are to be put to death. So, anyone who worked at the Habitat build, or mowed their grass, or did their laundry, or cleaned their room yesterday – We’re all in jeopardy of death when you apply the statement:
God said it, I believe it, that settles it.
This approach to the Bible was used frequently in the 1840s, 50’s and ’60s by some preachers who argued that there were verses in the Bible which affirmed that slavery was part of God’s social order. Thankfully, we no longer interpret scripture in that way.
Some churches use verses from 1 Corinthians 14:33b-35 to guide how women are to behave at church. I’ll read it, “As in all the churches of the saints, women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak but should be subordinate, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.” Clearly, this is not the way the ELCA or our own congregation understands the role of women in the church. ?
So, from where to go to the bathroom, to what to eat, to the death penalty for ornery kids, to slavery, to what women can say in the church, we recognize that “God said it, I believe it, that settles it” doesn’t capture the complexity of biblical understanding and interpretation.
Several times in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is recorded as saying, “You have heard that it was said of old…” and then he quotes scripture or some part of the oral law or tradition of the Jews based upon scripture, and then he says, “But I say to you…” and he offers some alternative to what the scripture said or interprets it differently than people typically did. Even Jesus didn’t interpret the Law in a “God said it. I believe it, that settles it” kind of way.
In Acts, we read how Paul persuaded the apostles to see that the law of circumcision no longer applied, because Jesus made a new covenant with humanity, a covenant, not dependent on how well someone keeps the law, but a covenant dependent solely on the faithfulness of Jesus who established redemption, reconciliation, and restoration.
Paul, and the rest of the apostles, took the Hebrew Bible seriously, they believed God spoke through it, but they also vigorously debated its meaning in the light of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
The Gospel of John describes Jesus as God’s Word who became flesh, he is the definitive word of God. Jesus is the only inerrant and infallible word of God. God wrapped his message in human flesh, in the form of his son Jesus, so that when we look at Jesus we see God’s will, God’s purposes, God’s character.
One day Jesus was asked which commandment is the greatest. His response informs how I read and interpret scripture. Jesus said,
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Scripture is our book of faith. It’s not intended to be a law book, a history book, or a science book.
Scripture is the inspired Word of God. The Bible is a testimony of its authors who, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote to share their faith in and experience of God. The bible is a revelation of who God is and the extent God goes to bless and restore God’s creation.
Scripture carries the authority of being our defining story. It has authority, not because of The Book itself, but because we attest that through the hearing and reading of scripture, God speaks to us, comes to us.
Scripture is about God. Through our encounter of scripture and scriptures encounter of us, we come to a deepening understanding of how much God loves us. Scripture is meant to touch our hearts and stir our minds as God’s Holy Spirit grows us in faith. Through our encounter of Scripture, we are called, shaped, and equipped to serve God every day and in every way.
God said it. I believe it. That settles it.
Yes, God said all there was to say in the person of Jesus who showed us the heart of God, brought good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and freedom for the oppressed and whose death and resurrection brought salvation and reconciliation for the sake of the world.
Yes, I believe it. I trust in God’s unconditional grace which encompasses me and you, and all of God’s creation, not because of anything that I’ve done, or you’ve done, but only because of who God is and who I am and who you are as claimed and named, beloved children of God. And Yes, my friends, that settles it.