Next sermon in the series of sermons on the ABC of faith, which will deal with the letter X

Coming Sunday, the Lord willing, in the series of sermons on the ABC of faith, I hope to deal with the letter X, to which I have allocated the active verb ‘to examine’. I realize this verb does not actually start with the letter X. However, I chose this verb, since it is closely connected to the word X-ray. We all know what an X-ray is. It is an examination of the body or of a part of the body as a diagnostic aid to show things, which otherwise would not be picked up by a doctor. Hence, in most instances an X-ray offers help for further treatment to become healthy again. Well, in a similar way an X-ray of our spiritual life can be very helpful too in order to enhance the health of our spiritual life.

In this series of sermons on the ABC of faith, the main accent is on the aspect that we must also live our faith. In the sermon dealing with the letter X, the question addressed will be, “Do we really live our faith, not just outwardly, but also inwardly in our thoughts, in the contemplations of our heart, when making decisions, for example? In all these things, do we really live our faith? Can it stand the test, when the light of God’s Word would penetrate our life like an X-ray?” In other words, the question is not what people can see, but what God can see, when X-raying also the things, which at times we neatly hide from others.

What would the picture of your life, your faith-life, look like when it would be X-rayed this way? We all know the answer. It would show a lot of dirt, a lot of things that should not be there, sins, of which others don’t know. We are all very good in putting on a nice front.

Hence, there is reason for self-examination. The text chosen for this sermon is 2 Cor. 13, 5, where we read the following, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.” The way in which the verb ‘examine’ is used in the original Greek refers to a continual examination. It means keeping continually an eye on our life whether we really live our faith on a daily basis. From the text we learn also that we are to examine ourselves not as to whether we have faith, but whether we are in the faith, i.e. whether we live our faith.

How are we to do this? The simple answer is by letting the searchlight of God’s Word shine into our life. It is – as I read it somewhere – giving thought to your life in the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified and this enlightened by the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us. When doing this, the picture of our life might show up more dirt then without this thorough examination. Yet, it is needed to see who we really are, who we really are, when God would search even our inmost thoughts.

 Is this a scary thought to you, to have your life X-rayed in this way? Let me tell you there is no need to be afraid of this. There is no need to be afraid of this, if we are willing also to confess our sins and to break with them and then turn to Christ.

This turning to Christ is referred to in the second part of 2 Cor. 13, 5 the text, where Paul says, “Do you not know yourselves that Christ is in you?” In our words, are you truly aware of Christ’s presence in your life? If so, we don’t have to be afraid of the outcome of the X-ray test of our spiritual life. For what is true faith? In  Art. 22 Belgic Confession it reads, “True faith embraces Jesus Christ and all His merits, makes Him our own, and does not seek anything besides Him.” Well, in order to see that we need Christ in this very first thing we need a clear X-ray of ourselves. It’s necessary exercise but also a very comforting exercise, since it will drive us to Christ and isn’t that what faith is all about.