This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday November 30, 2008, the 1st Sunday in Advent.
Isaiah 64:1-9
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:24-37
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
If you’ve watched the news, read the paper, checked out a magazine, or surfed the web lately, you will have all of the evidence you need to think that the sky is falling.
Let’s start right here at home where David Davis Chevrolet has closed. Because of personal tragedy and a harsh economy, our local GM dealer has closed laying off twenty people. This isn’t a Yugo dealer; this is a Chevy dealer closing its doors.
Another victim of the economy is DHL Shipping which is closing its American operations. How bad does the economy have to be for a company to decide to close its American subsidiary and focus overseas? This may sound biased, but that’s not how I intend it. When a company decides every market it serves on earth is better than America, something’s happening.
A quick trip to the mall shows a bunch of stores in trouble. The stock price of Little Rock’s very own Dillard’s has dropped from just over $23 per share to under $4 in less than a year because their revolving credit line has dried up with JP Morgan. Other stores like Talbots, Pier 1, and Eddie Bauer are taking it hard too.[1]
Just to make all things seem even more wrong, Rite Aid pharmacy is on its way down the financial tubes. When a pharmacy is losing money, it’s no wonder financial pundits are crying like the sky is falling.
And to put the cherry on the ice cream sundae of disaster, a meteorite, estimated to be ten feet in diameter, fell on Alberta last week. One writer said that if it had been ten times bigger it could have wiped out Edmonton.[2] So literally, the sky is falling.
Speaking of Rite Aid, I don’t blame you for wondering if I haven’t gone off of my medication. The same thought crossed my mind. If nothing else, it may be time to get my meds adjusted.
Of course, we aren’t the first to suffer woes. In the time that Mark’s gospel was written, the church was facing difficulty. By this time, there were obvious differences between Jews and Christians.
Christians were being blamed for the woes of the Empire. Christians were made the scapegoats for Rome’s burning during the reign of Nero.[3] Leaders of the Church, including Peter and Paul, were being jailed and crucified. So it was no wonder that toward the end of this Gospel, there is significant attention to pain and suffering.
The siege of Jerusalem was just around the corner. About this time, the Jews had captured the Roman garrison complex at Masada. War and rumor of war were brewing. To the faithful, it must have seemed that creation was hanging on by a thread. Life as they knew it had changed upon recognizing the Christ and their responsibility to Him and His reign on earth. As their leaders were being beaten, tortured, and killed; turmoil was the order of the day.
I imagine to them it looked like the sky was falling. It’s no wonder bible editors call this passage “the Little Apocalypse.”
Many in this world are in situations not unlike the Christians of Mark’s day. We are at the end of our ropes. We are hanging over the abyss. Christians are facing loss of life and liberty across the planet. The name of Christ is being misrepresented in the name of war and in the name of commerce.
Mark describes this well, whether he intended his situation in 65 AD or ours today when he wrote,
“But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.”
These images weren’t lost on the people. They are from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Joel. There would be suffering and then the world will be in darkness. The laws of physics are suspended as all that we know as right is gone and even the powers in the heavens will be shaken. The sky is falling and we are at the end of our ropes; what shall we do?
What we should do is the scariest thing a 21st Century American can imagine. I say let go of the rope.
That’s right, let go of the rope.
You might well be thinking right now it would be an even better time for me to check my meds, and you may well be right. But before you think me cruel in my suggestion, let me make one more, we need to release all of the presumed control we have over our lives and the lives of others and release it right now. We need to fall into are the arms of the loving God.
Our reading from Isaiah confesses to the Lord “There is no one who calls on your name or attempts to take a hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us.”[4] “The Lord has delivered us into the power of our own iniquities.”[5] After this confession, Isaiah continues “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”[6]
Isaiah confesses the Lord hides from us because we have been delivered into our own iniquities, our own sins. Yet, we also confess that the Lord is in control and molds us as a potter molds the clay. When we drop into the arms of the Lord, the Lord will catch us and mold us.
Our reading from the Psalms is a cry for restoration;
“Restore us, O God of hosts;
Show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.
The psalm makes this plea three times. We beg for light from the face of God that we be saved. And surely this is true when we release our own concerns and take up the ones we are commanded to accept from God.
Paul’s writings in 1Corinthians go on to remind us that it is all right to let go of our ropes because what the Lord provides is so much better than whatever we scratch and claw. In Christ Jesus we are enriched in every way. We do not lack in any spiritual gift as we wait for the Lord to be revealed. In Christ we are strong so that we will be blameless on the day of the Lord.
Alfred Delp expresses these sentiments saying:
We must let go of all our mistaken dreams, our conceited poses and arrogant gestures, all the pretenses with which we hope to deceive ourselves and others. If we fail to do this, stark reality may take hold of us and rouse us forcibly in a way that will entail both anxiety and suffering.[7]
When we hang onto the ropes of our concerns, worrying about falling into the abyss that is both the known and unknown terrors of our lives, we cling to nothing but fear and dread that one day we may fall.
We fear that we may become victims of what our lives have in store for us. And this is surely why we are called to release our expectations and be molded into the life the Lord intends. We are to use the gifts God has given us. We are to use them seeking restoration of God’s good creation. To do this, we are called to be aware.
We are called to be aware because we do not know when the time will come. So as we drop from our ropes, we are called to keep alert because Jesus is coming. And as we read last week, we know the Lord is here now. We fall into the arms of the ever-loving God when we serve the poor which we do today in our tithes and next week in the Two-Cents-a-Meal offering.[8]
We read from Matthew’s gospel last week, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Walter J. Burghardt said, “Here is your Advent: Make the Christ who has come a reality, a living light, in your life and in some other life. Give of yourself… to one dark soul… with no conditions”[9]
The Advent of the Lord is coming, literally. You see, Advent comes from the Latin for “coming.” Jesus has come. Jesus is here now. Jesus will come again.
Given the way the sky is falling, this is our only hope, the hope of all Christians. In the words of William Sloane Coffin, “hope is what’s still there when all your worst fears have been realized.”[10] So be hopeful; and take heed, keep on the alert; for we do not know when the appointed time will come.
[1] AOL Money and Finance, “Big Retailers Which May Close or Downsize,” http://money.aol.com/investing/big-retailers-which-may-close-or-downsize?photo=1, retrieved November 27, 2008
[2] Easterbrook, Gregg, http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/081125&campaign=rsssrch&source=page2, retrieved November 28, 2008.
[3] New Interpreter’s Study Bible, vol. viii. Leander Keck, General Editor, Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1995, pages 514-515,
[4] Isaiah 64:7a New Revised Standard Version
[5] Isaiah 64:7b, New American Standard Bible
[6] Isaiah 64:8
[7] Delp, Alfred, The Prison Meditation of Alfred Delp. Herder and Herder, 1968, published with permission of The Crossroad Publishing Company in “An Advent Sourcebook.” Thomas J. O’Gorman, Editor. Chicago: Archdiocese of Chicago, Liturgy Training Publications, 1988, page 9.
[8] The Two-Cents-a-Meal offering, also known as the Cents-Ability offering is taken by the First Presbyterian Church on behalf of three hunger relief missions and collected by the Presbytery of Arkansas. A portion of our regular tithes and offerings also go to support the Salvation Army and the Loaves and Fishes Food Bank of the Ozarks.
[9] Burghardt, Walter J., “Sir, We Would Like to See Jesus.” Paulist Press, 1982 in “An Advent Sourcebook.” Thomas J. O’Gorman, Editor. Chicago: Archdiocese of Chicago, Liturgy Training Publications, 1988, page 9.
[10] Coffin, William Sloane, The Collected Sermons of William Sloane Coffin, The Riverside Years, Volume 1, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008, page 137.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Rabbit Trails
This sermon that was heard at the First Presbyterian Church on Sunday November 23, 2008, Christ the King/Reign of Christ Sunday, the 34th and last Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
Psalm 100
Ephesians 1:15-23
Matthew 25:31-46
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
In geometry, a line that intersects a curve at only one point is called a tangent line, a tangent for short. The single point where they touch is the tangent point. The most common way of drawing a tangent line is to draw a circle and then draw a straight line that touches the circle just once. Look out though, if the line intersects the curve at two points, it’s not a tangent anymore, it’s a secant.
Of course this is the easy way to describe a tangent. There are tangents in three dimensions, like where a ball touches the floor, that’s a tangent plane with its single tangent point. Actually, the line doesn’t have to be straight; a tangent point exists even when two circles touch at only one point. The curve doesn’t even have to be a circle, but that’s most familiar. It could be an ellipse, or a parabola, or a cone, or whatever other curved geometric figure you have in mind.
This is just the middle school geometry description of a tangent. This doesn’t include the tangent in trigonometry. In trig functions, on a triangle, the tangent of an angle is the ratio of the length of the opposite side to the length of the adjacent side. In fact, there is even a secant in trigonometry. That’s the ratio of the length of the hypotenuse to the length of the adjacent side, which is the reciprocal of the equation used to find the cosine.
If you are wondering just what in the name of all that’s holy I’m doing reading from an ACT/SAT prep manual you have every right. I am trying to make a point. The point being that in rhetoric, a tangent is a line of reasoning that goes off of the main thought. Sure, it touches at one point, but from there it’s off into the wild blue yonder, just like how a tangent line touches the curve.
Notice I started with one description of a tangent, a very simple one, and then took it all over the place. So not only did I explain two types of mathematical tangents, I used my description of mathematical tangents to create a description of a rhetorical tangent. That’s going off on a tangent. So let me get back to the main thought.
When reading this passage from Matthew’s gospel, one of the things that grabs me and demands my attention is the wonderful imagery. The pictures drawn by the mind’s eye are bold and vivid. Who doesn’t imagine something that Cecil B. De Mille couldn’t put on screen in “The Ten Commandments”? I see a valley, like the one off of the highway by the Bluebird outside of Eureka Springs. I imagine the throne of glory in the field, a fog settling around on a cool crisp morning. Like ants marching across the plain, I imagine the procession of sheep and goats making their joyful way to the Lord in his glory.
This may be the image most commonly associated with this passage, the sheep and the goats. The people of the church often see this part of the passage envisioning themselves as the sheep, with concern and even pity for those goats who will go away into eternal punishment. The weeping and gnashing of teeth thing we read last week has new urgency when we read about eternal punishment. It’s very, very scary.
We hear from the Lord who sits upon the throne of his glory that he will put the sheep at his right hand where they are blessed by the Father and will inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world for they fed the Son of Man when hungry, gave drink when thirsty, welcomed him when a stranger. They gave him clothing when naked, took care of him when ill, and visited while in prison. In very real ways, they carried the Lord when the Lord needed carrying.
“When, oh when did we do this?” the sheep ask. “When you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family.” the Lord answers.
It is impossible not to feel a glow right now. The sheep of the fold, the Church of the Lord, not any individual denomination or sect, but the entire universal church is blessed by the word and hand of the God through the work done on behalf of the Son of Man. We inherit the kingdom by the work we do for God.
This is the tangent. This isn’t the whole circle; this is the one point that touches the circle before going off into Euclidian eternity. This isn’t the main point; this is just one of many.
The point of doing good works, the point of helping the poor is not to earn the kingdom. We can’t do enough to earn this reward. We can’t hope to do enough for a “passing grade” letting Mother Teresa and Billy Graham get the A-plusses. We are called to follow the path of justice not for a holy reward but because that is where the Son of Man is now.
There’s always a lot of talk in the church about eternal salvation and the heavenly reward. These things are wonderful and glorious, but this glimpse of tomorrow must not become a barrier stopping us from going and working where our Lord is today. We live for tomorrow, but we must live today. Today there is pain and suffering, and where pain and suffering exists, the Son of Man is there, and the Son wants his children to be there too.
Another diversion from helping the sick, the poor, and the incarcerated is actually rooted in the vision of watching the sheep and the goats on their way across the valley floor. Sheep have been the symbol of God’s people since the days of the prophet Isaiah. We have become sheep as the adopted children of God at the foot of the cross through the blood of the Son of Man.
So when we sheep look at the goats wandering across the floor of the valley, sitting at the left hand of the throne of glory, we look upon them with compassion and with pity. This is dangerous. This judgment upon the goats is not for you us make.
It is not up to us to separate the sheep from the goats, even in our mind’s eye. This is the job of the sovereign God who comes to judge the nations. We are not worthy to make the final judgment about who is a sheep and who is a goat. Our sight is flawed; it is colored by the shroud of sin that covers all humanity.
Yet we make judgments and in our world we must. While the final judgment of the nations is not ours, we are called to make some judgments. This passage teaches us our vocation is to follow the call of the Lord to serve the distressed. If we did not make any judgments, we would not follow where the Lord leads. This sort of judgment is not of other’s personal or religious values, but of our vocational discernment. We are to follow what is good, what is right, what is just, what is Godly. But the judgment we make is provisional. The final judgment belongs to the One who actually separates the sheep from the goats.
I have sent us down some rabbit trails; I have hopped us from one subject to another jumping all around the point. I have done it quite intentionally because these two items, inheriting the kingdom and separating the sheep from the goats, seem like big things in this part of Matthew’s gospel. For us, they aren’t.
Today we celebrate Christ the King Sunday, the Sunday of the Reign of God. Today we celebrate that God is in charge and we are not. Christ is King and we are the humble subjects. We are not to separate the sheep from the goats. We are not to wait for the coming kingdom like we are waiting on a bus. We are to follow our Lord, and the Son of Man makes it clear that he is with the poor, the sick, and the naked.
We are to start giving praise with the word that begins this passage: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory.” The word is “when,” not “if.” This is the wonderful and glorious reassurance that the Son of Man comes. His coming is not conditional. This isn’t a maybe; it’s a someday. It is the assurance that the Son of Man will come in his glory, and with all of his angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.
Until he comes again in his glory, we are to come to him in his anguish. Not because it is good for us, not because we will enter into the kingdom, we are to do this because it is as our Christ the King commands. Serving those who need, we serve the one who will come in glory.
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
Psalm 100
Ephesians 1:15-23
Matthew 25:31-46
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
In geometry, a line that intersects a curve at only one point is called a tangent line, a tangent for short. The single point where they touch is the tangent point. The most common way of drawing a tangent line is to draw a circle and then draw a straight line that touches the circle just once. Look out though, if the line intersects the curve at two points, it’s not a tangent anymore, it’s a secant.
Of course this is the easy way to describe a tangent. There are tangents in three dimensions, like where a ball touches the floor, that’s a tangent plane with its single tangent point. Actually, the line doesn’t have to be straight; a tangent point exists even when two circles touch at only one point. The curve doesn’t even have to be a circle, but that’s most familiar. It could be an ellipse, or a parabola, or a cone, or whatever other curved geometric figure you have in mind.
This is just the middle school geometry description of a tangent. This doesn’t include the tangent in trigonometry. In trig functions, on a triangle, the tangent of an angle is the ratio of the length of the opposite side to the length of the adjacent side. In fact, there is even a secant in trigonometry. That’s the ratio of the length of the hypotenuse to the length of the adjacent side, which is the reciprocal of the equation used to find the cosine.
If you are wondering just what in the name of all that’s holy I’m doing reading from an ACT/SAT prep manual you have every right. I am trying to make a point. The point being that in rhetoric, a tangent is a line of reasoning that goes off of the main thought. Sure, it touches at one point, but from there it’s off into the wild blue yonder, just like how a tangent line touches the curve.
Notice I started with one description of a tangent, a very simple one, and then took it all over the place. So not only did I explain two types of mathematical tangents, I used my description of mathematical tangents to create a description of a rhetorical tangent. That’s going off on a tangent. So let me get back to the main thought.
When reading this passage from Matthew’s gospel, one of the things that grabs me and demands my attention is the wonderful imagery. The pictures drawn by the mind’s eye are bold and vivid. Who doesn’t imagine something that Cecil B. De Mille couldn’t put on screen in “The Ten Commandments”? I see a valley, like the one off of the highway by the Bluebird outside of Eureka Springs. I imagine the throne of glory in the field, a fog settling around on a cool crisp morning. Like ants marching across the plain, I imagine the procession of sheep and goats making their joyful way to the Lord in his glory.
This may be the image most commonly associated with this passage, the sheep and the goats. The people of the church often see this part of the passage envisioning themselves as the sheep, with concern and even pity for those goats who will go away into eternal punishment. The weeping and gnashing of teeth thing we read last week has new urgency when we read about eternal punishment. It’s very, very scary.
We hear from the Lord who sits upon the throne of his glory that he will put the sheep at his right hand where they are blessed by the Father and will inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world for they fed the Son of Man when hungry, gave drink when thirsty, welcomed him when a stranger. They gave him clothing when naked, took care of him when ill, and visited while in prison. In very real ways, they carried the Lord when the Lord needed carrying.
“When, oh when did we do this?” the sheep ask. “When you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family.” the Lord answers.
It is impossible not to feel a glow right now. The sheep of the fold, the Church of the Lord, not any individual denomination or sect, but the entire universal church is blessed by the word and hand of the God through the work done on behalf of the Son of Man. We inherit the kingdom by the work we do for God.
This is the tangent. This isn’t the whole circle; this is the one point that touches the circle before going off into Euclidian eternity. This isn’t the main point; this is just one of many.
The point of doing good works, the point of helping the poor is not to earn the kingdom. We can’t do enough to earn this reward. We can’t hope to do enough for a “passing grade” letting Mother Teresa and Billy Graham get the A-plusses. We are called to follow the path of justice not for a holy reward but because that is where the Son of Man is now.
There’s always a lot of talk in the church about eternal salvation and the heavenly reward. These things are wonderful and glorious, but this glimpse of tomorrow must not become a barrier stopping us from going and working where our Lord is today. We live for tomorrow, but we must live today. Today there is pain and suffering, and where pain and suffering exists, the Son of Man is there, and the Son wants his children to be there too.
Another diversion from helping the sick, the poor, and the incarcerated is actually rooted in the vision of watching the sheep and the goats on their way across the valley floor. Sheep have been the symbol of God’s people since the days of the prophet Isaiah. We have become sheep as the adopted children of God at the foot of the cross through the blood of the Son of Man.
So when we sheep look at the goats wandering across the floor of the valley, sitting at the left hand of the throne of glory, we look upon them with compassion and with pity. This is dangerous. This judgment upon the goats is not for you us make.
It is not up to us to separate the sheep from the goats, even in our mind’s eye. This is the job of the sovereign God who comes to judge the nations. We are not worthy to make the final judgment about who is a sheep and who is a goat. Our sight is flawed; it is colored by the shroud of sin that covers all humanity.
Yet we make judgments and in our world we must. While the final judgment of the nations is not ours, we are called to make some judgments. This passage teaches us our vocation is to follow the call of the Lord to serve the distressed. If we did not make any judgments, we would not follow where the Lord leads. This sort of judgment is not of other’s personal or religious values, but of our vocational discernment. We are to follow what is good, what is right, what is just, what is Godly. But the judgment we make is provisional. The final judgment belongs to the One who actually separates the sheep from the goats.
I have sent us down some rabbit trails; I have hopped us from one subject to another jumping all around the point. I have done it quite intentionally because these two items, inheriting the kingdom and separating the sheep from the goats, seem like big things in this part of Matthew’s gospel. For us, they aren’t.
Today we celebrate Christ the King Sunday, the Sunday of the Reign of God. Today we celebrate that God is in charge and we are not. Christ is King and we are the humble subjects. We are not to separate the sheep from the goats. We are not to wait for the coming kingdom like we are waiting on a bus. We are to follow our Lord, and the Son of Man makes it clear that he is with the poor, the sick, and the naked.
We are to start giving praise with the word that begins this passage: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory.” The word is “when,” not “if.” This is the wonderful and glorious reassurance that the Son of Man comes. His coming is not conditional. This isn’t a maybe; it’s a someday. It is the assurance that the Son of Man will come in his glory, and with all of his angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.
Until he comes again in his glory, we are to come to him in his anguish. Not because it is good for us, not because we will enter into the kingdom, we are to do this because it is as our Christ the King commands. Serving those who need, we serve the one who will come in glory.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Faithful-Good and Trustworthy
This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday November 16, 2008, the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time.
Judges 4:1-7
Psalm 123
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Matthew 25:14-30
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and redeemer. Amen
Last week, I promised you this would be the second of two stewardship sermons. As any faithful follower of November sermons is well aware, the stewardship sermon ends with the plea for faithfulness to the Lord through tithes and offerings throughout the year. I would say that the request is usually more subtle than that, but sometimes it isn’t. We all know it’s coming. We all know I will make the plea for increased offerings, so that part of the sermon is almost out of the way.
Let me now say thank you and praise God for your financial faithfulness. Many members of this part of the Body of Christ give very generously in their abundance. Many members of this part of the Body of Christ give as generously in their poverty. All members give generously as a faithful response to the glory of God by the grace they have received through Jesus Christ our Lord by the Holy Spirit. I rejoice and I give thanks that you are so very generous.
I have spoken of financial stewardship the past three Novembers, and this November is no different. I have written about stewardship and the financial needs of this part of the Body of Christ in the newsletter several times over the past three years. The last newsletter even had an emotional plea that could be titled “one nickel toward a million.” Just to add one more piece to the pie of asking, I am sure everyone has all ready found a copy of the “Estimate of Giving” form in the bulletin. You will be asked to fill it out and put it in the offering plate in about twenty minutes.
Let me also point out that we use “estimates” rather than “pledges” because it is more pastoral, especially after the way the economy has gone over the past twelve months.
So as I say this, I put these two thoughts together —you are very generous and the economy is tumultuous. I ask for more and if you can give more—then praise God, but I also know that many of you give all that you can, and even more than that. Many are like the widow from Mark 12[1] who gives her two pennies and can not afford to give that. Like her, you give in response not to my request but to God’s faithfulness. I could try to squeeze another penny out of you, but I know how hard you are squeezed.
As Forrest Gump often said, “That’s all I have to say about that.”
Matthew’s version of the Parable of the Talents is found every three years and always in the heart of Stewardship season. As I was thinking about the story, stewardship, and this part of the body of Christ; I have found five truths I want to share about this parable. Keeping with the parable’s common interpretation, God is represented by “the Master.”
First, each of the three servants received according to their ability. The Master goes on a journey and leaves behind eight talents in the care of three slaves. He doesn’t split them up so that each of them receives two-and-two-thirds talents apiece. He could have. There is no biblical reason why he could not have split them apart. So like the disciples hearing Jesus tell this story; we learn that there is meritocracy, people being rewarded according to their abilities. The Master trusts his slaves in proportion with what they have proven they can handle. Not everyone gets the same piece of the pie just because that’s the democratic way.
This doesn’t seem quite right to our sensibilities. We wonder how God gives to each of us differently especially since God loves us all equally. This passage does not change that at all. God loves us all equally and to a depth and breadth we will not begin to understand on this side of glory. God knows us and empowers us differently with the multitude of the spiritual gifts. So like the slaves in the parable we receive God’s gifts differently. Then we are called to serve the Lord uniquely.
The next thing that I want to share is that while it is true that the slaves received according to their ability, even the one who received least received an extravagant amount. Based on the price of silver on Wednesday morning, a single talent is worth just a little over $6,500.00.[2] While this is nothing to sneeze at, in the day of the parable this amount was even more valuable than it is today. This amount, one talent, $6,500.00, was the equivalent of twenty years wages to the average laborer.[3] (Inflation is a thing no matter how long ago you lived.) So while each of the slaves received different amounts, the amounts they received were more than they could ever imagine.
The lesson we take from this is that our God is just as extravagant with gifts. We are given more than we could ever hope or imagine. Our talents don’t always come in silver or gold, but they are given by the one who gives best, and they are wonderful and glorious.
So next, while what they receive is outrageously generous, in the words of the Master, what the slaves have received are “just a few things.” Based on twenty years of wages, the slave who received five talents was given well over $1.5 million. This amount is based on Berryville average wages. The national average would make the amount rise up to nearly $2.16 million.[4] This is an impressive sum. Give me the amount given the least capable slave, between $300,000 and $432,000, even I think I could pay off my student loans.
Yet, yet this is what the Master calls “just a few things.” From this piece of the parable we learn that as much as we think we have, to God this is just a start. What to us seems to be extravagant is a sample of the bounty of the Lord. We are often bound by our perceptions of what the Lord can do; limiting God by what we think God can or should do. This lesson is, trying as we might to put restrictions on God; the Lord blows through the limits of our expectations and experiences beyond what we can even dream.
We are told next that those slaves who made gains with the Master's assets were put in charge of many things and invited to enter into the joy of their Master. There is no telling what this meant, but if the Master’s idea of joy is anything like the master’s “few things” it would be outrageously extravagant.
In our Master’s world, we are given glimpses of the joy of God—shimmers of the bounty of God’s good gifts. These are a foretaste of the joy promised the faithful slaves of the sovereign Lord—the good and trustworthy servants. As God’s children, we are invited to come into the messianic banquet where in the presence of our Lord; we will rejoice and share fully in the Master’s joy.
Finally, in a strange sort of way, the servant's reactions to the Master reflect the Master's reactions to the servants; a form of self-fulfilling prophecy. While only the third slave said so, based on what the master said, I suspect he is a harsh man, reaping where he did not sow and gathering where he did not scatter seed; and all of them knew this to be the Master’s way.
Yet, in this fear, the first two responded to their master through diligent work, both of them doubling the amounts they were entrusted. The third was so afraid he simply chose to hide the assets, possibly hoping never to be bothered by them or the master ever again. Two worked and were rewarded with praise as good and trustworthy servants. The third, wicked and lazy, was punished; their prophecies fulfilled.
This portion of the parable is a walking, talking affirmation of the first Proverb, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”[5] All three feared the master as all of us should rightly fear the Lord. Yet the example we are to follow is that two responded beyond their fear while one cowered. The Lord is all powerful, and there is much we are called to do with what God gives us. We are to respect the Lord and fear the power. We are also to trust in the love, faithfully following where it leads us to work with what has been given us to increase the kingdom.
There is a wonder and glory in this parable along with deep shadows of darkness and despair. There is great joy and there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. There is judgment of how we work with the talents we receive. Yet as so much as knowledge begins with fear of the Lord, when we focus on the fear alone we become too frightened to move.
Yes, fear is one response, but at the traffic signal of life, fear is the yellow light, not the red. Caution is warranted, but focusing on the joy and plenty of God’s kingdom, instead of the harshness, we grow in faithfulness. We grow to be called good and trustworthy.
We receive all of these gifts and we are called to use them to increase them in the service of the Lord in God’s good creation. We all receive gifts and we are called to use them to increase them in the service of the Lord in God’s good creation.
While not a pun in ancient Greek, the cleverness of the English word talent is there for us. Whether the talent is financial or some kind of skill; we know that these talents are more than the gold and silver. They are also the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, and faith; the working of miracles, healing, and prophecy; discernment of spirits, and speaking and interpreting tongues.[6] These are the gifts of ministry, teaching in wisdom; exhortation, giving in generosity; leadership, and compassion in cheerfulness. [7]
Given the financial aspect of the parable of the talents, it is easy for us to slip into the possibility of seeing the gospel of prosperity, a “be faithful/get rich quick” scheme. This is not true. When they were judged, the slaves who used the Master’s talents and worked to increase them were welcome into the Master’s joy. Because we are gifted differently, this is true whether we begin with millions of dollars or two copper coins.
Looking at this parable through the glasses of stewardship, this parable tells us that stewardship isn’t so much about what we give—it’s about what we do with what we are given. It’s about taking the talents God gives us, English pun intended, and faithfully using them to the glory of the kingdom.
It is a call to us to look forward, see that we are given much, and see that the reward of faithful discipleship is more than we could ever hope or imagine. It is to recognize the gifts we receive and offer them to others. While we know that God’s judgment can be harsh, it is in trust that as the Master’s faithful disciples that we will be judged “good and trustworthy.”
Yes, this is where I ask you to fill out the “Estimate of Giving” sheets in your bulletin. If you haven’t done so yet, there is still time during the hymn. And as we discern what we are called to give, let us remember that what we are to give are from all of the talents our Lord endows upon us—not just silver and gold.
That’s all I have to say about that.
[1] Mark 12:41-44
[2] Actually $6,519.45. This figure presumes a mass of 20.4 kilograms of silver per talent (according to the New Interpreter’s Study Bible, page 382) and the kilogram has a mass of 655.88 ounces troy. The spot open for Silver in New York on November 12, 2008 is $9.94 according to http://www.thebulliondesk.com/ (retrieved November 11, 2008).
[3] Hare, Douglas R. A. “Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching.” Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1993, page 286.
[4] Computations taken from per capita income information for Berryville, Arkansas found at the US Census internet site, http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts?_event=Search&geo_id=&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=72616&_cityTown=72616&_state=&_zip=72616&_lang=en&_sse=on&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010&show_2003_tab=&redirect=Y retrieved November 15, 2008.
[5] Proverb 1:7 (NRSV)
[6] 1Corinthians 12:7-10
[7] Romans 12:7-8
Judges 4:1-7
Psalm 123
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Matthew 25:14-30
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and redeemer. Amen
Last week, I promised you this would be the second of two stewardship sermons. As any faithful follower of November sermons is well aware, the stewardship sermon ends with the plea for faithfulness to the Lord through tithes and offerings throughout the year. I would say that the request is usually more subtle than that, but sometimes it isn’t. We all know it’s coming. We all know I will make the plea for increased offerings, so that part of the sermon is almost out of the way.
Let me now say thank you and praise God for your financial faithfulness. Many members of this part of the Body of Christ give very generously in their abundance. Many members of this part of the Body of Christ give as generously in their poverty. All members give generously as a faithful response to the glory of God by the grace they have received through Jesus Christ our Lord by the Holy Spirit. I rejoice and I give thanks that you are so very generous.
I have spoken of financial stewardship the past three Novembers, and this November is no different. I have written about stewardship and the financial needs of this part of the Body of Christ in the newsletter several times over the past three years. The last newsletter even had an emotional plea that could be titled “one nickel toward a million.” Just to add one more piece to the pie of asking, I am sure everyone has all ready found a copy of the “Estimate of Giving” form in the bulletin. You will be asked to fill it out and put it in the offering plate in about twenty minutes.
Let me also point out that we use “estimates” rather than “pledges” because it is more pastoral, especially after the way the economy has gone over the past twelve months.
So as I say this, I put these two thoughts together —you are very generous and the economy is tumultuous. I ask for more and if you can give more—then praise God, but I also know that many of you give all that you can, and even more than that. Many are like the widow from Mark 12[1] who gives her two pennies and can not afford to give that. Like her, you give in response not to my request but to God’s faithfulness. I could try to squeeze another penny out of you, but I know how hard you are squeezed.
As Forrest Gump often said, “That’s all I have to say about that.”
Matthew’s version of the Parable of the Talents is found every three years and always in the heart of Stewardship season. As I was thinking about the story, stewardship, and this part of the body of Christ; I have found five truths I want to share about this parable. Keeping with the parable’s common interpretation, God is represented by “the Master.”
First, each of the three servants received according to their ability. The Master goes on a journey and leaves behind eight talents in the care of three slaves. He doesn’t split them up so that each of them receives two-and-two-thirds talents apiece. He could have. There is no biblical reason why he could not have split them apart. So like the disciples hearing Jesus tell this story; we learn that there is meritocracy, people being rewarded according to their abilities. The Master trusts his slaves in proportion with what they have proven they can handle. Not everyone gets the same piece of the pie just because that’s the democratic way.
This doesn’t seem quite right to our sensibilities. We wonder how God gives to each of us differently especially since God loves us all equally. This passage does not change that at all. God loves us all equally and to a depth and breadth we will not begin to understand on this side of glory. God knows us and empowers us differently with the multitude of the spiritual gifts. So like the slaves in the parable we receive God’s gifts differently. Then we are called to serve the Lord uniquely.
The next thing that I want to share is that while it is true that the slaves received according to their ability, even the one who received least received an extravagant amount. Based on the price of silver on Wednesday morning, a single talent is worth just a little over $6,500.00.[2] While this is nothing to sneeze at, in the day of the parable this amount was even more valuable than it is today. This amount, one talent, $6,500.00, was the equivalent of twenty years wages to the average laborer.[3] (Inflation is a thing no matter how long ago you lived.) So while each of the slaves received different amounts, the amounts they received were more than they could ever imagine.
The lesson we take from this is that our God is just as extravagant with gifts. We are given more than we could ever hope or imagine. Our talents don’t always come in silver or gold, but they are given by the one who gives best, and they are wonderful and glorious.
So next, while what they receive is outrageously generous, in the words of the Master, what the slaves have received are “just a few things.” Based on twenty years of wages, the slave who received five talents was given well over $1.5 million. This amount is based on Berryville average wages. The national average would make the amount rise up to nearly $2.16 million.[4] This is an impressive sum. Give me the amount given the least capable slave, between $300,000 and $432,000, even I think I could pay off my student loans.
Yet, yet this is what the Master calls “just a few things.” From this piece of the parable we learn that as much as we think we have, to God this is just a start. What to us seems to be extravagant is a sample of the bounty of the Lord. We are often bound by our perceptions of what the Lord can do; limiting God by what we think God can or should do. This lesson is, trying as we might to put restrictions on God; the Lord blows through the limits of our expectations and experiences beyond what we can even dream.
We are told next that those slaves who made gains with the Master's assets were put in charge of many things and invited to enter into the joy of their Master. There is no telling what this meant, but if the Master’s idea of joy is anything like the master’s “few things” it would be outrageously extravagant.
In our Master’s world, we are given glimpses of the joy of God—shimmers of the bounty of God’s good gifts. These are a foretaste of the joy promised the faithful slaves of the sovereign Lord—the good and trustworthy servants. As God’s children, we are invited to come into the messianic banquet where in the presence of our Lord; we will rejoice and share fully in the Master’s joy.
Finally, in a strange sort of way, the servant's reactions to the Master reflect the Master's reactions to the servants; a form of self-fulfilling prophecy. While only the third slave said so, based on what the master said, I suspect he is a harsh man, reaping where he did not sow and gathering where he did not scatter seed; and all of them knew this to be the Master’s way.
Yet, in this fear, the first two responded to their master through diligent work, both of them doubling the amounts they were entrusted. The third was so afraid he simply chose to hide the assets, possibly hoping never to be bothered by them or the master ever again. Two worked and were rewarded with praise as good and trustworthy servants. The third, wicked and lazy, was punished; their prophecies fulfilled.
This portion of the parable is a walking, talking affirmation of the first Proverb, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”[5] All three feared the master as all of us should rightly fear the Lord. Yet the example we are to follow is that two responded beyond their fear while one cowered. The Lord is all powerful, and there is much we are called to do with what God gives us. We are to respect the Lord and fear the power. We are also to trust in the love, faithfully following where it leads us to work with what has been given us to increase the kingdom.
There is a wonder and glory in this parable along with deep shadows of darkness and despair. There is great joy and there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. There is judgment of how we work with the talents we receive. Yet as so much as knowledge begins with fear of the Lord, when we focus on the fear alone we become too frightened to move.
Yes, fear is one response, but at the traffic signal of life, fear is the yellow light, not the red. Caution is warranted, but focusing on the joy and plenty of God’s kingdom, instead of the harshness, we grow in faithfulness. We grow to be called good and trustworthy.
We receive all of these gifts and we are called to use them to increase them in the service of the Lord in God’s good creation. We all receive gifts and we are called to use them to increase them in the service of the Lord in God’s good creation.
While not a pun in ancient Greek, the cleverness of the English word talent is there for us. Whether the talent is financial or some kind of skill; we know that these talents are more than the gold and silver. They are also the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, and faith; the working of miracles, healing, and prophecy; discernment of spirits, and speaking and interpreting tongues.[6] These are the gifts of ministry, teaching in wisdom; exhortation, giving in generosity; leadership, and compassion in cheerfulness. [7]
Given the financial aspect of the parable of the talents, it is easy for us to slip into the possibility of seeing the gospel of prosperity, a “be faithful/get rich quick” scheme. This is not true. When they were judged, the slaves who used the Master’s talents and worked to increase them were welcome into the Master’s joy. Because we are gifted differently, this is true whether we begin with millions of dollars or two copper coins.
Looking at this parable through the glasses of stewardship, this parable tells us that stewardship isn’t so much about what we give—it’s about what we do with what we are given. It’s about taking the talents God gives us, English pun intended, and faithfully using them to the glory of the kingdom.
It is a call to us to look forward, see that we are given much, and see that the reward of faithful discipleship is more than we could ever hope or imagine. It is to recognize the gifts we receive and offer them to others. While we know that God’s judgment can be harsh, it is in trust that as the Master’s faithful disciples that we will be judged “good and trustworthy.”
Yes, this is where I ask you to fill out the “Estimate of Giving” sheets in your bulletin. If you haven’t done so yet, there is still time during the hymn. And as we discern what we are called to give, let us remember that what we are to give are from all of the talents our Lord endows upon us—not just silver and gold.
That’s all I have to say about that.
[1] Mark 12:41-44
[2] Actually $6,519.45. This figure presumes a mass of 20.4 kilograms of silver per talent (according to the New Interpreter’s Study Bible, page 382) and the kilogram has a mass of 655.88 ounces troy. The spot open for Silver in New York on November 12, 2008 is $9.94 according to http://www.thebulliondesk.com/ (retrieved November 11, 2008).
[3] Hare, Douglas R. A. “Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching.” Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1993, page 286.
[4] Computations taken from per capita income information for Berryville, Arkansas found at the US Census internet site, http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/SAFFFacts?_event=Search&geo_id=&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=72616&_cityTown=72616&_state=&_zip=72616&_lang=en&_sse=on&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010&show_2003_tab=&redirect=Y retrieved November 15, 2008.
[5] Proverb 1:7 (NRSV)
[6] 1Corinthians 12:7-10
[7] Romans 12:7-8
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Bring Light into the World
This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday November 9, 2008, the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
Psalm 78:1-7
1Thessalonians 4:13-18
Matt 25:1-18
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Last weekend, Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels was the guest on Mike Huckabee’s Fox News TV show. They were discussing political humor during a campaign year. One of the things they agreed on is that all satire, particularly political satire, isn’t funny unless there is some truth inside the joke.
Every year I say that stewardship is about more than money. This is a very biblical interpretation of stewardship. I very strongly believe as the psalmist teaches, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.”[1] Yes, there is a focus on cash. Cash can be measured easily. Cash has to be reported to the Presbytery annually. Cash is one of the many ways humans, and particularly Americans, keep score. I have even spoken and written about that quite a bit lately. But in a turn away from the cash call, I have said that more than anything we can take to the bank, proper tithing must start with a change of attitude.
Still if your first responses to these thoughts on stewardship are “Circle the wagons! Grab your wallets! Hide the women and children!” I couldn’t blame you. I could even see this as a satirical skit on Saturday Night Live, the pastor drones on about stewardship as voiceovers of the congregation’s thoughts take center stage over the words of the preacher.
Well, as is so often the case, fools go where angels fear to tread and this year I am going to preach not one, but two stewardship sermons. This week we will explore stewardship through the parable of the twelve bridesmaids, or virgins depending on your translation, and next week it’s onto the parable of the talents.
As with all of the parables Jesus shares with his disciples, there are two things happening, the first is an artistic aspect. We read “the kingdom of heaven will be like this.” This means that the kingdom will be comparable to this description; it does not mean that the kingdom of heaven will be identical to this. We are not supposed to take this description literally.
There is a mythical quality to the artistic element of the parable. The tale Jesus shares with his disciples allows them to think, ponder, and dream beyond the limits they impose upon themselves. It shows us not just the vision of the words, it gives us something to consider beyond the words.
The second thing is that the parable’s situation is one that the people who originally heard this story would know. The disciples themselves would never have been bridesmaids, but they would have all been members of wedding parties at one time or another.
Several were married; Peter we know was married because Jesus healed his mother-in-law. I am reasonably sure all of them had been to a wedding banquet. John’s gospel even has Jesus’ first public miracle at a wedding in Cana. The disciples would have known the lay of the land of the wedding banquet.
Now there was one thing they would have had no problem with that I did. What exactly did Jesus mean when he said that they trimmed their lamps? If you are my age, “trimming the lamp” is as complicated as hoping the proper light bulb is in the cupboard. It’s as easy as making sure the flashlight has batteries.
It seems easy enough to all of us, trim the lamps means trim the lamps; it means to cut the wicks so that the burned stuff is gone and the wick is even. Marie Bolerjack told me that if the lamp is not trimmed properly, it will smoke when it burns and soot builds on the globe. If not trimmed properly, not only will the amount of light the lamp emits be dimmed, the lamp will probably burn more oil and could be dangerous.
Oddly though, the Greek word translated “trimmed” means more than just preparing a wick for burning.[2] Everywhere else in the New Testament, this word means to adorn or to put in order. Since I don’t think any of the bridesmaids were using the bedazzler on their lamps, I don’t think adorn is a proper translation. A more appropriate translation choice could have been to put their lamps in order before the bridegroom arrives. Trimming the wicks as we understand it would be a part of putting the lamps in order, but there is more than that. Another part of trimming the lamps would be filling them with oil.
This is where we separate the wise bridesmaids from the foolish. Nobody wise would have traveled with their lamps filled with oil. The lamp of the day was open at the top. The oil would not be in a closed oil well like globe or hurricane style lanterns. Sloshing and spilling would have emptied the lamp long before they reached the door where they waited. A wise bridesmaid would have carried her oil in a separate sealed container and added it when the time was right. This would have been wise.
Perhaps this is the foolish bridesmaids’ foolishness. Maybe they carried their oil in their lamps, spilling along the way to guarantee that there would be nothing left in their lamps by the time they reached their destination.
Only the wise five that remained, the five that carried the light, were invited to enter the wedding banquet. The other foolish five were waking shopkeepers; maybe one at a time, maybe five at a time; seeking oil for their lamps.
Only the five that had put their lamps in order before reaching the bridegroom’s door were invited to enter the banquet. When the other five arrived with their lamps burning they were denied entrance to the banquet. The master saying, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” To me, this describes the element of stewardship we must acknowledge today, what does it mean to put our lamps in order?
The obvious place to look at this is in the last verse of our gospel reading where Jesus gave his disciples this warning: “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Some ancient authorities go as far as to say “you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” This translation bugs me though. Whether the bridesmaids entered the banquet or not had nothing to do with them being awake or asleep. All of them slept, all of them were awake when the bridegroom arrived. The difference was not whether one was awake or not, it was whether they were prepared or not. So simply being awake doesn’t seem to describe the difference well enough.
But another way this can be translated is that Jesus warned his disciples not just to be awake, but to be alive, to be fully alive.[3] Jesus wants more than warm bodies. He wants the church to be filled with people who are more than just awake. Awake is a threshold; alive, truly alive is what he wants the church to be.
Our Lord calls us to aspire to and to work toward the life He gives us and calls us to live; to be good stewards of the life, the world, and the gifts we have been given. Our goal, our call, our vocation is be the light of God in the world and to bring light into the world.
The most common way we bring the light is by doing good works. Praise God this part of the body of Christ does many good works in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the last year, we delivered 360 backpacks filled with school supplies to the Loaves and Fishes Food Bank for needy children in Carroll County. Some members also contribute their time and their vehicle to the Food Bank.
We have opened our doors for community worship services and for civic organizations. We contribute time and money to Presbyterian seminaries and Hispanic ministry in northwest Arkansas.
We work to fight hunger and do the work of the greater church, including Presbyterian Disaster Relief, through contributions to the Presbytery. We give time and energy to many good causes for the glory of our Father who is in heaven. But there is more, oh so much more we can do and need to do.
One thing we all need to do more of is to share worship. Here’s an uncomfortable question, “When was the last time you invited someone to come and worship with this part of the body of Christ?” Mike Nelson tells this story about this:
When I was interning at a Lutheran Church in north Minneapolis, I had the privilege of sharing an office with Bob Evans, a retired pastor who served our congregation as voluntary “evangelism consultant.”
One week he had an insert run off for the Sunday worship bulletin that simply stated, “Surveys show that the average Lutheran invites someone to church once every 14 years.”
At the bottom he asked the tongue-in-cheek question: “How many of you are past due?”[4]
This is just one way we can trim the lamps of our lives. Don’t misunderstand me, I know that inviting someone to worship may cost more than we will ever find in our bank accounts. Inviting others puts us individually and corporately on display. It puts us on the line to show that we worship and work for the glory of God in the world. What could cost us more than that?
This parable is loaded with many symbols. When this gospel was written these elements would have been important to all of its listeners. Jesus is known far and wide as the bridegroom. While not mentioned by name in this parable, the church is called the Bride of Christ. The wedding banquet refers to the anticipated Messianic Banquet; a great feast for the faithful in the age to come that was a feature in Jewish and Christian speculation about the end time.[5] Oil is often used in scripture and in worship to represent the Holy Spirit. But frankly, there isn’t a scriptural parabolic use of bridesmaids. Interpreters instead liken them to the members of the church who will be sorted like the sheep and the goats in the end times.[6]
The symbols are glorious and illuminating, but there is still that same old problem of reading parables like watching “The Da Vinci Code” filling in scriptural allusions like watching Tom Hanks fill in the blanks of Dan Brown’s prose.
What we can say is that the kingdom of heaven will be like a great banquet. A banquet the Lord our God hosts when all of creation is put into order. When through the Holy Spirit we work to do God’s will to put creation into order.
Another interesting thing about the word English bibles translate as trimmed is that it comes from the same root word as the words for world, earth, and ultimately creation; the sum of everything here and now, all of the cosmos. In the common use of the word, it pointed to an orderly creation, a universe where all is beautiful.[7] So as the earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, all of what is good and ordered and created is from and for the Lord. As we trim the lamps of our lives, we participate in making the orderly creation which God envisions. As we trim the lamps of our lives, we work to bring back toward Eden the creation our Lord began.
So this is our goal, this is our endeavor; this is how we serve as good stewards over God’s creation. We let our light shine before others, that they may see our good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven.[8]
[1] Psalm 24:1, NRSV
[2] Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Gerhard Kittel, editor. Vol. III. Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans, 1965, page 867.
[3] gragorew, “A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature.” Revised and edited by Frederick William Danker, Editor, based on Walter Bauer's Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der frühchristlichen Literatur, sixth edition, ed. Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland, with Viktor Reichmann and on previous English editions by W.F.Arndt, F.W.Gingrich, and F.W.Danker. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, electronic edition 2000
[4] HomileticsOnline.com, Timothy F. Merrill, Executive Editor, http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/illustration_search.asp?keywords=invite , retrieved November 8, 2008.
[5] Messianic Banquet, Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible
[6] New Interpreter’s Bible, v. viii, Leander Keck, General Editor. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995, page 450 and HomileticsOnline.com, http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/btl_display.asp?installment_id=93000101, retrieved November 5, 2008.
[7] Kittel, page 868-880
[8] From The Second Helvetic Confession, Chapter XVI - Of Faith and Good Works, and of Their Reward, and of Man's Merit, paragraph 6..
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
Psalm 78:1-7
1Thessalonians 4:13-18
Matt 25:1-18
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Last weekend, Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels was the guest on Mike Huckabee’s Fox News TV show. They were discussing political humor during a campaign year. One of the things they agreed on is that all satire, particularly political satire, isn’t funny unless there is some truth inside the joke.
Every year I say that stewardship is about more than money. This is a very biblical interpretation of stewardship. I very strongly believe as the psalmist teaches, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.”[1] Yes, there is a focus on cash. Cash can be measured easily. Cash has to be reported to the Presbytery annually. Cash is one of the many ways humans, and particularly Americans, keep score. I have even spoken and written about that quite a bit lately. But in a turn away from the cash call, I have said that more than anything we can take to the bank, proper tithing must start with a change of attitude.
Still if your first responses to these thoughts on stewardship are “Circle the wagons! Grab your wallets! Hide the women and children!” I couldn’t blame you. I could even see this as a satirical skit on Saturday Night Live, the pastor drones on about stewardship as voiceovers of the congregation’s thoughts take center stage over the words of the preacher.
Well, as is so often the case, fools go where angels fear to tread and this year I am going to preach not one, but two stewardship sermons. This week we will explore stewardship through the parable of the twelve bridesmaids, or virgins depending on your translation, and next week it’s onto the parable of the talents.
As with all of the parables Jesus shares with his disciples, there are two things happening, the first is an artistic aspect. We read “the kingdom of heaven will be like this.” This means that the kingdom will be comparable to this description; it does not mean that the kingdom of heaven will be identical to this. We are not supposed to take this description literally.
There is a mythical quality to the artistic element of the parable. The tale Jesus shares with his disciples allows them to think, ponder, and dream beyond the limits they impose upon themselves. It shows us not just the vision of the words, it gives us something to consider beyond the words.
The second thing is that the parable’s situation is one that the people who originally heard this story would know. The disciples themselves would never have been bridesmaids, but they would have all been members of wedding parties at one time or another.
Several were married; Peter we know was married because Jesus healed his mother-in-law. I am reasonably sure all of them had been to a wedding banquet. John’s gospel even has Jesus’ first public miracle at a wedding in Cana. The disciples would have known the lay of the land of the wedding banquet.
Now there was one thing they would have had no problem with that I did. What exactly did Jesus mean when he said that they trimmed their lamps? If you are my age, “trimming the lamp” is as complicated as hoping the proper light bulb is in the cupboard. It’s as easy as making sure the flashlight has batteries.
It seems easy enough to all of us, trim the lamps means trim the lamps; it means to cut the wicks so that the burned stuff is gone and the wick is even. Marie Bolerjack told me that if the lamp is not trimmed properly, it will smoke when it burns and soot builds on the globe. If not trimmed properly, not only will the amount of light the lamp emits be dimmed, the lamp will probably burn more oil and could be dangerous.
Oddly though, the Greek word translated “trimmed” means more than just preparing a wick for burning.[2] Everywhere else in the New Testament, this word means to adorn or to put in order. Since I don’t think any of the bridesmaids were using the bedazzler on their lamps, I don’t think adorn is a proper translation. A more appropriate translation choice could have been to put their lamps in order before the bridegroom arrives. Trimming the wicks as we understand it would be a part of putting the lamps in order, but there is more than that. Another part of trimming the lamps would be filling them with oil.
This is where we separate the wise bridesmaids from the foolish. Nobody wise would have traveled with their lamps filled with oil. The lamp of the day was open at the top. The oil would not be in a closed oil well like globe or hurricane style lanterns. Sloshing and spilling would have emptied the lamp long before they reached the door where they waited. A wise bridesmaid would have carried her oil in a separate sealed container and added it when the time was right. This would have been wise.
Perhaps this is the foolish bridesmaids’ foolishness. Maybe they carried their oil in their lamps, spilling along the way to guarantee that there would be nothing left in their lamps by the time they reached their destination.
Only the wise five that remained, the five that carried the light, were invited to enter the wedding banquet. The other foolish five were waking shopkeepers; maybe one at a time, maybe five at a time; seeking oil for their lamps.
Only the five that had put their lamps in order before reaching the bridegroom’s door were invited to enter the banquet. When the other five arrived with their lamps burning they were denied entrance to the banquet. The master saying, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” To me, this describes the element of stewardship we must acknowledge today, what does it mean to put our lamps in order?
The obvious place to look at this is in the last verse of our gospel reading where Jesus gave his disciples this warning: “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Some ancient authorities go as far as to say “you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” This translation bugs me though. Whether the bridesmaids entered the banquet or not had nothing to do with them being awake or asleep. All of them slept, all of them were awake when the bridegroom arrived. The difference was not whether one was awake or not, it was whether they were prepared or not. So simply being awake doesn’t seem to describe the difference well enough.
But another way this can be translated is that Jesus warned his disciples not just to be awake, but to be alive, to be fully alive.[3] Jesus wants more than warm bodies. He wants the church to be filled with people who are more than just awake. Awake is a threshold; alive, truly alive is what he wants the church to be.
Our Lord calls us to aspire to and to work toward the life He gives us and calls us to live; to be good stewards of the life, the world, and the gifts we have been given. Our goal, our call, our vocation is be the light of God in the world and to bring light into the world.
The most common way we bring the light is by doing good works. Praise God this part of the body of Christ does many good works in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the last year, we delivered 360 backpacks filled with school supplies to the Loaves and Fishes Food Bank for needy children in Carroll County. Some members also contribute their time and their vehicle to the Food Bank.
We have opened our doors for community worship services and for civic organizations. We contribute time and money to Presbyterian seminaries and Hispanic ministry in northwest Arkansas.
We work to fight hunger and do the work of the greater church, including Presbyterian Disaster Relief, through contributions to the Presbytery. We give time and energy to many good causes for the glory of our Father who is in heaven. But there is more, oh so much more we can do and need to do.
One thing we all need to do more of is to share worship. Here’s an uncomfortable question, “When was the last time you invited someone to come and worship with this part of the body of Christ?” Mike Nelson tells this story about this:
When I was interning at a Lutheran Church in north Minneapolis, I had the privilege of sharing an office with Bob Evans, a retired pastor who served our congregation as voluntary “evangelism consultant.”
One week he had an insert run off for the Sunday worship bulletin that simply stated, “Surveys show that the average Lutheran invites someone to church once every 14 years.”
At the bottom he asked the tongue-in-cheek question: “How many of you are past due?”[4]
This is just one way we can trim the lamps of our lives. Don’t misunderstand me, I know that inviting someone to worship may cost more than we will ever find in our bank accounts. Inviting others puts us individually and corporately on display. It puts us on the line to show that we worship and work for the glory of God in the world. What could cost us more than that?
This parable is loaded with many symbols. When this gospel was written these elements would have been important to all of its listeners. Jesus is known far and wide as the bridegroom. While not mentioned by name in this parable, the church is called the Bride of Christ. The wedding banquet refers to the anticipated Messianic Banquet; a great feast for the faithful in the age to come that was a feature in Jewish and Christian speculation about the end time.[5] Oil is often used in scripture and in worship to represent the Holy Spirit. But frankly, there isn’t a scriptural parabolic use of bridesmaids. Interpreters instead liken them to the members of the church who will be sorted like the sheep and the goats in the end times.[6]
The symbols are glorious and illuminating, but there is still that same old problem of reading parables like watching “The Da Vinci Code” filling in scriptural allusions like watching Tom Hanks fill in the blanks of Dan Brown’s prose.
What we can say is that the kingdom of heaven will be like a great banquet. A banquet the Lord our God hosts when all of creation is put into order. When through the Holy Spirit we work to do God’s will to put creation into order.
Another interesting thing about the word English bibles translate as trimmed is that it comes from the same root word as the words for world, earth, and ultimately creation; the sum of everything here and now, all of the cosmos. In the common use of the word, it pointed to an orderly creation, a universe where all is beautiful.[7] So as the earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, all of what is good and ordered and created is from and for the Lord. As we trim the lamps of our lives, we participate in making the orderly creation which God envisions. As we trim the lamps of our lives, we work to bring back toward Eden the creation our Lord began.
So this is our goal, this is our endeavor; this is how we serve as good stewards over God’s creation. We let our light shine before others, that they may see our good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven.[8]
[1] Psalm 24:1, NRSV
[2] Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Gerhard Kittel, editor. Vol. III. Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans, 1965, page 867.
[3] gragorew, “A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature.” Revised and edited by Frederick William Danker, Editor, based on Walter Bauer's Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der frühchristlichen Literatur, sixth edition, ed. Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland, with Viktor Reichmann and on previous English editions by W.F.Arndt, F.W.Gingrich, and F.W.Danker. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, electronic edition 2000
[4] HomileticsOnline.com, Timothy F. Merrill, Executive Editor, http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/illustration_search.asp?keywords=invite , retrieved November 8, 2008.
[5] Messianic Banquet, Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible
[6] New Interpreter’s Bible, v. viii, Leander Keck, General Editor. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995, page 450 and HomileticsOnline.com, http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/btl_display.asp?installment_id=93000101, retrieved November 5, 2008.
[7] Kittel, page 868-880
[8] From The Second Helvetic Confession, Chapter XVI - Of Faith and Good Works, and of Their Reward, and of Man's Merit, paragraph 6..
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Exceedingly Ordinary
This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Chruch in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday November 2, 2008, the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Joshua 3:7-17
Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Matthew 22:34-46
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and redeemer. Amen
The pressure to be exceptional is a cause of many illnesses. When we put too much pressure on ourselves, we cause the stress in our lives to become amplified far beyond what is healthy. We make a swift move from the stress that we need in life to distress which can kill us.
What’s more, our attempts to be exceptional can actually lead to unhappiness. Lyndon Duke,[1] who studies suicide, has found that when people try to be extraordinary, nearly everyone fails. They end up feeling like losers for not being good enough, special enough, rich enough or happy enough. The result of trying to be exceptional is very often a life of unhappiness.
There has to be a better way. And fortunately there is; one that involves humility. Mr. Duke’s own story shows us the way.
Duke was moping around feeling unhappy one day, when all of a sudden he began to hear a neighbor singing while he was mowing his lawn. In a moment of clarity, he realized what was missing from his life: the simple pleasures of an average day. He realized that he needed to stop trying to exalt himself; simply accepting the ordinary life that he and his family had been given.
The very next weekend, he went to visit his son, who was struggling to excel in his first semester at college. Duke spoke very clearly to him, saying, “I expect you to be a straight C student, young man. I want you to complete your unremarkable academic career, meet an ordinary young woman, and, if you choose, get married and live a completely average life!”
His son, of course, thought he had flipped. But Duke was advising him to enjoy the height of humility; to be an average student, and enjoy an ordinary life.
The result of this advice was quite surprising. No longer feeling any pressure to be exceptional, Duke’s son did an average amount of studying for his final exams. His grades were outstanding: straight A’s.
He then called his dad and apologized.
This story points to the paradox of an average-life philosophy: If you focus on living an ordinary life, the cumulative effect of many average days becomes extraordinary. Little steps add up. Serving others produces great results. Those who humble themselves will be exalted, says Jesus. An extraordinary life usually begins with being exceedingly ordinary.
Notice this doesn’t say that we should be doormats for others. Jesus isn’t suggesting that we subject ourselves to abuse. No, he is saying that we should turn away from arrogance, and turn toward humility. Be a student he says; be a disciple of the Messiah, a humble servant. It’s through a life of ordinary service that we accomplish extraordinary things.
True story: Paul Farmer[2] grew up in a trailer park in Florida, went to Duke and Harvard Medical School, and earned an M.D. and a Ph.D. He could’ve decided to practice medicine in an elite and lucrative practice anywhere in the country, but in his mid-30s he was working in Boston for a third of the year, living in a church rectory in a slum, and the rest of the year he was working without pay in Haiti, providing medical care to peasants who had lost their land to a hydroelectric dam. In 1987, he helped to create a nonprofit organization called “Partners in Health,” with both medical and moral missions. By 2003, this group was treating 1,000 patients per day in the Haitian countryside, free of charge, and was also working to cure drug-resistant tuberculosis among prisoners in Siberia and in the slums of Peru.
The height of humility is a life of service that has created a world of good. And people have noticed this quiet work. Although not one to exalt himself, Dr. Farmer has received a “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation, and a $1.5 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize.
Of course, not all of us have degrees from Harvard and the resources of a genius grant. Regardless of who we are and how we make our livings, we can choose to live a truly humble life that is anything but average. Wherever we are on the socioeconomic spectrum, the words of Jesus ring true: “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
This certainly sounds simple enough. Of course, sounds like this are deceptive. The phrase “easier said than done” comes to mind. There is a lot of pressure, some of it comes from family, colleagues, peers, and neighbors; and the rest is the pressure we put on ourselves. It’s a deceptive thing to say that “we’re just trying to be the best people we can be; it’s not like we’re trying to be God.” And that’s the big trap; the one we may not even know has a hold of us.
We testify that Jesus is now and has always been fully human and fully divine. We testify that he is without sin; until he takes our sin upon himself at Calvary that is. Then he feels the all too human pain of rejection crying, “Father, Father, why have you forsaken me?”[3] Even knowing all of this, this is going to sound a little strange: Not only is Jesus more divine than we will ever be, he is also more human than we will ever be.
One more time, not only is Jesus more divine than we will ever be, he is more human than we will ever be.
Because of sin, we can never be fully human. There is eternally a separation between the humanity we experience and the experience of humanity our Lord created for us. This perfect humanity is the life Jesus lived. This isn’t another invitation for us to make ourselves into doormats. No body can be all things to all people; it isn’t in our make up. It isn’t an invitation to beat ourselves up because we aren’t perfect either. After all, we can’t be perfect. This is instead the time to know that we all have limitations, not one of us does not.
Here’s the invitation, we are to be all that we can be in Christ, because in Him we can do all things. It is when we try to be extraordinary in ourselves that we will be humbled. The call Jesus lays upon our lives is to live where ordinary faithfulness leads to extraordinary things.
To live a humble life, it’s important to avoid the three mistakes that the scribes and the Pharisees make.[4] First, they do not practice what they teach. They are hypocrites, saying one thing and doing another. If we are to be humble servants of Christ and have a positive impact on the world, we need to make sure that our deeds are in line with our words. This is true because in this world people are always going to be watching to see if we are people of integrity, showing consistency between our words and our actions.
Second, the scribes and Pharisees lay burdens on the shoulders of others, burdens they are unwilling to bear themselves. These religious leaders apply the ancient purity laws of the Israelites to the people as a whole. Jesus clearly considers this an unfair burden. When people are in need, it is critical for us to go beyond giving advice; we also need to lend a hand.
Finally, they do all their deeds to be seen by others; being more interested in appearances than in having a relationship with God. Seats in the synagogue, fringes on prayer shawls and broad phylacteries, or in my case a robe and stole, can all play a role in good and faithful worship, but they lose their value when they are designed to exalt the person who is doing the praying.
Earlier in Matthew, Jesus condemns those who “love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others.” Instead, he recommends to his followers, “Whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”[5] Worship is about connecting with God, not impressing other people.
Avoiding these traps helps us to live a humble life, one in which the exceedingly ordinary becomes truly extraordinary. Practice what you teach. Offer a helping hand. Focus on God. These three tips are deceptively simple but deeply significant. They lie at the heart of a Christian life which makes a positive difference in the world.
In the end, we don’t get anywhere by exalting ourselves. The only real lift comes from exploring our humanity and the heights of humility. Instead of following the example set by the religious teachers, Jesus urges the crowds and disciples to understand that the kingdom is marked by humility. Those who would enter cannot rely on their own righteousness or piety.
Those who follow Jesus must answer to one Father, and not revel in any honor due on earth. Those who follow the Son must recognize only one Master, the Christ. It is not possible to be both self-serving and to practice God’s commandments. Those who follow the Lord must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit, and not on personal authority or status. This kingdom, as Matthew reminds his readers again and again, is one of reversal: “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”[6]
[1] HomileticsOnline.com, http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/btl_display.asp?installment_id=93040416, retrieved October 20, 2008.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Matthew 27:45
[4] HomileticsOnline.com, Ibid.
[5] Matthew 6:5-6.
[6] HomileticsOnline.com, Ibid.
Joshua 3:7-17
Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Matthew 22:34-46
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and redeemer. Amen
The pressure to be exceptional is a cause of many illnesses. When we put too much pressure on ourselves, we cause the stress in our lives to become amplified far beyond what is healthy. We make a swift move from the stress that we need in life to distress which can kill us.
What’s more, our attempts to be exceptional can actually lead to unhappiness. Lyndon Duke,[1] who studies suicide, has found that when people try to be extraordinary, nearly everyone fails. They end up feeling like losers for not being good enough, special enough, rich enough or happy enough. The result of trying to be exceptional is very often a life of unhappiness.
There has to be a better way. And fortunately there is; one that involves humility. Mr. Duke’s own story shows us the way.
Duke was moping around feeling unhappy one day, when all of a sudden he began to hear a neighbor singing while he was mowing his lawn. In a moment of clarity, he realized what was missing from his life: the simple pleasures of an average day. He realized that he needed to stop trying to exalt himself; simply accepting the ordinary life that he and his family had been given.
The very next weekend, he went to visit his son, who was struggling to excel in his first semester at college. Duke spoke very clearly to him, saying, “I expect you to be a straight C student, young man. I want you to complete your unremarkable academic career, meet an ordinary young woman, and, if you choose, get married and live a completely average life!”
His son, of course, thought he had flipped. But Duke was advising him to enjoy the height of humility; to be an average student, and enjoy an ordinary life.
The result of this advice was quite surprising. No longer feeling any pressure to be exceptional, Duke’s son did an average amount of studying for his final exams. His grades were outstanding: straight A’s.
He then called his dad and apologized.
This story points to the paradox of an average-life philosophy: If you focus on living an ordinary life, the cumulative effect of many average days becomes extraordinary. Little steps add up. Serving others produces great results. Those who humble themselves will be exalted, says Jesus. An extraordinary life usually begins with being exceedingly ordinary.
Notice this doesn’t say that we should be doormats for others. Jesus isn’t suggesting that we subject ourselves to abuse. No, he is saying that we should turn away from arrogance, and turn toward humility. Be a student he says; be a disciple of the Messiah, a humble servant. It’s through a life of ordinary service that we accomplish extraordinary things.
True story: Paul Farmer[2] grew up in a trailer park in Florida, went to Duke and Harvard Medical School, and earned an M.D. and a Ph.D. He could’ve decided to practice medicine in an elite and lucrative practice anywhere in the country, but in his mid-30s he was working in Boston for a third of the year, living in a church rectory in a slum, and the rest of the year he was working without pay in Haiti, providing medical care to peasants who had lost their land to a hydroelectric dam. In 1987, he helped to create a nonprofit organization called “Partners in Health,” with both medical and moral missions. By 2003, this group was treating 1,000 patients per day in the Haitian countryside, free of charge, and was also working to cure drug-resistant tuberculosis among prisoners in Siberia and in the slums of Peru.
The height of humility is a life of service that has created a world of good. And people have noticed this quiet work. Although not one to exalt himself, Dr. Farmer has received a “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation, and a $1.5 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize.
Of course, not all of us have degrees from Harvard and the resources of a genius grant. Regardless of who we are and how we make our livings, we can choose to live a truly humble life that is anything but average. Wherever we are on the socioeconomic spectrum, the words of Jesus ring true: “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
This certainly sounds simple enough. Of course, sounds like this are deceptive. The phrase “easier said than done” comes to mind. There is a lot of pressure, some of it comes from family, colleagues, peers, and neighbors; and the rest is the pressure we put on ourselves. It’s a deceptive thing to say that “we’re just trying to be the best people we can be; it’s not like we’re trying to be God.” And that’s the big trap; the one we may not even know has a hold of us.
We testify that Jesus is now and has always been fully human and fully divine. We testify that he is without sin; until he takes our sin upon himself at Calvary that is. Then he feels the all too human pain of rejection crying, “Father, Father, why have you forsaken me?”[3] Even knowing all of this, this is going to sound a little strange: Not only is Jesus more divine than we will ever be, he is also more human than we will ever be.
One more time, not only is Jesus more divine than we will ever be, he is more human than we will ever be.
Because of sin, we can never be fully human. There is eternally a separation between the humanity we experience and the experience of humanity our Lord created for us. This perfect humanity is the life Jesus lived. This isn’t another invitation for us to make ourselves into doormats. No body can be all things to all people; it isn’t in our make up. It isn’t an invitation to beat ourselves up because we aren’t perfect either. After all, we can’t be perfect. This is instead the time to know that we all have limitations, not one of us does not.
Here’s the invitation, we are to be all that we can be in Christ, because in Him we can do all things. It is when we try to be extraordinary in ourselves that we will be humbled. The call Jesus lays upon our lives is to live where ordinary faithfulness leads to extraordinary things.
To live a humble life, it’s important to avoid the three mistakes that the scribes and the Pharisees make.[4] First, they do not practice what they teach. They are hypocrites, saying one thing and doing another. If we are to be humble servants of Christ and have a positive impact on the world, we need to make sure that our deeds are in line with our words. This is true because in this world people are always going to be watching to see if we are people of integrity, showing consistency between our words and our actions.
Second, the scribes and Pharisees lay burdens on the shoulders of others, burdens they are unwilling to bear themselves. These religious leaders apply the ancient purity laws of the Israelites to the people as a whole. Jesus clearly considers this an unfair burden. When people are in need, it is critical for us to go beyond giving advice; we also need to lend a hand.
Finally, they do all their deeds to be seen by others; being more interested in appearances than in having a relationship with God. Seats in the synagogue, fringes on prayer shawls and broad phylacteries, or in my case a robe and stole, can all play a role in good and faithful worship, but they lose their value when they are designed to exalt the person who is doing the praying.
Earlier in Matthew, Jesus condemns those who “love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others.” Instead, he recommends to his followers, “Whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”[5] Worship is about connecting with God, not impressing other people.
Avoiding these traps helps us to live a humble life, one in which the exceedingly ordinary becomes truly extraordinary. Practice what you teach. Offer a helping hand. Focus on God. These three tips are deceptively simple but deeply significant. They lie at the heart of a Christian life which makes a positive difference in the world.
In the end, we don’t get anywhere by exalting ourselves. The only real lift comes from exploring our humanity and the heights of humility. Instead of following the example set by the religious teachers, Jesus urges the crowds and disciples to understand that the kingdom is marked by humility. Those who would enter cannot rely on their own righteousness or piety.
Those who follow Jesus must answer to one Father, and not revel in any honor due on earth. Those who follow the Son must recognize only one Master, the Christ. It is not possible to be both self-serving and to practice God’s commandments. Those who follow the Lord must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit, and not on personal authority or status. This kingdom, as Matthew reminds his readers again and again, is one of reversal: “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”[6]
[1] HomileticsOnline.com, http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/btl_display.asp?installment_id=93040416, retrieved October 20, 2008.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Matthew 27:45
[4] HomileticsOnline.com, Ibid.
[5] Matthew 6:5-6.
[6] HomileticsOnline.com, Ibid.
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