This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday August 9, 2009, the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
Psalm 130
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
John 6:35, 41-51
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
One of my high school biology teachers was one of those people with a slightly crazy eye and a wicked sense of humor. Naturally, I liked the guy. Just to add a little spice to the day, occasionally someone would ask Mr. Schartz a biologically absurd question. No, it wasn’t me… not always. For example, one day Mani Mani, yes, that’s his real name, asked Mr. Schartz “Which came first the chicken or the egg?” Mr. Schartz answered, “The egg, dinosaurs hatched from eggs long before chickens.”
Honestly, we were disappointed by his answer. Yeah, sure, dinosaurs were older than chickens, but it didn’t answer the question the way we wanted it answered. His answer was too simple, too direct, way too on target. We wanted some sort of obscure, arcane information that could have only come from the mouth of Mr. Schartz. Of course his answer was right, and I remember it over thirty years later, but if anything it was too correct. Nothing funny, nothing witty, nothing provocative, it was just the right answer given to fifteen and sixteen year old boys who were looking for something a little wilder and a little weirder.
The theological equivalent of this question goes something like this: Which came first, grace or faith; salvation or acceptance of salvation? Now there’s a question that has been asked for two-thousand years.
Jesus makes the answer abundantly clear in our reading today. “No one can come to me unless drawn by the father who sent me.” It is by the grace of God that we are saved. There is no act that we can perform which can enhance our status with God. There is no wrong we can right, no song we can sing, no word that we can speak that will do what God cannot do without us. Since there is nothing we can do to earn our salvation, salvation comes from grace alone.
A few years ago, the Mount Comfort church participated in a huge evangelical event sponsored by several churches in Northwest Arkansas, including First Baptist Springdale and Christian Life Cathedral. Marie and I served as counselors for the event. What this meant is that after the evening’s activities, we were to go to the floor of Barnhill Arena on the UofA Campus and help counsel individuals who were seeking a relationship with Christ connect with a church.
We were told that it was our duty as soldiers in the army of the Lord to get unbelievers to sign their names to the card connecting them to this event and the Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe it was in the other order, I don’t remember. It was important to get folks to sign their names to a card at the event—even if they had signed their name to a similar “card at church camp”[1] years earlier. The way the organizer described it, it was as if the camp card is no longer valid. That part always puzzled me, does signing a card at church camp expire after a certain age? Is “signature salvation” like cell phone rollover minutes? If not used after twelve months it goes away?
The way this event was described to us, it was our opportunity to “bring” the unchruched into a relationship with the Lord, as if anything we did could do that. A signature on a card, whether done at church camp or at the home of the Razorbacks, does not seal our salvation. That was done long ago before the dawn of creation. It was done by the creator of all things, the creator of salvation.
This is an example of what Ralph Wood wrote about in the journal “Christian Ethics.” Wood writes, “The German religious painter Mathias Grunewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece gets the order of things right when it shows John the Baptist standing beneath the cross and pointing with his long index finger away from himself to the Man who has been nailed on the cross for our sins. From the mouth of the Baptizer issues these words: ‘May he increase that I decrease.’”[2]
Paul’s famous writing to the Ephesians states it this way: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”[3]
Wood rephrases this with a provocative statement that is sure to convict any reader; “Without the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone, we get the order backward—Christ decreased in order that we may increase.” [4] When we say we “bring” somebody to the Lord we put the cart before the horse. God is all ready with us, we bring nobody.
This takes us to another element from our reading of John’s gospel. Jesus goes on saying, “Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.” We are saved by grace which was present since before the beginning. We are saved by grace which is purchased by Christ’s death on the cross. Yet it is by faith that we come to know what God’s grace is and what it means to us, what eternal life means to us.
But I ask you to pause for a moment. We should never think of eternal life as what comes after. We tend to think of eternal life as something to do with length of life when in truth it has to do with the quality of our life, both here and on the other side of forever. “‘Eternal life’ does not speak of immortality or a future life in heaven, but is a metaphor for living now in the unending presence of God.”[5] Eternal life is a quality of life issue, but a quality of holy joy rather than a quality of human happiness.
Wood continues, “I don't believe that God much cares whether we are happy, but I believe that he cares enormously whether we are faithful and therefore joyful. Happiness is largely a matter of outward circumstance. We must possess certain things to be happy: health, money, security, success, and power. None of these things is required for joy. True joy lies in knowing that we are saved by God. It is by grace alone through his gift of faith alone. This knowledge brings the peace that surpasses all mere human happiness. We can have this joy and peace no matter how grim our circumstances-even amidst poverty and ill health, despite failure and weakness, and no matter how sinful we are.”[6]
This is how we are to respond, not in happiness, but in joy. In the joy of God we are to put away falsehood speaking the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Paul again explains this in his writing to the Ephesians as we read today. As with much of Paul’s teaching, this is not easy. We are called not to sin steal or let evil talk come from our mouths. We are to put away wrath and anger and wrangling and slander and all malice. We are called to be kind and tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven us. We are called to be imitators of Christ living in love as he loves us; giving ourselves as he gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
There are two things at work here; there is the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our response to that grace which is faith. These two things we will confess in word and song in a few moments.
Our Affirmation of Faith comes from the Westminster Standards and what we believe about effectual calling. (Sorry about the five dollar word.) We believe that God so loves the world, that even before the creation of the world, that although we are dead to sin, by the power of the Word and the Holy Spirit, through the saving work of Jesus Christ we are called into a saving relationship with the holy triune God.
And before our Affirmation, we will sing the song inspired by Isaiah’s vision of the Holy Lord in the temple. We will sing asking God’s question to Isaiah “Whom shall I send?” Then we will respond with Isaiah’s glorious words: “Here I am, Lord. / Is it I, Lord? / I have heard You calling in the night/ I will go, Lord, if You lead me. / I will hold Your people in my heart.”[7]
Our vocation is defined by Jesus in today’s gospel reading; the effectual calling of the Lord followed by our active response. It’s not the sort of thing that will win us a popularity contest, Jesus even notes that the popular kids, the power elite, grumble and complain about his words. Of course, it is the most powerful are called loudest by Jesus to hear the word of God. It is the most powerful who can make the biggest difference in the lives of the weak and oppressed in our earthly confines. Still, from the Sanhedrin to Congress, it seems like the power elite have trouble with this.
So it is up to us, it is up to the disciples of Jesus Christ to take God’s word into the world for caring for the poor, caring for those in need. Reinhold Niebuhr wrote of this and how we use our freedom. He tells us that freedom without responsibility is a horrible thing. Exercising freedom without resolve for others simply takes and takes; it’s a one way street of greed and gluttony. The freedom Christ exercises, the freedom Christ calls us to exercise is the freedom to live in joy and give sacrificially one for another. Freedom with responsibility requires action on our parts to take the gospel into the world and show the world God’s good grace through faith.
I read this yesterday and I have to share it with you. Wikipedia reports[8] “Penitents Compete” is a new Turkish reality television series in which a Jewish rabbi, a Buddhist monk, a Greek Orthodox priest, and a Muslim imam will attempt to convert a group of 10 atheists each week. It is scheduled to begin airing in September 2009 on Turkey's Kanal T network.
Kanal T's Deputy Director Ahmet Özdemir has said that that the goal of the show is “to turn disbelievers into (believers in) God,” but that which God they choose is up to them. He also believes that the show will be helpful for those interested in learning about other religions. Any converts will be offered a free pilgrimage to one of four holy sites–Mecca, Vatican City, Jerusalem, or Tibet. The newly-converted will be followed by a camera crew to ensure that the trip is a pilgrimage and not a vacation.
Two hundred atheists had already applied as of July and were being pre-vetted by an eight-person team of theologians to ensure that they truly are atheists, and not simply seeking to gain fame or fortune.
Some say the show will be good for interfaith relations and others say it’s inappropriate for television. A Turkish mufti worries that the show will confuse people and have negative consequences. An Israeli Rabbi noted that the spirit of this program does not jibe with Jewish tradition which doesn’t allow the active seeking of converts. This same Rabbi also said the show is “tasteless,” which I always thought was a touchstone of reality television.
Still, the best way for us to represent our faith, our life in Christ, whether on Turkish television or here in our own little corner of the world, is to hear Christ’s call and respond. We are to know that we do not come to the Lord unless drawn by the Father who sent him. We are to believe so that we may have eternal life. We are to enjoy eternal life confident in the life of peace and joy of knowing that we are saved by God, knowledge which surpasses all human happiness.
[1] That is a direct quote
[2] Homiletics Online, Animating Illustrations, keywords “grace alone,” http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/illustration_search.asp?keywords="grace%20alone", retrieved August 6, 2009.
[3] Ephesians 2:8-9, NRSV
[4] Homiletics Online, Animating Illustrations, keywords “grace alone,” http://www.homileticsonline.com/subscriber/illustration_search.asp?keywords="grace%20alone", retrieved August 6, 2009.
[5] New Interpreter’s Study Bible, note on “Eternal Life from John 6 as found in the CD-ROM edition.
[6] Ibid, Homiletics Online
[7] Copyright © 1981 Daniel J. Schutte and New Dawn Music, 5536 NE Hassalo, Portland, Oregon 97213.
[8] Penitents Compete, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penitents_Compete, retrieved August 8, 2009.
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