Before we get started, this is my last Sunday at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas so "Time Loves a Hero" will be taking a short hiatus. Starting in about a month, I will be serving the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas. As soon as I get to Marshall, "Time Loves a Hero" will return with new postings.
This is a bittersweet day for me. May God bless us all.
So with no further ado, this sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday August 29, 2010, the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Jeremiah 2:4-13
Psalm 81:1, 10-16
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Luke 14:1, 7-14
May the words of my mouth and the mediations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
The Society of Friends, Quakers, have a way of helping members seek discernment on how to proceed with keenly felt concerns and dilemmas, the clearness committee. The committee, which is chosen by the caller, is a group of close, wise, and honest friends who come together and spend time waiting in silence and asking questions. They do not give advice or criticize. They do not tell their own stories or judge the caller. The group asks honest, probing, caring, challenging, open, unloaded questions. The questions are not asked for the curiosity of the questioner, but for the sake of the one seeking clarity.
In “Let Your Life Speak,” Parker Palmer tells this story about asking for help discerning a vocational prospect with a clearness committee. He had just received an opportunity to become president of a small educational institution. As Palmer tells the story, he notes that he did not really convene the group for clarity; what he had done is call his friends together to brag about being offered a great job.
“For a while, the questions were easy, at least for a dreamer like me: What is your vision for this institution? What is its mission in the larger society? How would you change the curriculum? How would you handle decision making? What about dealing with conflict?
Halfway into the process, someone asked a question that sounded easier yet turned out to be very hard: ‘What would you like most about being president?’
The simplicity of that question loosed me from my head and lowered me into my heart.”
Palmer then goes on in fits and starts trying to answer the question. But he doesn’t answer the question. He tells them what he would not like about being president of the institution. He is gently guided back to the question by the committee several times. Returning to Palmer’s text…
“Once again the questioner called me back to the original question. But this time I felt compelled to give the only honest answer I possessed an answer that came from the very bottom of my barrel, an answer that appalled even me as I spoke it.
“‘Well,’ said I, in the smallest voice I possess, ‘I guess what I would like most is getting my picture in the paper with the word president under it.’
“Finally [after a long, contemplative silence] my questioner broke the silence with a question that cracked all of us up—and cracked me open: ‘Parker,’ he said, ‘can you think of an easier way to get your picture in the paper?’”[1]
Being humbled, well, that’s a focus of our gospel reading today isn’t it? Palmer was laid bare by his clearness committee. They asked the right questions, and finally he came to the right answer, not a flattering one, but the right one all the same.
Parker tried to use the clearness committee to exalt himself; sharing with his friends the great job he had been offered. Instead he was humbled, in his own words he was cracked open by the questions the committee asked.
There is a very important thing about the language being used in our gospel reading today that I want to share; something our it shares with Palmer’s last sentence. These words in this portion of Palmer’s text, cracked open; and these words from verse eleven, exalt, be humbled, humble, and be exalted; are verbs. One more time, these are verbs.
Adjectives like humble and exalted do not carry the same literary weight as the verbal forms, even though they look exactly the same to us in English. Adjectives describe states of being. They describe conditions. The verbs, they perform the actions that cause the conditions. It may not seem like such a big difference, but it comes up in our gospel reading.
Now, the feelings evoked by the adjectives, words that add to the sentence, are important. They are important to help define, help sharpen what is going on in the sentence. They help evoke a passion. They help define the action and the one who is either doing the action or having the action done to them. I don’t want anyone to think that the emotions and the feelings are not important, but the point I’m making is that the emotions and the feelings are caused by the action. In an effective way, the verb always precedes the modifier.
So that’s the reason for the English lesson. In verse eleven, Jesus is not describing how the people who take banquet seats that do not suit them will feel. He describes what will happen to people who take banquet seats that do not suit them.
Jesus gives us some advice. The first is to always select a less honorable seat, that way you will not be humbled by a host that moves you down the table and you may be raised to a better place at the table if the master wishes.
That’s another important element of these particular verbs, to humble and to exalt; they deal with reversal of fortune. By both of these verbs your status will shift, the only question is if you will be lifted up or cast down.
Palmer offers these words on being humbled as a verb which I find useful:
I had read somewhere that humility is central to the spiritual life, which seemed like a good idea to me: I was proud to think of myself as humble! What I did not know is that for some of us the path to humility goes through humiliation—being brought low, unable to function, stripped of pretenses and defenses, feeling fraudulent, empty, useless—that allows us to regrow our lives from the humus of common ground.
The spiritual journey is full of paradoxes, and one of them is that the humiliation that brings us down -- down to ground on which it is safe to stand and to fall -- eventually takes us to a firmer and fuller sense of self. When people ask me how it felt to emerge from depression, I can give only one answer: I felt at home in my own skin and at home on the face of the earth, for the first time.[2]
Our prayer for illumination offered these words: “Teach us to walk the path he prepared for us so that we might take a place at the table with all who seek the joy of his kingdom.” Our reading from Hebrews offers us words about walking in God’s path:
Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” So we can say with confidence:
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?”
Through [Jesus], then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
These last two sentences, “let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise” and “do not neglect to do good and share” are particularly timely today.
A little more than five years ago, I came to this part of the body of Christ with a newly minted Masters of Divinity degree and little idea of what I was doing or would do next. Of course, I was not the first minister to feel this way, and that’s what I chose to share in my first sermon.[3] It began like this:
Gregory of Nazianzus was a priest and later a scholar in the early church. Initially he became a priest because of his father just happened to be the Bishop of Nazianzus. So Gregory was called to the ministry as well. Unfortunately for Gregory, he held the office of priest and the vows of ordination in such high esteem that immediately after he was ordained, he left. You see, Gregory felt that there was no way that he could hold to the vows of ordination, there was no way he could hold this office. He saw the priesthood as a sort of tyranny; a tyranny over himself and over his parish. He was so afraid of the ramifications of his ordination that he left the parish for five years. The monastic movement was beginning to gain steam at this time and young Gregory found the solitary lifestyle of the monk to be the best way to deal with his vocation.
To say the least, the people were steamed. I don’t blame them and I am sure that you don’t either. Nobody knows better than you what it’s like to have the Pastor Nominating Committee find someone for the church who then runs for the hills. But after five years, he was able to discern that he was called by God and the community to serve the body of Christ as their priest and he returned home. Imagine his homecoming, there is joy, but there must be some anger as well. It is only human. And Gregory preached, oh yes, he preached. And it was historically noted as one of the worst sermons ever heard in that church. Gregory preached a curt little sermon about why he avoided his responsibilities for five years. The congregation was not particularly sensitive toward his plight. Even if his reasons were valid, they did not fall on sympathetic ears.
I have always loved the story of Gregory the Great. He was a hero of the ancient church. His writings on baptism are still read today in church history and in seminaries. But this part of the story has always tickled me the most. This story always reminds me that one of the saints of the church started his illustrious vocation because it was the family business. Then as soon as he was ready, he was so awed and humbled by his vocation that he received the symbols of his ordination and promptly ran for the hills. Any ordained minister who can’t relate to this story should either reconsider their ordination or at least read the story again.
I ended my first sermon with these words:
Gregory of Nazianzus was right to take the prospect of ordination seriously. As in the times of Gregory, Matthew, and Paul, we are living in times which ministry is wrought with peril. But in light of all of this, we are called to tell the truth, sharing the good news of God; news which brings together the broken people who we are. We are called to be a light to a world which does not want to hear the message of the Gospel. And we now, as was done two thousand years ago, we now are called to take these steps together. We are called to rise every day and take these first steps again and again.
I am honored, and humbled, that you have called me and my family to join you in this journey as we take these, our first steps with you, together as the body of Christ. I promise that I will not leave you after the ordination service Saturday and join a monastery. We will take this journey together, and through the love of God we will proclaim the good news of our baptism into the life and death of Jesus Christ. And as the church we call all people to be reconciled to God and to one another.[4]
So on this, our final Sunday with this part of the body of Christ, let me say that it has been our privilege to be your pastor and pastor’s spouse, you have lifted us up. I am humbled that you selected me to join with you, to join with this part of the body of Christ as Minister of Word and Sacrament. I am honored that we took these steps together “to gather and welcome the broken people of the world and through God’s love make us one.”[5] I am overjoyed that you have graciously invited us into your homes and into your lives. It has been our honor and privilege to serve Christ in this time and place.
I pray that over the past five years we have told the truth, sharing the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ who brings together the broken people we too are. I pray that we have been a light to a world which does not want to hear the message of the Gospel. And as was done two thousand years ago, we have taken these steps together. We are called to rise every day and take these first steps again and again.
A friend once told me that while the traditional translation of the word mañana is “tomorrow,” another way to translate it is “not today.” If we massage it far enough, it could mean “another day.” This is the last time that I will lead worship on the Lord’s Day in this place. This is the last time I will preach from this pulpit. I will never again celebrate the Lord’s Supper from this table or baptize a new member from this font, but, in God’s glorious time, we will worship together again.
So let’s not say “good bye,” instead, let’s just say mañana; and until we meet again, amen.
[1] Palmer, Parker J., Let Your Life Speak, Listening for the Voice of Vocation. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2000.
[2] Parker J. Palmer, “All the Way Down,” Weavings, September-October 1998, 40 retrieved from HomileticsOnline.com, http://homileticsonline.com/subscriber/illustration_search.asp?item_topic_id=843, retrieved August 28, 2010.
[3] The italicized portion is from my sermon “First Steps” at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas.
[4] Book of Confessions, 9.07
[5] This is the Mission Statement of the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Viral Faith
This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday August 22, 2010, the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6
Hebrews 12:18-29
Luke 13:10-17
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
The internet has given us much. (Sorry, that’s not drool, that’s dripping sarcasm.) One of the many unintended things it has given us is viral video. A viral video is an often humorous or unintentionally humorous scene. Some are several minutes long like a music video. Others are a brief “slice of life” caught on camera. The way viral videos become popular is through internet sharing, typically through video sharing sites like YouTube or social networking sites like facebook. In fact this is why they are called viral; they spread across the internet like a virus. With the abundance of less expensive better quality cameras and camera phones, viral videos are here until the next generation of technology makes them obsolete.
There is a “slice of life” video that has become very popular among my facebook friends. Timing in at 33 seconds, you can watch it a dozen times, get a dozen laughs, and not waste but five minutes, making it possibly the perfect internet video.
Let me set the scene: Someone is shooting video of two buddies skateboarding; trying to do tricks and not doing them very well. Suddenly in the background, you hear the squeal of a car coming to a sudden stop. The videographer turns and sees a little old lady standing in the middle of the street right in front of an expensive convertible. The young man driving the car revs his engine a couple of times and honks the horn six times in quick succession. Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep. The little old lady takes a couple of steps, turns, and swings her bag into the license plate of the convertible, setting off the air bag right into the young man’s face. The old woman scurries off, the skateboarders laugh, and the rich young man gets out of his expensive car. This is “Watch Out for Granny Airbag.”[1]
You know, the worst thing about this is that it took me longer to describe it than it takes to watch, and you didn’t get to see the guy’s face. Surely, you can see why this has spread across the internet like a virus.
Of course, there is the more detrimental virus that spreads across the internet, a virus that invades a computer via the internet or by sharing files. These are the sort of viruses that make computers sick causing them to miss a couple days of school or work.
One of the more notorious types of computer viruses is the “Trojan Horse.” Built like the Trojan Horse of Virgil’s epic story about the Greek and Trojan War,[2] this kind of virus sneaks its way into your computer by looking like something you want. Then, in the middle of the night, it unleashes its terror against the insides of your computer. Sometimes they vandalize your computer, sometimes they pillage information; often they do both.
Often they come in what computer folk call “malvertisements,” mal- as in “malevolent,” or more simply “bad.” You may have seen them pop-up on your computer with messages like:
“Make your computer faster!” or
“Is your computer at RISK?? Run our free security scan!”
But waiting inside these offers too good to be true are an invading digital army.
Virgil’s epic is the source of the old expression, “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.” It could just as well be reinvented for the internet generation as “Beware of geeks bearing gifts.”[3]
Today we read that we have to beware the message we share in the light of the Holy Messenger.
Jesus is teaching on the Sabbath, nothing new there, when suddenly appears a woman who has been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. Now that’s new. She was bent over, unable to stand upright. Jesus saw her, called her over, and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” Then he laid hands upon her and she stood upright praising God.
Everyone would have lived happily ever after until the leader of the synagogue became indignant because Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Well, he may have been indignant with Jesus healing the woman, but his words were directed at the crowd, not the Lord. “There are six days on which work ought be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” Sure, he was ticked, but he couldn’t be ticked at the Rabbi so he took it out on the crowd.
Jesus exclaims “You hypocrites!” This word has a wonderful history. In ancient Greek, this was the word used for actors, people who portrayed characters. The familiar “comedy” and “tragedy” masks were used to hide the faces of the actors and help display proper emotion. Add the fact that roles for women were portrayed by men, and we get a sense of what this word meant to the ancients.
Ever since the time of Jesus though, this word was used in a negative way. It was meant more as faker than actor. He was calling them posers instead of performers. He was calling the leader of the synagogue a pretender. You hypocrite, you pretend to know God’s will but you do not.
Jesus reminds these fine upstanding keepers of the faith that they too work on the Sabbath; feeding and watering their livestock. So Jesus asks if they will care for their flocks on the Sabbath, isn’t it better to bring a daughter of Abraham back into the flock of the great shepherd anytime, including on the Sabbath? Jesus reminds them that a spirit had bound this woman for eighteen long years, so this woman ought to be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day.
If this were a melodrama, we would be cheering the Lord and hissing the synagogue leader, but let’s not condemn the synagogue leader so quickly, he’s following the law. He is doing what he is supposed to do, maintaining the sanctity of the meeting place. He’s interpreting Levitical law and making a judgment. He’s telling the assembly what is supposed to happen, what pleases God in the words Moses brought to the people. But it is not the words that Jesus has an issue with, it’s the one interpreting them. This too is nothing new and the more things change the more they stay the same.
The church is infamous for harboring hypocrites, or at least that’s what many believe. We need to ask ourselves “Why do people believe that?” What experiences have people had with Christians that would lead them to say, “You’re nothing but a bunch of pretenders”?
“UnChristian,” a book based on the findings of a Barna research study, sought answers to those questions. The authors, David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, polled young adults outside of Christianity, those who may or may not ever engage our faith communities, about their perception of the church and Christians today. The title of the book comes from the sobering survey results, unChristians find us unchristian!
Eighty-five percent of young outsiders say that Christianity is hypocritical — saying one thing but doing another. Instead of being a voice against the image-is-everything mentality, the outsiders believed Christians worked just as hard as they did to preserve an image of strength and put-togetherness.
Asked another way, 84 percent of those polled had a personal relationship with a Christian. Only 15 percent thought the lifestyles of those Christians were significantly different from the norm.
Another Barna study from 2007 showed that lifestyles of “born-again Christians” were statistically equivalent to those of nonbelievers. When reporting activities from their previous 30 days, both groups were equally likely to gamble, view pornography, take something that didn’t belong to them, physically fight or abuse someone, get drunk, use an illegal drug, intentionally lie, seek revenge or gossip.[4]
The point is clear: Hypocrisy is a valid critique of the church. What we say we believe does not equal how we behave. The roles we portray and the ways we act differ. Eugene Peterson, author of the bible paraphrase “The Message,” once said: “There’s nobody who doesn’t have problems with the church, because there’s sin in the church. But there’s no other place to be a Christian except the church.”[5]
Peterson’s quote goes on to mention other institutions that are loaded with hypocrisy; but in this case Jesus’ words were not for other institutions, they were for Christians and for the Church. So let’s not worry about the pretense and hypocrisy of others, let’s stay with the church. What is the lesson for Christ’s people? What is the lesson for Christ’s church?[6]
Let’s begin with the small things; small things can make a huge impact. We can never underestimate the huge impact our small choices can make on those who are linking their perception of Christianity with our lives. That means our mind-set needs to be radically missional. Every moment is potential evangelism, even that moment yesterday as I was heading back to town from Eureka Springs and got cut off not once but twice on the four lane section of Highway 62, my hand finding the horn like a young man facing a little old lady.
We don’t need to worry about sharing Christ with others by engaging in heavy theological discussions. Remember, life is evangelism. Even the smallest acts of our public life can have a positive or negative impact on other’s perceptions of the church and of Christ.
And if words are necessary, remember the words of the call of Jeremiah, God will put the right words in our mouths too.
Next we must choose authenticity. Genuineness. Integrity. Transparency. They’re buzzwords in younger churches today, but for a reason. People are tired of Sunday-only Christianity. If Christianity isn’t true and wholly transformative, then there are plenty of other things to do with our time.
In the place of hypocrisy, many churches are going with honesty, publicly saying who we are and who Christ welcomes into the church. One such church is Grace Presbyterian in Little Rock. At the beginning of Sunday worship they say and on the front of their web page they write:
Welcome to Grace Presbyterian Church!
Welcome to all who have no church home or are seeking a new home.
Welcome to young and old and to all ages and ethnicities.
Welcome to singles, to couples and to families of all shapes and sizes.
Welcome to those who are joyful and to those who are sad.
Welcome to those who are grateful and to those who are angry.
Welcome to those who are broken and to those who are whole.
Welcome to believers and to doubters and a special welcome to doubting believers.
Welcome to all who come seeking God and to all who come seeking merely to appease someone in their household.
Grace Presbyterian Church is a house of God.
Come just as you are.
Everyone is welcome.[7]
Whatever it takes, we need to reject hypocrisy and lead with honesty; imperfect, in-process, in-grace honesty.
Next we must not fight with Jesus or anybody else who agrees with him. We must also be careful when the Lord uses the unbeliever as a prophetic voice. Does it strike anyone as a bit ironic that nonbelievers and Jesus share the same harsh opinions toward the church’s hypocrisy? That is a great evangelism piece. So whenever we hear the hypocrisy argument from nonbelievers, we should tell them they sound like Jesus and we should mean it. We should tell them about Luke 13. We need to implore them not to let something small like agreeing with Jesus keep them from exploring faith.
Finally we must apologize often. Bumper-sticker theology is almost always wrong. Really wrong. But some well-intentioned souls get close when their cars tote the message “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” After exposing Christianity’s hypocritical street reputation for the better part of a chapter, the authors of “UnChristian” offer a new perspective for us, Christians must be transparent about their flaws and act first, talk second.
What better way to prove and spread this message than by apologizing to nonbelievers? Regularly. Not just cheap excuses or phony apologies such as “I’m sorry you felt that way” but real, relationship growing contrition like, “I need to ask for your forgiveness.” We need to say aloud “I really made a mistake on this one and I’m deeply sorry for how it affected you.”
We must take the steps to radically live and believe the exact same things. Jesus was concerned enough about such integrity that he put his own into question by bucking religious conventions and breaking rules. That must have been a fun way for him to live perfectly, and it’s a great model for us as we live imperfectly.[8]
As for what this means to us, this morning, if we take nothing else, let us take these words from our reading of Hebrews: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire.” So let us not share God like a virus that injures, but worship with a viral faith that spreads everywhere.
[1] “Watch Out for Granny Airbag” YouTube.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8TNdub8esU, retrieved August 21, 2010.
[2] Virgil’s “The Aeneid”
[3] “Mal-Ads Damage the Church” HomileticsOnline.com, http://homileticsonline.com/subscriber/btl_display.asp?installment_id=93040548, retrieved August 19, 2010.
[4] Barna information Ibid from HomileticsOnline.com.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Unless otherwise noted, the four lessons for the church are a paraphrase from “Mal-Ads Damage the Church”
[7] Grace Presbyterian Church (Little Rock) Homepage, http://www.littlerockgrace.org/, retrieved August 21, 2010.
[8] The four suggestions are taken from “Mal-Ads Damage the Church.”
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6
Hebrews 12:18-29
Luke 13:10-17
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
The internet has given us much. (Sorry, that’s not drool, that’s dripping sarcasm.) One of the many unintended things it has given us is viral video. A viral video is an often humorous or unintentionally humorous scene. Some are several minutes long like a music video. Others are a brief “slice of life” caught on camera. The way viral videos become popular is through internet sharing, typically through video sharing sites like YouTube or social networking sites like facebook. In fact this is why they are called viral; they spread across the internet like a virus. With the abundance of less expensive better quality cameras and camera phones, viral videos are here until the next generation of technology makes them obsolete.
There is a “slice of life” video that has become very popular among my facebook friends. Timing in at 33 seconds, you can watch it a dozen times, get a dozen laughs, and not waste but five minutes, making it possibly the perfect internet video.
Let me set the scene: Someone is shooting video of two buddies skateboarding; trying to do tricks and not doing them very well. Suddenly in the background, you hear the squeal of a car coming to a sudden stop. The videographer turns and sees a little old lady standing in the middle of the street right in front of an expensive convertible. The young man driving the car revs his engine a couple of times and honks the horn six times in quick succession. Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep. The little old lady takes a couple of steps, turns, and swings her bag into the license plate of the convertible, setting off the air bag right into the young man’s face. The old woman scurries off, the skateboarders laugh, and the rich young man gets out of his expensive car. This is “Watch Out for Granny Airbag.”[1]
You know, the worst thing about this is that it took me longer to describe it than it takes to watch, and you didn’t get to see the guy’s face. Surely, you can see why this has spread across the internet like a virus.
Of course, there is the more detrimental virus that spreads across the internet, a virus that invades a computer via the internet or by sharing files. These are the sort of viruses that make computers sick causing them to miss a couple days of school or work.
One of the more notorious types of computer viruses is the “Trojan Horse.” Built like the Trojan Horse of Virgil’s epic story about the Greek and Trojan War,[2] this kind of virus sneaks its way into your computer by looking like something you want. Then, in the middle of the night, it unleashes its terror against the insides of your computer. Sometimes they vandalize your computer, sometimes they pillage information; often they do both.
Often they come in what computer folk call “malvertisements,” mal- as in “malevolent,” or more simply “bad.” You may have seen them pop-up on your computer with messages like:
“Make your computer faster!” or
“Is your computer at RISK?? Run our free security scan!”
But waiting inside these offers too good to be true are an invading digital army.
Virgil’s epic is the source of the old expression, “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.” It could just as well be reinvented for the internet generation as “Beware of geeks bearing gifts.”[3]
Today we read that we have to beware the message we share in the light of the Holy Messenger.
Jesus is teaching on the Sabbath, nothing new there, when suddenly appears a woman who has been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. Now that’s new. She was bent over, unable to stand upright. Jesus saw her, called her over, and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” Then he laid hands upon her and she stood upright praising God.
Everyone would have lived happily ever after until the leader of the synagogue became indignant because Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Well, he may have been indignant with Jesus healing the woman, but his words were directed at the crowd, not the Lord. “There are six days on which work ought be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” Sure, he was ticked, but he couldn’t be ticked at the Rabbi so he took it out on the crowd.
Jesus exclaims “You hypocrites!” This word has a wonderful history. In ancient Greek, this was the word used for actors, people who portrayed characters. The familiar “comedy” and “tragedy” masks were used to hide the faces of the actors and help display proper emotion. Add the fact that roles for women were portrayed by men, and we get a sense of what this word meant to the ancients.
Ever since the time of Jesus though, this word was used in a negative way. It was meant more as faker than actor. He was calling them posers instead of performers. He was calling the leader of the synagogue a pretender. You hypocrite, you pretend to know God’s will but you do not.
Jesus reminds these fine upstanding keepers of the faith that they too work on the Sabbath; feeding and watering their livestock. So Jesus asks if they will care for their flocks on the Sabbath, isn’t it better to bring a daughter of Abraham back into the flock of the great shepherd anytime, including on the Sabbath? Jesus reminds them that a spirit had bound this woman for eighteen long years, so this woman ought to be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day.
If this were a melodrama, we would be cheering the Lord and hissing the synagogue leader, but let’s not condemn the synagogue leader so quickly, he’s following the law. He is doing what he is supposed to do, maintaining the sanctity of the meeting place. He’s interpreting Levitical law and making a judgment. He’s telling the assembly what is supposed to happen, what pleases God in the words Moses brought to the people. But it is not the words that Jesus has an issue with, it’s the one interpreting them. This too is nothing new and the more things change the more they stay the same.
The church is infamous for harboring hypocrites, or at least that’s what many believe. We need to ask ourselves “Why do people believe that?” What experiences have people had with Christians that would lead them to say, “You’re nothing but a bunch of pretenders”?
“UnChristian,” a book based on the findings of a Barna research study, sought answers to those questions. The authors, David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, polled young adults outside of Christianity, those who may or may not ever engage our faith communities, about their perception of the church and Christians today. The title of the book comes from the sobering survey results, unChristians find us unchristian!
Eighty-five percent of young outsiders say that Christianity is hypocritical — saying one thing but doing another. Instead of being a voice against the image-is-everything mentality, the outsiders believed Christians worked just as hard as they did to preserve an image of strength and put-togetherness.
Asked another way, 84 percent of those polled had a personal relationship with a Christian. Only 15 percent thought the lifestyles of those Christians were significantly different from the norm.
Another Barna study from 2007 showed that lifestyles of “born-again Christians” were statistically equivalent to those of nonbelievers. When reporting activities from their previous 30 days, both groups were equally likely to gamble, view pornography, take something that didn’t belong to them, physically fight or abuse someone, get drunk, use an illegal drug, intentionally lie, seek revenge or gossip.[4]
The point is clear: Hypocrisy is a valid critique of the church. What we say we believe does not equal how we behave. The roles we portray and the ways we act differ. Eugene Peterson, author of the bible paraphrase “The Message,” once said: “There’s nobody who doesn’t have problems with the church, because there’s sin in the church. But there’s no other place to be a Christian except the church.”[5]
Peterson’s quote goes on to mention other institutions that are loaded with hypocrisy; but in this case Jesus’ words were not for other institutions, they were for Christians and for the Church. So let’s not worry about the pretense and hypocrisy of others, let’s stay with the church. What is the lesson for Christ’s people? What is the lesson for Christ’s church?[6]
Let’s begin with the small things; small things can make a huge impact. We can never underestimate the huge impact our small choices can make on those who are linking their perception of Christianity with our lives. That means our mind-set needs to be radically missional. Every moment is potential evangelism, even that moment yesterday as I was heading back to town from Eureka Springs and got cut off not once but twice on the four lane section of Highway 62, my hand finding the horn like a young man facing a little old lady.
We don’t need to worry about sharing Christ with others by engaging in heavy theological discussions. Remember, life is evangelism. Even the smallest acts of our public life can have a positive or negative impact on other’s perceptions of the church and of Christ.
And if words are necessary, remember the words of the call of Jeremiah, God will put the right words in our mouths too.
Next we must choose authenticity. Genuineness. Integrity. Transparency. They’re buzzwords in younger churches today, but for a reason. People are tired of Sunday-only Christianity. If Christianity isn’t true and wholly transformative, then there are plenty of other things to do with our time.
In the place of hypocrisy, many churches are going with honesty, publicly saying who we are and who Christ welcomes into the church. One such church is Grace Presbyterian in Little Rock. At the beginning of Sunday worship they say and on the front of their web page they write:
Welcome to Grace Presbyterian Church!
Welcome to all who have no church home or are seeking a new home.
Welcome to young and old and to all ages and ethnicities.
Welcome to singles, to couples and to families of all shapes and sizes.
Welcome to those who are joyful and to those who are sad.
Welcome to those who are grateful and to those who are angry.
Welcome to those who are broken and to those who are whole.
Welcome to believers and to doubters and a special welcome to doubting believers.
Welcome to all who come seeking God and to all who come seeking merely to appease someone in their household.
Grace Presbyterian Church is a house of God.
Come just as you are.
Everyone is welcome.[7]
Whatever it takes, we need to reject hypocrisy and lead with honesty; imperfect, in-process, in-grace honesty.
Next we must not fight with Jesus or anybody else who agrees with him. We must also be careful when the Lord uses the unbeliever as a prophetic voice. Does it strike anyone as a bit ironic that nonbelievers and Jesus share the same harsh opinions toward the church’s hypocrisy? That is a great evangelism piece. So whenever we hear the hypocrisy argument from nonbelievers, we should tell them they sound like Jesus and we should mean it. We should tell them about Luke 13. We need to implore them not to let something small like agreeing with Jesus keep them from exploring faith.
Finally we must apologize often. Bumper-sticker theology is almost always wrong. Really wrong. But some well-intentioned souls get close when their cars tote the message “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” After exposing Christianity’s hypocritical street reputation for the better part of a chapter, the authors of “UnChristian” offer a new perspective for us, Christians must be transparent about their flaws and act first, talk second.
What better way to prove and spread this message than by apologizing to nonbelievers? Regularly. Not just cheap excuses or phony apologies such as “I’m sorry you felt that way” but real, relationship growing contrition like, “I need to ask for your forgiveness.” We need to say aloud “I really made a mistake on this one and I’m deeply sorry for how it affected you.”
We must take the steps to radically live and believe the exact same things. Jesus was concerned enough about such integrity that he put his own into question by bucking religious conventions and breaking rules. That must have been a fun way for him to live perfectly, and it’s a great model for us as we live imperfectly.[8]
As for what this means to us, this morning, if we take nothing else, let us take these words from our reading of Hebrews: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire.” So let us not share God like a virus that injures, but worship with a viral faith that spreads everywhere.
[1] “Watch Out for Granny Airbag” YouTube.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8TNdub8esU, retrieved August 21, 2010.
[2] Virgil’s “The Aeneid”
[3] “Mal-Ads Damage the Church” HomileticsOnline.com, http://homileticsonline.com/subscriber/btl_display.asp?installment_id=93040548, retrieved August 19, 2010.
[4] Barna information Ibid from HomileticsOnline.com.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Unless otherwise noted, the four lessons for the church are a paraphrase from “Mal-Ads Damage the Church”
[7] Grace Presbyterian Church (Little Rock) Homepage, http://www.littlerockgrace.org/, retrieved August 21, 2010.
[8] The four suggestions are taken from “Mal-Ads Damage the Church.”
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Bringing Fire
This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Kilgore, Texas on Sunday August 15, 2010, the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Luke 12:49-56
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
I love church signs. I love them when they are witty with messages that mean something to the average person on the sidewalk and something more when examined by a disciple of Christ. Some of my pastor friends who have seen some examples from First Presbyterian in Berryville on the internet get a smile out of them too. Folks have enjoyed, “First Pedestrian Church, Walk the Walk” and there are always comments about “Lent, It’s not Just for Belly Buttons Anymore.” (Heather and Eric Williamson reminded me that their favorite sign reads “Palm Reading This Sunday” and yes, it goes up right before Palm Sunday.) We even made both the local paper and Synod newsletter with “So…What’s the Proper Tithe on $700 Billion” a couple of years ago.
Even “Praying for Ashley,” a sign which doesn’t have an iota of double meeting, got attention when the Holy Spirit took our prayers and blessed two women named “Ashley” that I surely had never met. That’s the economy of God, multiplying blessings on blessings; taking what I intend and doing more with it than I could ever hope or imagine.
Today, the sign in front of the church reads, “Help Wanted: Disciples, Inquire Within.” May this be an invitation to anyone who seeks God.
I hope that these signs offer a gentle chuckle, an interesting opening for conversation, and a call to discipleship. I pray that they will do what the Lord intends in the lives not just of the folks at First—Berryville, but of all who see them and consider them.
This reminds me of what was on the sign when I got to Berryville about five years ago. Someone, I don’t know who, put up, “God is Peace, not War.” That rubbed me the wrong way. From a pastoral point of view, nearly half of the congregation is made up of military veterans. There were vets from World War II through Vietnam. There are those who served in peace and those who served in war. Some served at home while others served overseas. Some were in battle, others were not. So I felt it wrong to have this on our sign when so many served .
One member of First—Berryville, a young woman named Hannah, will be commissioned as a Second Lieutenant into the Marine Corp on August 28. At one time she mentioned that she wanted to fly choppers, that’s one duty that is sure to put her in harm’s way in service to our country. If she read that sign, I wonder if she would have felt welcomed.
Our reading from Luke’s gospel, a difficult writing that should always leave an odd taste in our mouths, is another reason that I wanted to change that sign. Jesus, the one who we associate with the Good Shepherd, carrying a little lamb back to the fold, tells the world that he did not come to bring peace. He came bringing division. So God is peace? Well, as much as I want to say that in every time and place that God is peace, Luke says that his coming doesn‘t bring peace.
In the end though, I’ve read Revelation. Jesus will bring peace, and it‘s going to be messy between when he comes and when the final peace is made, but that‘s not really the point.
Hebrews 12 gives us an odd perspective on our reading from Luke. This section is known as “The Heroes of the Faith.” This is God’s “Hall of Fame” paraded by for all to see. These are the people who scripture shows us are worth copying.
So we start with Rahab, the prostitute. Yes, Jericho’s favorite call girl protected the two spies sent by Joshua.[1] While we hope every girl wants to be a hero of the faith, we also hope that on her high school’s career day she doesn’t drop by the prostitute booth.
Gideon, I love Gideon, he routs the Mideonites who had oppressed Israel for seven years. This is the same Gideon who is so afraid of his own shadow, so embarrassed by his own family, so unsure of his neighbors that he tries threshing grain in a winepress, an entirely futile way to try to do a day‘s work. So when he becomes the brave man with his dog soldiers, he’s a hero. Unfortunately while Gideon’s heroic story begins with the destruction of his father’s idol, it ends when he becomes idolater.[2]
The Hero of the Faith Barak was told that he would be a hero by Deborah, a prophetess and Judge of Israel. But he refused to go into battle unless Deborah would go with him. Because Barak required Deborah’s presence, he was far less of a hero and ultimately did not defeat Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, on his own. Sisera was eventually defeated by Jael the wife of Heber who rolled the general up in a carpet, gave him warm milk, told him a story, and put a tent spike through his temple.[3]
Samson[4] was a Nazirite, a judge who was consecrated from birth. He was destined to lead the people and lead them he did. Yet, in four chapters from the book of Judges, Samson married a Philistine, and then when she displeased him, he gave her to his best man. He ate from the carcass of a lion. As gross as this sounds to us, to a Nazirite it was a holy terror. Taking Delilah, a second Philistine bride, Samson begins on a murderous rage that ultimately leads to his death. Sure, he brought down tons of Philistines with him, but it only happened the way it did because he was disobedient to the Lord.
Friends, let’s face it, if Samson’s life were a TV miniseries it would have to be on HBO.
As for the Cliff Notes versions on a couple more of the “Heroes of the Faith,” Jephthah makes a foolish vow and sacrifices his daughter to keep it.[5] David, the man who knows God’s heart, lusts after a woman with such gusto that he takes her from her home and has her husband assassinated in battle.[6]
These are the Heroes of the Faith. These are the models scripture lifts from the Letter to the Hebrews. I don’t want to diminish the contributions of any of these heroes, but there is one thing I want to make clear, even the heroes have blemishes. Even if the Epistle to the Hebrews does not make this point, let me; all of us have our blemishes, especially our heroes.
Our blemishes lead us back to our reading from Luke this morning. John’s gospel says Jesus is the crisis of the world.[7] By crisis he didn’t mean emergency, but a moment of Truth ("Truth" with a capital “T”) where a decision has to be made.[8] Our reading today makes the point that where there are choices made, Jesus makes the difference in what and how we choose. It also shows that our decisions are difficult and have consequences that can be very painful.
These difficult decisions will bring division among families. Families will be split father against sons and mother against daughters. Jesus understands that his coming brings this division among the very people he saves. Jesus understands that his coming will cause a crisis of decision that makes peace impossible.
This Jesus who Luke tells us “will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High;” this Jesus who we are told “the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David;” the Christ who the shepherds were told was “born a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord;” our Lord who was told as the Holy Spirit descended upon him bodily like a dove at his baptism was told from on high “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased;” this Jesus will not bring peace to the world, but war.
Jesus says that he came to bring fire to the earth, fire which is often seen as judgment in both the Old and New Testaments. But here is something that is very important for us to remember, this is nothing new. In the book of Isaiah and in the Psalms, the nation of Israel is described as a vine. On this vine, the vintner seeks to produce the best vintage, the greatest of all wines. Unfortunately, Isaiah prophesies a wild vine growing in the place prepared for the good vines. The vintner chooses to destroy the vineyard rather than see it overgrown. In the Psalms, the vine is burned and cut down by the enemies of Israel. Again, this is nothing new.
Still, when we read about Jesus bringing fire to the earth and families being separated by the heat, we find it tough to accept. I believe I called it “a difficult writing that should always leave an odd taste in our mouths.”
There is reassurance in these words though. When I worked in Higher Education, a boss once told me that if people were complaining I must be doing something right. If they weren’t, I was probably letting them get away with too much. Maybe this is what’s going on here too.
The signs are all around us. It is when we interpret them as the work of God, it is when we interpret this discomfort and division as one of the ways the Lord works that we seek God and follow as Christ’s disciples. When we try to smooth all disagreement away we seek a false peace that is not Christ‘s vocation.
Perhaps when we see the challenges God places around us it is our call to respond in Christ’s name, not wring our hands praying for a miracle. It is when we become a part of the miracle that things begin to happen. Luke writes that the whole wide world won’t be happy when we serve God’s good creation as Christ’s disciples, and that could well be the good news.
Only when God is happy are we doing what is right.
As for the church sign, I changed it. I changed it to say “God is Love, not Hate.” Holy wars have been fought through history and will surely be fought again. There are wars that need to be fought to rid God’s good creation of evil. Scripture also tells us that God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them,[9] and it also tells us that Jesus came to bring a fire to the earth, a fire that will consume the dead branches from the vine. Jesus continues bringing fire that will purify us like fine metals cleared of their slag in a smelter. Jesus is bringing fire to the earth, and wishing we work to kindle it everyday.
Jesus suffered a terrible baptism of suffering, a bloody baptism in his crucifixion. It is up to us to take the baptism of water, washing us and sealing us, into God‘s family. It is up to us to take the baptism of fire, the empowering baptism of the Holy Spirit, into the Church. It is up to us to take the fire of the baptism of his crucifixion into the world. And don’t worry if someone gets upset along the way, one way to know when we know we’re doing something right.
[1] Joshua 2:1-24
[2] Judges 611-8:35
[3] Judges 4:1-24
[4] Judges 13:1-16:31
[5] Judges 11:1-40
[6] 2Samuel 11:1-27
[7] John 12:31
[8] Craddock, Fred B., Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1990, page 166. [9] 1John 4:16b
Isaiah 5:1-7
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Luke 12:49-56
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
I love church signs. I love them when they are witty with messages that mean something to the average person on the sidewalk and something more when examined by a disciple of Christ. Some of my pastor friends who have seen some examples from First Presbyterian in Berryville on the internet get a smile out of them too. Folks have enjoyed, “First Pedestrian Church, Walk the Walk” and there are always comments about “Lent, It’s not Just for Belly Buttons Anymore.” (Heather and Eric Williamson reminded me that their favorite sign reads “Palm Reading This Sunday” and yes, it goes up right before Palm Sunday.) We even made both the local paper and Synod newsletter with “So…What’s the Proper Tithe on $700 Billion” a couple of years ago.
Even “Praying for Ashley,” a sign which doesn’t have an iota of double meeting, got attention when the Holy Spirit took our prayers and blessed two women named “Ashley” that I surely had never met. That’s the economy of God, multiplying blessings on blessings; taking what I intend and doing more with it than I could ever hope or imagine.
Today, the sign in front of the church reads, “Help Wanted: Disciples, Inquire Within.” May this be an invitation to anyone who seeks God.
I hope that these signs offer a gentle chuckle, an interesting opening for conversation, and a call to discipleship. I pray that they will do what the Lord intends in the lives not just of the folks at First—Berryville, but of all who see them and consider them.
This reminds me of what was on the sign when I got to Berryville about five years ago. Someone, I don’t know who, put up, “God is Peace, not War.” That rubbed me the wrong way. From a pastoral point of view, nearly half of the congregation is made up of military veterans. There were vets from World War II through Vietnam. There are those who served in peace and those who served in war. Some served at home while others served overseas. Some were in battle, others were not. So I felt it wrong to have this on our sign when so many served .
One member of First—Berryville, a young woman named Hannah, will be commissioned as a Second Lieutenant into the Marine Corp on August 28. At one time she mentioned that she wanted to fly choppers, that’s one duty that is sure to put her in harm’s way in service to our country. If she read that sign, I wonder if she would have felt welcomed.
Our reading from Luke’s gospel, a difficult writing that should always leave an odd taste in our mouths, is another reason that I wanted to change that sign. Jesus, the one who we associate with the Good Shepherd, carrying a little lamb back to the fold, tells the world that he did not come to bring peace. He came bringing division. So God is peace? Well, as much as I want to say that in every time and place that God is peace, Luke says that his coming doesn‘t bring peace.
In the end though, I’ve read Revelation. Jesus will bring peace, and it‘s going to be messy between when he comes and when the final peace is made, but that‘s not really the point.
Hebrews 12 gives us an odd perspective on our reading from Luke. This section is known as “The Heroes of the Faith.” This is God’s “Hall of Fame” paraded by for all to see. These are the people who scripture shows us are worth copying.
So we start with Rahab, the prostitute. Yes, Jericho’s favorite call girl protected the two spies sent by Joshua.[1] While we hope every girl wants to be a hero of the faith, we also hope that on her high school’s career day she doesn’t drop by the prostitute booth.
Gideon, I love Gideon, he routs the Mideonites who had oppressed Israel for seven years. This is the same Gideon who is so afraid of his own shadow, so embarrassed by his own family, so unsure of his neighbors that he tries threshing grain in a winepress, an entirely futile way to try to do a day‘s work. So when he becomes the brave man with his dog soldiers, he’s a hero. Unfortunately while Gideon’s heroic story begins with the destruction of his father’s idol, it ends when he becomes idolater.[2]
The Hero of the Faith Barak was told that he would be a hero by Deborah, a prophetess and Judge of Israel. But he refused to go into battle unless Deborah would go with him. Because Barak required Deborah’s presence, he was far less of a hero and ultimately did not defeat Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, on his own. Sisera was eventually defeated by Jael the wife of Heber who rolled the general up in a carpet, gave him warm milk, told him a story, and put a tent spike through his temple.[3]
Samson[4] was a Nazirite, a judge who was consecrated from birth. He was destined to lead the people and lead them he did. Yet, in four chapters from the book of Judges, Samson married a Philistine, and then when she displeased him, he gave her to his best man. He ate from the carcass of a lion. As gross as this sounds to us, to a Nazirite it was a holy terror. Taking Delilah, a second Philistine bride, Samson begins on a murderous rage that ultimately leads to his death. Sure, he brought down tons of Philistines with him, but it only happened the way it did because he was disobedient to the Lord.
Friends, let’s face it, if Samson’s life were a TV miniseries it would have to be on HBO.
As for the Cliff Notes versions on a couple more of the “Heroes of the Faith,” Jephthah makes a foolish vow and sacrifices his daughter to keep it.[5] David, the man who knows God’s heart, lusts after a woman with such gusto that he takes her from her home and has her husband assassinated in battle.[6]
These are the Heroes of the Faith. These are the models scripture lifts from the Letter to the Hebrews. I don’t want to diminish the contributions of any of these heroes, but there is one thing I want to make clear, even the heroes have blemishes. Even if the Epistle to the Hebrews does not make this point, let me; all of us have our blemishes, especially our heroes.
Our blemishes lead us back to our reading from Luke this morning. John’s gospel says Jesus is the crisis of the world.[7] By crisis he didn’t mean emergency, but a moment of Truth ("Truth" with a capital “T”) where a decision has to be made.[8] Our reading today makes the point that where there are choices made, Jesus makes the difference in what and how we choose. It also shows that our decisions are difficult and have consequences that can be very painful.
These difficult decisions will bring division among families. Families will be split father against sons and mother against daughters. Jesus understands that his coming brings this division among the very people he saves. Jesus understands that his coming will cause a crisis of decision that makes peace impossible.
This Jesus who Luke tells us “will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High;” this Jesus who we are told “the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David;” the Christ who the shepherds were told was “born a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord;” our Lord who was told as the Holy Spirit descended upon him bodily like a dove at his baptism was told from on high “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased;” this Jesus will not bring peace to the world, but war.
Jesus says that he came to bring fire to the earth, fire which is often seen as judgment in both the Old and New Testaments. But here is something that is very important for us to remember, this is nothing new. In the book of Isaiah and in the Psalms, the nation of Israel is described as a vine. On this vine, the vintner seeks to produce the best vintage, the greatest of all wines. Unfortunately, Isaiah prophesies a wild vine growing in the place prepared for the good vines. The vintner chooses to destroy the vineyard rather than see it overgrown. In the Psalms, the vine is burned and cut down by the enemies of Israel. Again, this is nothing new.
Still, when we read about Jesus bringing fire to the earth and families being separated by the heat, we find it tough to accept. I believe I called it “a difficult writing that should always leave an odd taste in our mouths.”
There is reassurance in these words though. When I worked in Higher Education, a boss once told me that if people were complaining I must be doing something right. If they weren’t, I was probably letting them get away with too much. Maybe this is what’s going on here too.
The signs are all around us. It is when we interpret them as the work of God, it is when we interpret this discomfort and division as one of the ways the Lord works that we seek God and follow as Christ’s disciples. When we try to smooth all disagreement away we seek a false peace that is not Christ‘s vocation.
Perhaps when we see the challenges God places around us it is our call to respond in Christ’s name, not wring our hands praying for a miracle. It is when we become a part of the miracle that things begin to happen. Luke writes that the whole wide world won’t be happy when we serve God’s good creation as Christ’s disciples, and that could well be the good news.
Only when God is happy are we doing what is right.
As for the church sign, I changed it. I changed it to say “God is Love, not Hate.” Holy wars have been fought through history and will surely be fought again. There are wars that need to be fought to rid God’s good creation of evil. Scripture also tells us that God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them,[9] and it also tells us that Jesus came to bring a fire to the earth, a fire that will consume the dead branches from the vine. Jesus continues bringing fire that will purify us like fine metals cleared of their slag in a smelter. Jesus is bringing fire to the earth, and wishing we work to kindle it everyday.
Jesus suffered a terrible baptism of suffering, a bloody baptism in his crucifixion. It is up to us to take the baptism of water, washing us and sealing us, into God‘s family. It is up to us to take the baptism of fire, the empowering baptism of the Holy Spirit, into the Church. It is up to us to take the fire of the baptism of his crucifixion into the world. And don’t worry if someone gets upset along the way, one way to know when we know we’re doing something right.
[1] Joshua 2:1-24
[2] Judges 611-8:35
[3] Judges 4:1-24
[4] Judges 13:1-16:31
[5] Judges 11:1-40
[6] 2Samuel 11:1-27
[7] John 12:31
[8] Craddock, Fred B., Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1990, page 166. [9] 1John 4:16b
Sunday, August 08, 2010
Authentically Christian
This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday August 8, 2010, the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-13
Luke 12:32-40
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 there is one quote from John Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Faith” that most people of the reformed faiths are familiar with, it would be this one or one of the ten like it.
Meetings of the church are enjoined upon us by God’s Word; and from our everyday experience we well know how we need them. But how can such meetings be held unless they have been established and have their stated days? According to the apostle [Paul]’s statement, “all things should be done decently and in order” among us. It is so impossible to maintain decency and order — otherwise than by this arrangement and regulation — that immediate confusion and ruin threaten the church if it be dissolved.[1]
“Decently and in order,” this chestnut from 1Corinthians[2] could well be the mantra of Presbyterians and Presbyterian Worship. In a search of Calvin’s Institutes I found this phrase ten times, including the footnotes. That’s an awful lot. Sure, I’d expect to find grace and atonement frequently in Calvin’s theology but ten times seems to be a lot for a phrase that was never used by Jesus. In truth, I’m half right. Grace appears nearly six-hundred times. Atonement appears only once.
Being decent and in order is more important than atonement in Calvin’s Institutes. That makes me shake my head.
In seminary, I once worshiped with a mainly Hispanic Presbyterian congregation. Expecting to find an extremely charismatic wonderfully uninhibited service, I found possibly the driest worship service ever. I told this to the professor[3] who sent me to this congregation and asked him about the differences between my expectations and my observations. He told me that only the driest Presbyterian professors went and taught in seminaries in Mexico, what I saw was the norm. These folks just might have actually out-Calvined Calvin in regard to worshiping decently and in good order.
This is my little way of reminding you all, as if I need to do this in the sermon, that I am a fan of good liturgy. Good liturgy helps arrange our worship service into movements around the Word of God. We first “Gather around the Word of God” and then we “Hear the Word of God.” Next we “Respond to the Word of God” and finally “Depart with the Word of God.”
This acts as an outline, which gets fleshed out with prayer, confession, and reading and hearing God’s Word both written and interpreted. We then give our tithes and offerings, celebrate the sacraments, and receive the charge and benediction. Each of these movements is bathed in song and prayer.
These movements of the liturgy help organize the service so that we are sure to worship in a decent and orderly fashion. Calvin would be so proud. In my opinion though, this liturgy is a tool, like a hammer or saw. It is used to help build worship. It provides a discipline to help make us better disciples.
Good liturgy should be like a hangar or a mannequin, something that worship can be draped across to help it maintain its shape. Liturgy should never be a straight jacket trying to restrain the Holy Spirit within these walls or anywhere else.
I say this because scripture says that there is a difference between good worship and bad worship.
Imagine the prophet Isaiah screaming this at the top of his lungs at you as you head to the temple for worship on the Sabbath:
What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
The common response would have been somewhere between “who’s this nutcase?” and “uh-oh, we’re in trouble now.” He has just told the city of Jerusalem that they are no better than the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Suddenly, because the city failed to pay more attention to treating the poor and needy justly, they are compared to cities that burned because Lot could not find a handful of people worth saving. Isaiah tells the city, you bring your rams and your beasts, but because your heart is not in the right place, your offerings are worthless.
The people had been accustomed to this sacrificial system of atonement since before Moses brought back the particulars and they were recorded in the Torah. The temple leaders had even instituted a system to interpret what Moses meant so that the people who brought their “sacrifice without blemish” would know what a blemish was. Isaiah then tells them that there is a new Sheriff in town, and while a blemish on the ram is one thing a blemish in the heart and deeds of the one who brought it was worse.
Their offerings were futile. Their incense was an abomination. The Lord hates their festivals and the people have become a burden, a burden which the Lord is weary of bearing. Blood is on their hands because of the evil they do. They are first commanded by the prophet not to do good, but to learn to do good. They are so far gone from proper worship that they have to learn what it means to do good before they can even attempt it.
Their worship had become abhorrent to the Lord. Their offerings were no longer welcome. Justice had left their lives and their children had become rebellious against God. They were following the rules, but the rules no longer applied because they were no longer worshiping the Lord, they were playing the worship game.
Humanity has an inclination to manipulate worship to what we think serves God and suits us. When we pervert and manipulate worship, our offerings can become futile and our prayers rejected. Isaiah calls us back to the heart of worship, back to the good the people are to learn; seeking justice, rescuing the oppressed, defending the orphan and pleading for the widow.
The shame of contrived worship is that the people who think this way have often forgotten the first rule. The focus of worship isn’t the blessings we receive; it’s giving praise to the Lord while serving God’s good creation.
Luke continues this counsel when his disciples are liberated from the peril of possessions and enabled to reorder their lives to care for the needy pointing out that earthly treasure is unnecessary since it is our Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom. Instead of storing our riches in barns that may never be built like we found in last week’s gospel reading, we are to seek “purses for that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.”
Of course, this passage is not without its barriers, ones that won’t be overcome by a silver tongue. Nor will I be able to explain them away saying something like “when Jesus says ‘sell your possessions’ he didn’t really mean ‘sell your possessions’;” it’s what Jesus said. Shoot, if I said that to you all right here I would hope and expect you to come up to me and say “you first” after worship.
Instead, let’s couple this reading with last week’s about the rich farmer who thought that his riches would be able to provide everything he needed. As you recall, this didn’t work out so well for the farmer. He had everything he needed for a long and prosperous life except the time. All of his wealth would not be able to buy him one more sunrise. Today we are again reminded that prosperity is no guarantee of a future.
This leads to some very important words in this difficult instruction, we are to store our treasures where they will not be subject to theft or rot. Instead our call is to seek greater wealth, riches greater than silver and gold. We are called to return to Isaiah’s prophecy and learn how to do good; seeking justice and rescuing the oppressed, defending the orphan and pleading for the widow. Justice, rescue, defense, and pleading on behalf of those who need justice, rescue, defense, and pleading lead to riches that will never be taken away where riches are often as fleeting as the seasons.
Another admonition we are given in our call to do good is to give alms. In giving alms we further the Father’s kingdom on earth. We know that all creation is a gift of God, so there’s a sort of a symbiotic yin-and-yang effect going on when we give to those who need. Hebrews 13 reminds us that when we help strangers it is very possible that we have unknowingly helped angels, messengers of God. When we give to one another we return to creation what has been created, for the glory of the one who creates it.
Giving alms is a conversion in how we understand God and how God’s practices lead us into transformed practices related to… possessions, social relations, and more.”[4] Isaiah teaches us that as we give alms, we make ourselves clean. We cease to do evil and learn to do good. In almsgiving we seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow as Isaiah taught. In giving to others, we return to God what God has given to us, not only in terms of physical treasure, but in terms of dignity.
There is a wonderfully circular quality in these verses. To give us the kingdom pleases the Father, and likewise, our almsgiving to neighbors in need pleases the Father. We do not give alms or do any kind of work to earn our salvation. We are to give alms in thanksgiving for what the Father has all ready done. We are to give alms for the glory of God, to show gratitude to God, and for the benefit of others.[5]
The Presbyterian Outlook magazine has commissioned a series of essays probing challenges to the church. In a recent issue of the magazine, Merwyn S. Johnson comes to this conclusion, “The Christian Community—including the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)—finds its authenticity in Christ or not at all.”[6] He writes three things need to be present to be authentically in Christ: our community must hinge on Jesus Christ, quick fixes won’t solve the denomination’s problems, and Christ brings otherwise self-isolated, unique individuals together.[7] Interpreting these remarks in light of our readings, Dr. Johnson reminds us that while Isaiah calls us to respond to the Lord he knew, we must respond to the Triune God we know, particularly Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us.
Johnson writes that authentically Christian life should take its cues from Dietrich Bonhoeffer who wrote all Christians take their cues “from Christ, through Christ and in Christ.” In worshiping Christ we are reminded one of the greatest alms we can give one another is to offer God’s word to one another, the word that “pronounces us guilty when we don’t feel guilty and righteous before God when we do not feel righteous.”[8] We are blessed as we give God’s word and when we receive it.
This leads us back to our reading from the prophet Isaiah where there is a promise, a promise that the nation of Israel will be as white as snow even though their sins mark them as scarlet. The nation of Israel which is now red like crimson, but will be like wool. If they are willing, if they are obedient, then they will eat of the good of the land. If not, well, there is always the sword. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.
This is our promise too as the children of God. We are not forsaken; we are saved by grace through faith. We are called to be authentically Christian, not “fish on the bumper/rage behind the wheel” Christian. We are called to seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow. We are to give alms and serve God as we would serve the master of the house, and we should do this for two simple reasons.
First, we might serve angels unaware. Second, we serve the master of the house and we never know when he is expected to return. So we are called to be ready when he calls upon us to serve from Christ, through Christ, and in Christ.
[1] Calvin, John, The Institutes of Religion, Translated by Ford Lewis Battles, from The Westminster Press. Albany, OR: Books For The Ages, AGES Software, 2.8.32
[2] 14:40
[3] This was an assignment in my “Introduction to Christian Worship” class taught by the one and only, the late great Rev. Dr. Stan Hall.
[4] Note for Luke 12:13-34, The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha. Harrelson, Walter J., General Editor. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003. Electronic Version, 2003..
[5] Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.), Office of the General Assembly, The Book of Confessions. Louisville, KY: Presbyterian Distribution Service, 2003, section 5.123.
[6] “Is Authentic Christian Community Possible?” The Presbyterian Outlook. Volume 192, Number 15, July 26, 2010, page 24.
[7] Ibid. page 22
[8] Ibid.
Isaiah 1:1, 10-20
Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-13
Luke 12:32-40
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 there is one quote from John Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Faith” that most people of the reformed faiths are familiar with, it would be this one or one of the ten like it.
Meetings of the church are enjoined upon us by God’s Word; and from our everyday experience we well know how we need them. But how can such meetings be held unless they have been established and have their stated days? According to the apostle [Paul]’s statement, “all things should be done decently and in order” among us. It is so impossible to maintain decency and order — otherwise than by this arrangement and regulation — that immediate confusion and ruin threaten the church if it be dissolved.[1]
“Decently and in order,” this chestnut from 1Corinthians[2] could well be the mantra of Presbyterians and Presbyterian Worship. In a search of Calvin’s Institutes I found this phrase ten times, including the footnotes. That’s an awful lot. Sure, I’d expect to find grace and atonement frequently in Calvin’s theology but ten times seems to be a lot for a phrase that was never used by Jesus. In truth, I’m half right. Grace appears nearly six-hundred times. Atonement appears only once.
Being decent and in order is more important than atonement in Calvin’s Institutes. That makes me shake my head.
In seminary, I once worshiped with a mainly Hispanic Presbyterian congregation. Expecting to find an extremely charismatic wonderfully uninhibited service, I found possibly the driest worship service ever. I told this to the professor[3] who sent me to this congregation and asked him about the differences between my expectations and my observations. He told me that only the driest Presbyterian professors went and taught in seminaries in Mexico, what I saw was the norm. These folks just might have actually out-Calvined Calvin in regard to worshiping decently and in good order.
This is my little way of reminding you all, as if I need to do this in the sermon, that I am a fan of good liturgy. Good liturgy helps arrange our worship service into movements around the Word of God. We first “Gather around the Word of God” and then we “Hear the Word of God.” Next we “Respond to the Word of God” and finally “Depart with the Word of God.”
This acts as an outline, which gets fleshed out with prayer, confession, and reading and hearing God’s Word both written and interpreted. We then give our tithes and offerings, celebrate the sacraments, and receive the charge and benediction. Each of these movements is bathed in song and prayer.
These movements of the liturgy help organize the service so that we are sure to worship in a decent and orderly fashion. Calvin would be so proud. In my opinion though, this liturgy is a tool, like a hammer or saw. It is used to help build worship. It provides a discipline to help make us better disciples.
Good liturgy should be like a hangar or a mannequin, something that worship can be draped across to help it maintain its shape. Liturgy should never be a straight jacket trying to restrain the Holy Spirit within these walls or anywhere else.
I say this because scripture says that there is a difference between good worship and bad worship.
Imagine the prophet Isaiah screaming this at the top of his lungs at you as you head to the temple for worship on the Sabbath:
What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
The common response would have been somewhere between “who’s this nutcase?” and “uh-oh, we’re in trouble now.” He has just told the city of Jerusalem that they are no better than the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Suddenly, because the city failed to pay more attention to treating the poor and needy justly, they are compared to cities that burned because Lot could not find a handful of people worth saving. Isaiah tells the city, you bring your rams and your beasts, but because your heart is not in the right place, your offerings are worthless.
The people had been accustomed to this sacrificial system of atonement since before Moses brought back the particulars and they were recorded in the Torah. The temple leaders had even instituted a system to interpret what Moses meant so that the people who brought their “sacrifice without blemish” would know what a blemish was. Isaiah then tells them that there is a new Sheriff in town, and while a blemish on the ram is one thing a blemish in the heart and deeds of the one who brought it was worse.
Their offerings were futile. Their incense was an abomination. The Lord hates their festivals and the people have become a burden, a burden which the Lord is weary of bearing. Blood is on their hands because of the evil they do. They are first commanded by the prophet not to do good, but to learn to do good. They are so far gone from proper worship that they have to learn what it means to do good before they can even attempt it.
Their worship had become abhorrent to the Lord. Their offerings were no longer welcome. Justice had left their lives and their children had become rebellious against God. They were following the rules, but the rules no longer applied because they were no longer worshiping the Lord, they were playing the worship game.
Humanity has an inclination to manipulate worship to what we think serves God and suits us. When we pervert and manipulate worship, our offerings can become futile and our prayers rejected. Isaiah calls us back to the heart of worship, back to the good the people are to learn; seeking justice, rescuing the oppressed, defending the orphan and pleading for the widow.
The shame of contrived worship is that the people who think this way have often forgotten the first rule. The focus of worship isn’t the blessings we receive; it’s giving praise to the Lord while serving God’s good creation.
Luke continues this counsel when his disciples are liberated from the peril of possessions and enabled to reorder their lives to care for the needy pointing out that earthly treasure is unnecessary since it is our Father’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom. Instead of storing our riches in barns that may never be built like we found in last week’s gospel reading, we are to seek “purses for that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.”
Of course, this passage is not without its barriers, ones that won’t be overcome by a silver tongue. Nor will I be able to explain them away saying something like “when Jesus says ‘sell your possessions’ he didn’t really mean ‘sell your possessions’;” it’s what Jesus said. Shoot, if I said that to you all right here I would hope and expect you to come up to me and say “you first” after worship.
Instead, let’s couple this reading with last week’s about the rich farmer who thought that his riches would be able to provide everything he needed. As you recall, this didn’t work out so well for the farmer. He had everything he needed for a long and prosperous life except the time. All of his wealth would not be able to buy him one more sunrise. Today we are again reminded that prosperity is no guarantee of a future.
This leads to some very important words in this difficult instruction, we are to store our treasures where they will not be subject to theft or rot. Instead our call is to seek greater wealth, riches greater than silver and gold. We are called to return to Isaiah’s prophecy and learn how to do good; seeking justice and rescuing the oppressed, defending the orphan and pleading for the widow. Justice, rescue, defense, and pleading on behalf of those who need justice, rescue, defense, and pleading lead to riches that will never be taken away where riches are often as fleeting as the seasons.
Another admonition we are given in our call to do good is to give alms. In giving alms we further the Father’s kingdom on earth. We know that all creation is a gift of God, so there’s a sort of a symbiotic yin-and-yang effect going on when we give to those who need. Hebrews 13 reminds us that when we help strangers it is very possible that we have unknowingly helped angels, messengers of God. When we give to one another we return to creation what has been created, for the glory of the one who creates it.
Giving alms is a conversion in how we understand God and how God’s practices lead us into transformed practices related to… possessions, social relations, and more.”[4] Isaiah teaches us that as we give alms, we make ourselves clean. We cease to do evil and learn to do good. In almsgiving we seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow as Isaiah taught. In giving to others, we return to God what God has given to us, not only in terms of physical treasure, but in terms of dignity.
There is a wonderfully circular quality in these verses. To give us the kingdom pleases the Father, and likewise, our almsgiving to neighbors in need pleases the Father. We do not give alms or do any kind of work to earn our salvation. We are to give alms in thanksgiving for what the Father has all ready done. We are to give alms for the glory of God, to show gratitude to God, and for the benefit of others.[5]
The Presbyterian Outlook magazine has commissioned a series of essays probing challenges to the church. In a recent issue of the magazine, Merwyn S. Johnson comes to this conclusion, “The Christian Community—including the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)—finds its authenticity in Christ or not at all.”[6] He writes three things need to be present to be authentically in Christ: our community must hinge on Jesus Christ, quick fixes won’t solve the denomination’s problems, and Christ brings otherwise self-isolated, unique individuals together.[7] Interpreting these remarks in light of our readings, Dr. Johnson reminds us that while Isaiah calls us to respond to the Lord he knew, we must respond to the Triune God we know, particularly Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us.
Johnson writes that authentically Christian life should take its cues from Dietrich Bonhoeffer who wrote all Christians take their cues “from Christ, through Christ and in Christ.” In worshiping Christ we are reminded one of the greatest alms we can give one another is to offer God’s word to one another, the word that “pronounces us guilty when we don’t feel guilty and righteous before God when we do not feel righteous.”[8] We are blessed as we give God’s word and when we receive it.
This leads us back to our reading from the prophet Isaiah where there is a promise, a promise that the nation of Israel will be as white as snow even though their sins mark them as scarlet. The nation of Israel which is now red like crimson, but will be like wool. If they are willing, if they are obedient, then they will eat of the good of the land. If not, well, there is always the sword. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.
This is our promise too as the children of God. We are not forsaken; we are saved by grace through faith. We are called to be authentically Christian, not “fish on the bumper/rage behind the wheel” Christian. We are called to seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow. We are to give alms and serve God as we would serve the master of the house, and we should do this for two simple reasons.
First, we might serve angels unaware. Second, we serve the master of the house and we never know when he is expected to return. So we are called to be ready when he calls upon us to serve from Christ, through Christ, and in Christ.
[1] Calvin, John, The Institutes of Religion, Translated by Ford Lewis Battles, from The Westminster Press. Albany, OR: Books For The Ages, AGES Software, 2.8.32
[2] 14:40
[3] This was an assignment in my “Introduction to Christian Worship” class taught by the one and only, the late great Rev. Dr. Stan Hall.
[4] Note for Luke 12:13-34, The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version with Apocrypha. Harrelson, Walter J., General Editor. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003. Electronic Version, 2003..
[5] Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.), Office of the General Assembly, The Book of Confessions. Louisville, KY: Presbyterian Distribution Service, 2003, section 5.123.
[6] “Is Authentic Christian Community Possible?” The Presbyterian Outlook. Volume 192, Number 15, July 26, 2010, page 24.
[7] Ibid. page 22
[8] Ibid.
Sunday, August 01, 2010
A Rich Inheritance
This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday August 1, 2010, the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Hosea 11:1-11
Psalm 107:1-9, 43
Colossians 3:1-11
Luke 12:13-21
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Jesus is teaching; he has become a very popular rabbi. The crowds love him, and one of the reasons the masses love him so much is because the elite aristocratic leadership hates him. The oppressed people of any time and place will agree; if you’re ticking off the oppressors you must be doing something right.
Jesus has just scolded the Pharisees for tithing mint, rue and herbs of all kinds, neglecting justice and the love of God. When the scribes object, saying that they are “injured” by what Jesus says, he says, “Woe also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them.” The leaders of the people protect their place, they protect their status, instead of doing what their vocation calls them to do, and Jesus is not amused.
In the midst of the oppression against the disciples of the Lord, Jesus promises his followers that they need not worry. When the time comes, when they are called to account for their lives and defend themselves; they are not to worry about what they are to say for the Holy Spirit will give them the words for that very hour.
Jesus does what Henry Emerson Fosdick calls the goal of the gospel and the goal of every good preacher who brings the gospel; to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. This is when someone in the crowd comes and says to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”
Effective public speaking has a flow, a rhythm to it which helps bring the message. Boy, you want to talk about a buzz kill? It is so rude to interrupt Jesus while he is on a roll.
Jesus knows that the issues of wealth, riches, and inheritance are important, but they are not his to be decided. It reminds me of when Jethro tells Moses to appoint judges to look after the small stuff so that when a big case arises he will be fresh and ready to tackle it. Jesus answers the supplicant, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Jesus doesn’t settle the dispute; rather he becomes the anti-Gordon Gecko warning that greed is not good.
Paul takes this discourse on riches and wealth in general to the next level in his letter to the Colossians. Often, in Paul’s letters the things he writes are specifically addressed to what is happening in that community at that moment. Reading his letters is like reading the answers to questions that we never hear. So when Paul tells the church “set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” he offers this word because someone has asked for an interpretation on a specific question of earthly wealth.
Honestly, it is likely that Paul received a question similar to the one at the beginning of our reading from Luke this morning. Someone has asked Jesus and now Paul about earthly wealth and both of them answer that life is more than the stuff we own. They certainly go against the expression that “whoever dies with the most toys wins.” Paul goes on to remind the people of the church at Colossae that we have died, and our life is hidden (buried) with Christ in God. Paul lifts Christ crucified and we are the body of Christ. As the people and the body of Christ, when we are revealed with him, we will be revealed with him in glory.
In true Pauline fashion, he minces no words telling the church how to be crucified in Christ rather than in the world. He tells us to “Put to death whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry).” He continues telling us we “must get rid of all such things--anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth.”
On the more positive side, he tells us that we need to seek the things from above. He tells us that in our life in Christ we have been clothed with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. Paul tells us what is not Godly and then speaks of the immeasurable joys of being the body of Christ.
It makes petty whining about earthly inheritance small potatoes.
So this is when you might expect me to tie Paul’s warnings and instructions into the life of the Parable of the Rich Farmer in our gospel reading this morning. On the contrary, I will do nothing of the sort.
Of all of the attributes we can ascribe to the farmer, Jesus does not ascribe any of Paul’s sins to him. He seems to have put to death fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed which is idolatry. He has apparently gotten rid of anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth, and all such things. The farmer is not “that guy” from Colossians.
If the farmer seems too good to be true, he is. Let’s just remember that he’s a character in a parable, not a real person. He’s a literary device, not flesh and bone.
So the parable begins, “The land of a rich man produced abundantly.” There is a whole lot going on in this one little sentence that we need to unpack before going forward. Those who know what it takes to succeed in agriculture know that an abundant harvest is not product of lazy farmer. Even if the farmer is someone who has a staff of overseers and workers, an abundant harvest is not the product of someone who sits around all day drinking iced tea and wondering what the poor people are doing.
This mythical land owner appears to be endowed with all of the best qualities of what we call the protestant work ethic. He is hard working and diligent. He is wise; a long term planner and strategic thinker. He saves, he doesn’t squander his wealth. He doesn’t seek to go out and buy the best new toys from the first century Monkey-Ward catalog, he is ready to build new barns and store his crop for many years. Even if he was just lucky; even if he had great seed, prepared soil, favorable weather, and the best luck in the world; chance favors the prepared and he was definitely prepared.
Reflecting on the bounty, he tells his soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” This rich farmer has just made a major deposit in his ancient Individual Retirement Account and life is good. He is a small business owner who has done all of the right things. As soon as he makes a new place for his stuff he’ll be ready to take a breather. His earthly debts are paid off and he is ready to take a little time with his family. That’s the plan, a plan that would make any investment specialist proud. Relax, eat, drink, and be merry. Friends, let’s face it, this guy could not be more typically American unless he baked an apple pie and invented the hot dog.
This is where we come to the harsh reality. Relax, eat, drink, and be merry is found in the Old Testament books of Ecclesiastes and Isaiah[1] where it isn’t a blessing. It’s a foreboding of impending doom. The mistake that he has made is that he has received a great blessing and chosen to sit on his hands and on his wealth.
Resting on his laurels watching the world go by sitting on the veranda in his porch swing is not the life God calls him to live. This is not the life we are called to live either. Our call is not to rest on God’s blessings; our call is to do God’s will with these blessings.
Another way to say this is that he isn’t bad in as many words, but he isn’t seeking what Paul calls “the things from above.”
William Sloane Coffin warns preachers against doing something which is very tempting at this moment. He tells you and reminds me that the preacher’s job is not to tell you what to do, but to remind you who you are, in this case, agents and stewards of God’s bounty.[2] Then he reminds us that riches per se are not the enemy.
Good and bad come from the use of riches, not the riches themselves. To the ancient Greeks, riches were seen as blessings from the Gods. The Greek word for “riches” shares the same root as the words “fill” and “full.” Riches, the filling of the barn if you will, were seen as a blessing from God. Still, riches were not to be confused with the blessings of God. Things like “wealth of wisdom” or “wealth of grace” were not promised in these riches.[3]
In truth, riches help liberate people allowing the rich farmer to go to the city gates and help rule the city. Riches used properly can make a ruler beyond corruption. Think of it this way, what’s the use of offering a man with barns of grain a loaf of bread to rule in your favor? Riches properly used allow freedom for the rulers at the gate to seek justice instead of greater wealth for themselves.
Dare I say that this is a difference between God’s intended use of wealth and our experiences with the ways of notoriously wealthy people today? Shoot, I have deleted a full paragraph about this very difference between responsible use of riches and the greedy seeking of greater wealth and could have written another paragraph for every robber baron who ever lived. Instead, I’ll share an old joke.
Once upon a time there was a rich man, a man who gained and increased his wealth without concern for the people around him. Shortly before his death, he decided that he was going to take it with him. He told his wife to take two pillowcases, fill them with money, and put them in the attic above his bed. This way, when he died, he would grab the pillowcases on the way and take his riches with him. Well, the woman did as her husband asked and a couple of weeks later, he passed peacefully in his own bed.
A couple of weeks later, the man’s wife returned to the attic to put some of her husband’s things away. There, she saw the two pillowcases still filled with the money as he had requested. She looked at the pillowcases and said to herself, “I knew I should have put them in the basement.”
It’s not riches, but our attitude toward riches, the way we use riches that is important. The rich farmer in the parable is the man who embodies the American dream, but with one fatal flaw. He wanted to use his riches, the bountiful gifts of a gracious God, for his own comfort instead of for God’s kingdom. When we trust our lives to the security of riches instead of the richness of God, we trust in something that is fleeting.
As the farmer learns, life can be over in a flash. Our lives can be demanded of us in any given moment. When this happens, Jesus asks, “Who will receive the blessings that have been trusted to you?” One blessing will last; the other will become dust in the wind. We have received so many blessings, and often they are squandered on things that don’t last until the next season.
In the end, there is only one answer to the question of inheritance, the root of the question that begins our gospel reading today. In that time and place the only way to insure gaining an inheritance was to be a son of the father. In the eternal realm, the only way for us to insure our rich inheritance is by being a child of the Father, a child of God. Ours is not to squirrel away the blessings we have received into new barns because these riches are fleeting. We are to seek the greater blessings, the blessings of God. We are not to store up treasures for ourselves but are to be rich in the blessings of God.
I will finish by sharing one more thing I read in Coffin’s writings, “It seems to say that what counts is not how much you give, but how much you have left after you give.”[4] When we give from our earthly and our God given stores, what remains is what God gives, what Paul calls “the things from above.” In giving our earthly riches, we share as the heirs to a rich inheritance that only God can offer. One day our very lives will be asked of us, and on that day we will fully know the rich inheritance that no one will ever be able to take away.
[1] Ecclesiastes 8:15, Isaiah 2:13
[2] Coffin, William Sloane. “The Collected Sermons of William Sloane Coffin, The Riverside Years.” Volume 2. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008, page 195.
[3] Kittel, Gerhardt. “Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.” Volume vi. Pages 319-320.
[4] Ibid, Coffin.
Hosea 11:1-11
Psalm 107:1-9, 43
Colossians 3:1-11
Luke 12:13-21
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen
Jesus is teaching; he has become a very popular rabbi. The crowds love him, and one of the reasons the masses love him so much is because the elite aristocratic leadership hates him. The oppressed people of any time and place will agree; if you’re ticking off the oppressors you must be doing something right.
Jesus has just scolded the Pharisees for tithing mint, rue and herbs of all kinds, neglecting justice and the love of God. When the scribes object, saying that they are “injured” by what Jesus says, he says, “Woe also to you lawyers! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not lift a finger to ease them.” The leaders of the people protect their place, they protect their status, instead of doing what their vocation calls them to do, and Jesus is not amused.
In the midst of the oppression against the disciples of the Lord, Jesus promises his followers that they need not worry. When the time comes, when they are called to account for their lives and defend themselves; they are not to worry about what they are to say for the Holy Spirit will give them the words for that very hour.
Jesus does what Henry Emerson Fosdick calls the goal of the gospel and the goal of every good preacher who brings the gospel; to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. This is when someone in the crowd comes and says to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.”
Effective public speaking has a flow, a rhythm to it which helps bring the message. Boy, you want to talk about a buzz kill? It is so rude to interrupt Jesus while he is on a roll.
Jesus knows that the issues of wealth, riches, and inheritance are important, but they are not his to be decided. It reminds me of when Jethro tells Moses to appoint judges to look after the small stuff so that when a big case arises he will be fresh and ready to tackle it. Jesus answers the supplicant, “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Jesus doesn’t settle the dispute; rather he becomes the anti-Gordon Gecko warning that greed is not good.
Paul takes this discourse on riches and wealth in general to the next level in his letter to the Colossians. Often, in Paul’s letters the things he writes are specifically addressed to what is happening in that community at that moment. Reading his letters is like reading the answers to questions that we never hear. So when Paul tells the church “set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” he offers this word because someone has asked for an interpretation on a specific question of earthly wealth.
Honestly, it is likely that Paul received a question similar to the one at the beginning of our reading from Luke this morning. Someone has asked Jesus and now Paul about earthly wealth and both of them answer that life is more than the stuff we own. They certainly go against the expression that “whoever dies with the most toys wins.” Paul goes on to remind the people of the church at Colossae that we have died, and our life is hidden (buried) with Christ in God. Paul lifts Christ crucified and we are the body of Christ. As the people and the body of Christ, when we are revealed with him, we will be revealed with him in glory.
In true Pauline fashion, he minces no words telling the church how to be crucified in Christ rather than in the world. He tells us to “Put to death whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry).” He continues telling us we “must get rid of all such things--anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth.”
On the more positive side, he tells us that we need to seek the things from above. He tells us that in our life in Christ we have been clothed with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. Paul tells us what is not Godly and then speaks of the immeasurable joys of being the body of Christ.
It makes petty whining about earthly inheritance small potatoes.
So this is when you might expect me to tie Paul’s warnings and instructions into the life of the Parable of the Rich Farmer in our gospel reading this morning. On the contrary, I will do nothing of the sort.
Of all of the attributes we can ascribe to the farmer, Jesus does not ascribe any of Paul’s sins to him. He seems to have put to death fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed which is idolatry. He has apparently gotten rid of anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth, and all such things. The farmer is not “that guy” from Colossians.
If the farmer seems too good to be true, he is. Let’s just remember that he’s a character in a parable, not a real person. He’s a literary device, not flesh and bone.
So the parable begins, “The land of a rich man produced abundantly.” There is a whole lot going on in this one little sentence that we need to unpack before going forward. Those who know what it takes to succeed in agriculture know that an abundant harvest is not product of lazy farmer. Even if the farmer is someone who has a staff of overseers and workers, an abundant harvest is not the product of someone who sits around all day drinking iced tea and wondering what the poor people are doing.
This mythical land owner appears to be endowed with all of the best qualities of what we call the protestant work ethic. He is hard working and diligent. He is wise; a long term planner and strategic thinker. He saves, he doesn’t squander his wealth. He doesn’t seek to go out and buy the best new toys from the first century Monkey-Ward catalog, he is ready to build new barns and store his crop for many years. Even if he was just lucky; even if he had great seed, prepared soil, favorable weather, and the best luck in the world; chance favors the prepared and he was definitely prepared.
Reflecting on the bounty, he tells his soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” This rich farmer has just made a major deposit in his ancient Individual Retirement Account and life is good. He is a small business owner who has done all of the right things. As soon as he makes a new place for his stuff he’ll be ready to take a breather. His earthly debts are paid off and he is ready to take a little time with his family. That’s the plan, a plan that would make any investment specialist proud. Relax, eat, drink, and be merry. Friends, let’s face it, this guy could not be more typically American unless he baked an apple pie and invented the hot dog.
This is where we come to the harsh reality. Relax, eat, drink, and be merry is found in the Old Testament books of Ecclesiastes and Isaiah[1] where it isn’t a blessing. It’s a foreboding of impending doom. The mistake that he has made is that he has received a great blessing and chosen to sit on his hands and on his wealth.
Resting on his laurels watching the world go by sitting on the veranda in his porch swing is not the life God calls him to live. This is not the life we are called to live either. Our call is not to rest on God’s blessings; our call is to do God’s will with these blessings.
Another way to say this is that he isn’t bad in as many words, but he isn’t seeking what Paul calls “the things from above.”
William Sloane Coffin warns preachers against doing something which is very tempting at this moment. He tells you and reminds me that the preacher’s job is not to tell you what to do, but to remind you who you are, in this case, agents and stewards of God’s bounty.[2] Then he reminds us that riches per se are not the enemy.
Good and bad come from the use of riches, not the riches themselves. To the ancient Greeks, riches were seen as blessings from the Gods. The Greek word for “riches” shares the same root as the words “fill” and “full.” Riches, the filling of the barn if you will, were seen as a blessing from God. Still, riches were not to be confused with the blessings of God. Things like “wealth of wisdom” or “wealth of grace” were not promised in these riches.[3]
In truth, riches help liberate people allowing the rich farmer to go to the city gates and help rule the city. Riches used properly can make a ruler beyond corruption. Think of it this way, what’s the use of offering a man with barns of grain a loaf of bread to rule in your favor? Riches properly used allow freedom for the rulers at the gate to seek justice instead of greater wealth for themselves.
Dare I say that this is a difference between God’s intended use of wealth and our experiences with the ways of notoriously wealthy people today? Shoot, I have deleted a full paragraph about this very difference between responsible use of riches and the greedy seeking of greater wealth and could have written another paragraph for every robber baron who ever lived. Instead, I’ll share an old joke.
Once upon a time there was a rich man, a man who gained and increased his wealth without concern for the people around him. Shortly before his death, he decided that he was going to take it with him. He told his wife to take two pillowcases, fill them with money, and put them in the attic above his bed. This way, when he died, he would grab the pillowcases on the way and take his riches with him. Well, the woman did as her husband asked and a couple of weeks later, he passed peacefully in his own bed.
A couple of weeks later, the man’s wife returned to the attic to put some of her husband’s things away. There, she saw the two pillowcases still filled with the money as he had requested. She looked at the pillowcases and said to herself, “I knew I should have put them in the basement.”
It’s not riches, but our attitude toward riches, the way we use riches that is important. The rich farmer in the parable is the man who embodies the American dream, but with one fatal flaw. He wanted to use his riches, the bountiful gifts of a gracious God, for his own comfort instead of for God’s kingdom. When we trust our lives to the security of riches instead of the richness of God, we trust in something that is fleeting.
As the farmer learns, life can be over in a flash. Our lives can be demanded of us in any given moment. When this happens, Jesus asks, “Who will receive the blessings that have been trusted to you?” One blessing will last; the other will become dust in the wind. We have received so many blessings, and often they are squandered on things that don’t last until the next season.
In the end, there is only one answer to the question of inheritance, the root of the question that begins our gospel reading today. In that time and place the only way to insure gaining an inheritance was to be a son of the father. In the eternal realm, the only way for us to insure our rich inheritance is by being a child of the Father, a child of God. Ours is not to squirrel away the blessings we have received into new barns because these riches are fleeting. We are to seek the greater blessings, the blessings of God. We are not to store up treasures for ourselves but are to be rich in the blessings of God.
I will finish by sharing one more thing I read in Coffin’s writings, “It seems to say that what counts is not how much you give, but how much you have left after you give.”[4] When we give from our earthly and our God given stores, what remains is what God gives, what Paul calls “the things from above.” In giving our earthly riches, we share as the heirs to a rich inheritance that only God can offer. One day our very lives will be asked of us, and on that day we will fully know the rich inheritance that no one will ever be able to take away.
[1] Ecclesiastes 8:15, Isaiah 2:13
[2] Coffin, William Sloane. “The Collected Sermons of William Sloane Coffin, The Riverside Years.” Volume 2. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008, page 195.
[3] Kittel, Gerhardt. “Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.” Volume vi. Pages 319-320.
[4] Ibid, Coffin.
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