Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
I think scripture usually makes points much more clearly than I do. So today, I am going to read scripture to you. I am going to interject a little to help you connect with the text, but really I want the text to do the talking.
Exodus 16:
1The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim; and Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.
Just for background: God’s people have just been led out of slavery in Egypt through the mighty power of God and through the leadership of Moses and his brother Aaron. They are a couple of months out into the desert in what will become a legendarily long journey.
2The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
Some days leadership is not all it is cracked up to be. Two months ago Moses and his brother Aaron were heroes for helping to free God’s people from slavery. Now they are the bad guys. Moses really should have seen this coming. These folks were complaining before they ever really got out of Egypt. We read in Exodus 14, just prior to the miraculous parting of the Red Sea, the people see Pharaoh’s army coming and they panic and say:
“Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? 12Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
Better to be in bondage than to risk freedom.
And here are the Israelites complaining again in today’s text:
3The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
Fleshpot – there is a word we use a lot. Just think of a large caldron that was used to boil meat. What they are saying here is, “we had all we wanted to eat.” They were saying it was better to be in slavery and have plenty to eat that to be free and hungry. Man that is a sermon right there. Would I rather have abundance and be a slave to my abundance or would I rather be free and hungry?
4Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day.
There is food on the way. But notice that, each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day.
In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.
Oh great! A test! Think about that. If we were out in the desert starving and suddenly there was a ton of food everywhere and I said, go and gather food, but just enough for today, would you listen? I imagine some of you might stock up a little in case there wasn’t a repeat the next day. But this is a test.
5On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.”
God is going to tell them that they will get no food on the seventh day because it is a day of rest so there is one day that they can stock up.
6So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaining against the Lord. For what are we, that you complain against us?” 8And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, because the Lord has heard the complaining that you utter against him—what are we? Your complaining is not against us but against the Lord.
I had to look at this a few times. I want to read it to you in another translation:
7Tomorrow morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard you grumble against him. We are nothing, so you are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord."
Remember at the beginning it said:
2The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
Moses and his brother Aaron are saying here “When you are complaining to us, you are actually complaining to God.” I love that and I am going to try it. Next time some one calls me to complain about the service or something I said, I am going to try, “I am nothing, so you are not grumbling against me, but against God.”
So Moses tells Aaron to tell them how this is going to work.
9Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, ‘Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’“
Yeah right, if I thought God had really overheard my complaining I would head the other way.
10And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 11The Lord spoke to Moses and said, 12“I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’“
13In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. 16This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents.’"
An omer is around one or two liters just in case you stopped listening because you were wondering what an omer was. But now let’s think about two things. First of all, this is a test right?
In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.
Now let’s also remember that they are in the desert, starving. There is now plenty of food, just take what you need. Have you ever seen images of food being delivered to where people are starving? It is usually being unloaded by or at least guarded by soldiers. Because when people are starving they are not always rational.
17The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less.
Was no one listening? I don’t know what was wrong with those who gathered less but those who gathered more weren’t listening. But they were acting quite human. Let me ask you. Do any of you have extra of anything?
We had a community garage sale last weekend and Alisha and I got rid of some stuff. It always amazes me how much extra stuff we have. I have extra clothes, extra shoes, extra tools. I realized that I had two identical brooms in my garage. You know just in case. Just in case my broom breaks and I can’t crawl the quarter mile to the place where I can buy another one for about two dollars. Now don’t think this is going to lead me to say I should be wasteful and just throw it out. But why did I ever buy a second broom?
It is not that we shouldn’t be prepared, but a lot of us have this overwhelming need to stockpile, to have, not enough but more than enough and what we find is this: there is never enough.
18But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed.
Here is the surprise to the story. No matter how much some tried to stock up, they only had enough. Nobody had any extra. That is really interesting. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I never have enough. If I just made a little bit more money, if I could live in a little bit bigger house, if I could save a little more for retirement, I could go on a better vacation.
We live in a really complicated world. I really struggle with passages like this because they can seem so black and white.
Some gathered more and some gathered less and they all had the same amount.
We live in America and I think our grand experiment with capitalism has a lot of flaws but we basically have gotten along pretty good with the idea that, when it comes to possessions and money we don’t just say, “everybody gets the same amount.” So let me be clear that I am not sharing this scripture to make a point about economics. I want us to think about our personal relationship with God and stuff.
I also don’t want you to read this too literally and think, “Oh it doesn’t matter what I do, God will take care of me.” “Those who gathered little had no shortage.” Read that carefully, “Those who gathered.” It doesn’t mention those who stayed home and did nothing because “Dancing with the Stars” was on. I think most of us know the reality that if you don’t work, if you don’t gather, you may struggle to have enough to eat.
But I want us to think about our personal relationship with God and stuff.
As I said, we live in acomplicated world. Not many of us would feel secure if we went out each day and made just enough to pay for our expenses that day. Not many of us would be content to have just enough food and money to last until tomorrow. We work hard, we stock up, we save. We try to get on solid footing so if something happens we won’t go into debt and we try to put something away so when we are older we can retire. This is good stuff. But there is still never enough.
I want us to think about our personal relationship with God and stuff.
The theme of our emphasis on stewardship this year comes from Psalm 116:
I will offer to you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the name of the Lord; I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. Psalm 116:17-18
If we read this wrong we might think that God is a little short and needs us to sacrifice in order to make ends meet. But God doesn’t need our money. God needs us to let go because as long as we trust in our possession we don’t really trust in God. As long as we trust in what we produce we are really nothing more than slaves to what we earn, make and buy.
‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
18But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed.
For those who tried to stockpile, there was never enough. But there was always enough.
I love when people give money to the church because it means we can do amazing ministries that touch lives. And if you give because you like that you can help spread the good news of God that is great, I want you to keep doing that. But I want us to go deeper, I want us to give because God has been trying to teach us since we were wandering in the desert actually since we were in the garden that we have to stop grasping for more trying to create our own abundance, our own security. God is the only true source of our abundance and security.
This is not just the message of this passage of Exodus. Some of you may remember that Jesus disciples once asked him to teach them to pray. Christians love that prayer. Here at Grace, we pray it together every week:
Our Father, who art in heaven.
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done.
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Oh no. It doesn’t say “secure my retirement.” It doesn’t say “give me a bigger house.” It doesn’t say, “give me an iPod.” It goes right back to today’s passage. “Give me enough bread for today and let me trust God for tomorrow.”
The message God was giving his people in the desert is the same message Jesus had to give us again. Although we live in this complex world and we have to do certain things to survive and plan and take care of our families, at some point we have to remember to let go and trust in the true source of our life and being.
Jesus says in Mark’s Gospel, Mark 8:35-36
35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
You know my generation is much more intrigued by images than words, examples rather than explanations. So whenever I think of holding on versus letting go, trusting in my own created abundance rather than the abundance of God. Whenever I think I need to gather enough bread for tomorrow and the next day and the next day instead of trusting resources into God’s hands, I don’t think of what Jesus said, but we he did. He didn’t hold back anything, but let go of his very life. I think of what God did. For God so loved the world that he have his only Son. Bread from heaven. For us.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Will Rice - Sermon #51 - "Running for the Goal Line"
Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
Philippians 3:10-14
How many of you have ever watched a football game on television? I used to love Monday night football before it moved to ESPN. I swear they spend a couple million dollars just on the introduction. How many of you flipped that on, listened for the “Are you ready for some football?” and as soon as the players took the field, shut the television off?
Not many people do that because they would miss the game.
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
Philippians 3:10-14
How many of you have ever watched a football game on television? I used to love Monday night football before it moved to ESPN. I swear they spend a couple million dollars just on the introduction. How many of you flipped that on, listened for the “Are you ready for some football?” and as soon as the players took the field, shut the television off?
Not many people do that because they would miss the game.
As we come closer to the end of our Friday Night Lights Sunday Morning Insights sermon series, I want to propose that many of us, in our Christian journeys are unintentionally missing out on the best part of the game.
On the wall of my office is a simple, black frame. Inside it is a parchment colored document complete with a golden border and the words, “Certificate of Baptism.” Below that is my name, some fancy words and a date, “
I remember the day I got that certificate, that day that water was drizzled over my head. Honestly, in my excitement of discovering the love of God in my life, that day, I don’t think I really knew what was going on and that is certainly fine because God did and none of us really ever understand what is going on in baptism. But, I certainly didn’t understand that I was only beginning a journey. Looking back, I guess I sort of thought that what was happening was an act of completion, the end of my search for meaning that led me to church. I somehow believed that my journey toward God had been completed. I was now a Christian, I could relax.
But the trip wasn’t over. My personal journey has taken me through a discernment process, through seminary and nearly all the way to my ordination. During my journey, I have become aware that the misunderstanding I had about what was going on wasn’t just mine. It reflected a deeper misunderstanding among my fellow Christians, throughout the denomination and throughout modern Christianity.
Alright, if any of this is going to make sense, we are going to have to have a little review of grace. Pastor John gives a much in depth and certainly more accurate account of this whole thing but we just need a little background for today.
Grace is the unconditional unmerited love of God. Let me expand that. Unconditional, meaning it is for everyone. Unmerited, in other words, you can’t earn it. Grace is really one thing, but we have sort of dividing into three kinds to better understand it.First of all, we believe that God’s grace is constantly being poured out on all of God’s children, whether or not they have an intentional relationship with God. We call this prevenient grace. Prevenient just really means “comes before.” I love this kind of grace, because it is this grace that calls us in, pulls us toward God and it is always working in us whether or not we know it or accept it or do anything about it. This the sort of grace that was in my life in the 26+ years I spent outside of the church, with no relationship with God (that I knew of.) When people ask me, what was it that made you decide to finally go to church? There is the long complex answer about a feeling of emptiness and a journey seeking a way to fill that. But then there is the short answer, “God’s prevenient grace.” God pulled me into relationship and that took place in the context of a church. (A church that had plenty of seats by the way.)
Second, we believe that as God pulls into relationship there is a moment (and I use that word loosely) that God’s justifying grace goes to work in us. This is what people often refer to as conversion or for some being “born again.” I said that you can’t earn grace, but you can choose whether or not to accept it in your life. When we do, we are justified or put into right relationship with God. “When we experience God's justifying grace, we come into that new life in Christ.”[1] Justifying grace accepts us, pardons us, forgives us and restores us into right relationship with God.
I think for a lot of Christians this part is pretty clear. Even if you are new the whole Christianity thing, this may make some amount of sense. God’s grace is always reaching out to you and at some point it convinces you and you accept it and you are changed. But it is this next part that I think we get a little fuzzy.
You see, third, we believe that after we accept God’s grace, after we allow our hearts to be accept God’s justifying grace, God really gets to work in us with something that we call sanctifying grace.
To show you how important this is let me use an analogy that is fairly weak but makes the point. In the life of a Christian, if prevenient grace, that grace that draws us in is the pre-game show and justifying grace, that grace that, if we accept it, put us in a right relationship with God is the opening kick-off, sanctifying grace is the whole rest of the game and even the post-game show.
It is very clear in the writing of John Wesley, the spiritual founder of this movement we now call the
John Wesley spoke of this grace at work in us as a moving onward toward perfection. To our modern ears, that is an unfortunate turn of phrase that causes many of us to give up before we start. After all, nobody is perfect, right? But Wesley’s goal for us was that we grow into perfect love of God and neighbor. Wesley helped us to understand that God wanted to begin a lifelong relationship with us, a relationship through which we would be constantly recreated in the image of God. And his picture of this continual process of growth is straight from scripture.
Let’s look back at our scripture for today. I love this because, in my opinion, Paul is one of the most arrogant characters in scripture. But even he says.
10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Let me read verse 12 again.
12Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, who felt that Christ had personally converted him and had personally delivered the true gospel to him, who had been preaching, converting, starting churches, he knew that not even he was done yet.
13Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
Let me try this in a different way. Many of us believe that at the moment we accept Christ into our hearts we have crossed the goal line. Actually, when we accept Christ into our hearts, we have just caught the kick off and we are at our own 20 yard line.
Sanctifying grace, sanctification. This all comes from a Greek word, a[gioj which means set apart as sacred to make holy. That’s another term that can be extremely unhelpful, holy. In one of my classes we do an exercise of defining holy and I have to tell you, a lot of the definitions are negative in nature. The word has gotten a little hijacked, but let me try to reclaim it. I think it has gotten a bad connotation because a lot of people and things claim themselves as holy that aren’t so holy. Revelation 14:4 reminds us about what is truly holy:
4 Lord, who will not fear and glorify your name? For you alone are holy.
You see only God is truly Holy and only God can make us more holy. God seeks to “perfect” us, sanctify us, to make us more like God.
Here is the good news: on this journey of sanctification, this journey of holiness, this journey of perfection, God is doing all the heavy lifting. Our task is not to make ourselves holy, it is to find a way to allow God to make us holy.
Reading from a little earlier in this letter, from Philippians 2:12-13
12Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure
As I said, grace cannot be earned and we cannot make ourselves holy. But, “Wesley taught that there were significant practices that put men and women squarely in the path of that grace.”[2]
Wesley referred to these as the means of grace and this is how I am going to wrap up today. You are on a journey and we are all in different places. I hope there is someone in here who is still experiencing God’s prevenient grace calling you into relationship. If you are ready, I hope you come to the Why Grace? class at
John Wesley had two main categories for these means of grace, these ways of keeping ourselves in path of God’s sanctifying grace: acts of piety and acts of mercy. Let me run through some of these, I bet you could find some you can do, starting with works of piety (spiritual disciplines). And you know what, so these don’t sound like these unachievable things, I am going to add to each one what the church does or is doing to help you with these.
Prayer both public and private – We just finished up our course called prayer 101 and are in the midst of another class, The Way of Prayer. Also, you are going to hear next week about another opportunity to come together to pray.
Celebrating Holy Communion – We do that every week in two of our services and once a month at the other.
Christian Community – Small groups, Sunday School, etc
Wesley also talked about works of mercy as means of Grace as ways of putting ourselves in the path of sanctifying grace, that grace that continually makes us more like God. Once again, with ways the church supports you in this:
Visiting the sick – We had twelve people come out this week to learn how to deliver the sacraments of Holy Communion to our homebound members. There will be another training in the spring.
Feeding and clothing people – We have food pantry that supplies very limited emergency food to folks in need. You might not realize the power of our thrift shop. Not only do they sell clothes to folks for pennies, when people come in need, they are able to give them what they need. If you want to feed people locally and around the world, you can support CROP walk.
Giving alms – Every week at our communion services you have a chance to give money to those in need. Our communion rail offering supports our five star mission goals which support various causes for the needy among us.
Consider this. Even if you have been a Christian all your life, compared to the glory that God has in store for you, you are deep in the back field; you have just caught the ball on the twenty. You have eighty yards to run for the end zone. But, if you pay attention, you will realize that God wants to carry you those eighty yards. You just need to put yourself in the path of God’s amazing sanctifying grace.
[1] “God's Preparing, Accepting, and Sustaining Grace” , John Wesley: Holiness of Heart and Life – A Spiritual Growth Resource, The General Board of Global Ministries, The United Methodist Church, online at http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/wesley/walk.stm
[2] Dan R. Dick and Evelyn Burry, A New Kind of Church, A Systems Approach, (
Monday, September 17, 2007
Will Rice - Sermon #49 - "Learning the Playbook"
Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
“Learning the Playbook”
We are in the second week of our sermon series “Friday Night Lights – Sunday Morning Insights.” Unlike Pastor John, I have never played football. Well that is not exactly true. In high school, I played flag football, which I finally figured out was just tackle football with no equipment and these little flags that you rip off when the guy with the ball is laying on the ground. But I have never played real football. However, I am a pretty smart guy. I have learned to do lots of things. I just taught myself to play guitar this year. So, I am thinking I am going to start playing football. I had a member of the church get me a football playbook. I haven’t really looked at it much. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, there are lots of circles and xs and lines, some of them straight, some of them squiggly. But I think I can do this. Since I have this book, I am wondering if some of you will follow me out on a football field. Don’t worry, we aren’t not going to take on the Dallas Cowboys but maybe a semi-pro team like the Miami Dolphins. Any takers? I do have the book and I will bring it with me.
Alright, I imagine that just having a playbook would not qualify me to play football. I do know, however, that without a playbook, a team wouldn’t be very successful. Imagine it’s the Super Bowl, the Cowboys are down by three, there are fourteen seconds on the clock, they are on the defender’s 45. No time outs. The crowd is deafening. They are at the line, the clock is ticking, Romo barks out, “Owens, you run into the end zone, but first do a squiggly thing, Barber, you run over there, you guys block and somebody else stand by me and pretend I just handed you the ball. Go!”
These guys have a playbook. But not with them. Imagine the same scenario. It’s the Super Bowl, the Cowboys are down by three, there are fourteen seconds on the clock, they are on the defender’s 45. Not time outs. The crowd is deafening. They are at the line, the clock is ticking, Romo barks out, “Everybody turn to page 15. Let’s do that one.” Now if the Buffalo Bills did this, we would understand, but we expect pro teams to know this stuff.
These teams know their plays. We would expect, with a team at the Super Bowl, they know the game so well, that with this time on the clock, this amount of yardage, this many points down, most of them could guess what they are about to do. But just to be clear, the quarterback says, “Pro 87 Fly.” And they all know what to do.
We, as Christians, have our own sort of playbook, don’t we? But do we know it? Do we know it like a pro football player knows his playbook?
The scripture we read today is from on the “pastoral letters” in the New Testament. We call them “pastoral letters” because they deal with caring for the young communities of faith or congregations that had been formed. They often deal with problems or issues of order in the life of these communities. 1st and 2nd Timothy get their name from the fact that they are to Timothy. Timothy joined Paul the apostle, who is credited with writing this letter is Lystra in SE in Asia Minor around 46 A.D. and joined him as a traveling missionary.
So, thematically, we have sort of a letter between mentor and student, from a pastor to one whom he called to serve. In what we read today, Timothy is reminded of all Paul, the apostle has done and has endured for the name of Christ.
10Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11my persecutions and suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured!
So Paul has been persecuted: flogged, beaten, imprisoned, etc. But don’t worry there is good news.
Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.
And then not so good news.
12Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
There is whole sermon there, but you will have to come back for that one. I will be sure to advertise that one. “Come on Sunday and hear how you are to be persecuted.”
Let’s skip ahead a bit.
14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, 15and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Timothy, the guy who should have gotten this letter, grew up with a Jewish mother so would have likely been taught the scriptures of what we call the Old Testament. Those would be the sacred writing that the author is referring to here because there was, as of yet, no New Testament. And when I say, he had likely been taught, I don’t mean he knew some Bible stories. It is likely that he had some pretty significant portions memorized. The letter goes on.
16All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
This is fairly significant phrase in the New Testament. It gets pulled out in lots of discussion about what scripture is, where it comes from and how we are supposed to understand it. When the author says, “All scripture is inspired by God,” the whole “inspired by God” is one word qeo,pneustoj. This is an odd word in that it is not used anywhere else in the Bible. However it is pretty clear in meaning. Theo means God. Pneu is the root of pneuma or spirit, so we get God, spirited, God in-spirited, God inspired. And that it is a lot different than God written.
Sometimes the conversation gets stuck on the first part of that sentence and misses the second. Scripture is God inspired AND “is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”
Look at all those things scripture is useful for: teaching, reproof (expression of disapproval), correction (improvement) and for training (discipline, instruction) in righteousness (or right living with God). I read the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible and I want to read this again as printed in there.
16All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
I am pretty sure from my interaction with some other Christians that there must be a translation that reads:
16All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching of others, for reproof of others, for correction of others, and for training others in righteousness,
I think that some translations that read that way because it explains why I often see Christians hurling the Bible, as if a weapon at others whose moral behavior does not live up to certain standards. But let’s move on. It says that scripture is useful for all these things,
17so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
Here’s the thing. I have a football playbook in my hand. It does not make me proficient at football. For it to make me proficient, I would have to read it. I would have to work on it with others on my team. I would need to practice. Having a Bible does not make you proficient nor obedient. Reading a Bible is what we are called to do. And reading a Bible, trying to understand what it is saying to you in the context of your team, practicing the life of a Christian, constantly returning to playbook, for instruction, correction, further training, that is how you become proficient, equipped for every good work.
As Christians, we just don’t spend as much time reading scripture as we should and we miss the opportunity to be in conversation with God through God’s Holy Word. According to a poll conducted by Gallup in 2000, 65% of Americans agreed that the Bible, “answers all or most of the most basic questions of life.” Interestingly less than half of those 65% actually read the Bible at least weekly. More interesting is the fact that 28% of those people who agreed that the Bible “answers all or most of the most basic questions of life” rarely or never read the Bible.
Believing the Bible is our playbook and not reading it puts us in a very dangerous place. When we don’t read scripture, we don’t know what is in there are we can be misled. 75% of Americans believe that the Bible teaches, “God helps those who help themselves.” Actually it was Ben Franklin who taught that. Many of us are inundated by forwarded “Christian” emails that give us non-scriptural teaching and then tell us God will bless us if we forward them. If God blesses people in exchange for forwarding emails, I give up. And many of us don’t know that what is contained in some of these messages is not scriptural because we haven’t read the playbook. There are people out there who quote scripture to defend their hatred and bigotry and because we don’t know the playbook, we don’t know they are wrong.
If it weren’t so heretical, I would give into the temptation to put a piece of scripture up on the screen that I made up and see if anyone would notice. I would get in trouble because there are a couple of you who would catch me and perhaps call the Bishop.
Here is another problem.
16All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
Often, when we are confronted with issues in our life, we turn to scripture. That is a good thing. But, when we turn to scripture in times of trouble and have not spent any time previously, weird things can happen. Alisha and I have a two year old at home who is in the midst of determining who exactly is in charge and where the boundaries are. The other morning, on not wanting me to put his shoes on, he hauled off and smacked me. Not to overreact, I told him to hold on while I went to the Bible. Deuteronomy 21 is very clear:
18If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father and mother, who does not heed them when they discipline him, 19then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his town at the gate of that place. 20They shall say to the elders of his town, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us…” 21Then all the men of the town shall stone him to death. So you shall purge the evil from your midst; and all Israel will hear, and be afraid.
Perhaps, if I read a little more scripture Psalm 103 could have been more helpful:
8The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
I know how to discipline, what I needed was grace.
We have to be careful. We have to be informed. We have to read.
I believe there are two issues at the root of why we don’t read. Time and skills.
Time is my biggest excuse. I work a lot of hours. I have a two year old. How can I possibly commit to reading scripture every day? There is a giant hole in my excuse. Is there nothing that I do that is less important than being familiar with the playbook the defines my identity as a child of God? I read Time Magazine every week. I read The New York Times every morning. When the fall season starts, I will watch House every week.
The other issue can be skills. Many people say, “I try, but I have trouble. There is a lot I don’t understand.” I will give you this one and I, as a representative of the church take some of the blame. We don’t spend enough time teaching Christians how to read the Bible. I am working on the big picture, but let me offer you some help in the mean time. First of all, you may need a new Bible. If you are reading the King James Bible, I know that it may bring you comfort and there may be passages that you still want to read from it, but you are going to have trouble understanding. You are going to need a new Bible. I recommend the New Revised Standard Version, that is the one we read from or the New International Version.
Next, you will need a place to start. If you flip it open and start reading Obadiah, you are going to be confused. Start with a Gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Just read a little every day. Want some more guidance? We have these little books in the glass way, called the Upper Room Devotional. Every day there is a reading from scripture and a little message that goes with it. Here is another tip. Bring your Bible with you to church. We read from the Bible every week and sometimes reading along in your own will help you to become more familiar.
Here is your homework. This is the easiest and most rewarding homework I will ever give. Read the Bible every day this week. I have already put some new links on my weblog to help you. There are link on my weblog, at willatgrace.blogspot.com that can help you. I have found the cheapest NRSV Bible in print. For ten dollars including shipping you can have a Bible you can read. That will take a few days to arrive. In the mean time, you can read the text online for free at the oremus Bible browser. The Upper Room Devotional I mentioned earlier will email you the daily devotion every day for free with a link to the scripture.
Alright there is extra credit. Say you already read scripture every day. You thought you were off the hook. Nope. Help someone else. Here are some ways you can do it: Chances are if you read the Bible every day you have an extra. Give it to somebody. Chance are if you read the Bible every day you know some other Christians. I bet some of them don’t read every day. I bet of you said, “Why don’t we both read Mark’s Gospel and get together and talk about it,” they might say, “O.K.”
I told you I have never played football. But I do know this. If you are on a football team, high school, college pro and you don’t learn the playbook, you get kicked off the team. I am not going to every try to kick you off the team because I believe that God loves us and tries to grow us even when we don’t try. But I urge you, read the book. Amen.
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
“Learning the Playbook”
We are in the second week of our sermon series “Friday Night Lights – Sunday Morning Insights.” Unlike Pastor John, I have never played football. Well that is not exactly true. In high school, I played flag football, which I finally figured out was just tackle football with no equipment and these little flags that you rip off when the guy with the ball is laying on the ground. But I have never played real football. However, I am a pretty smart guy. I have learned to do lots of things. I just taught myself to play guitar this year. So, I am thinking I am going to start playing football. I had a member of the church get me a football playbook. I haven’t really looked at it much. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, there are lots of circles and xs and lines, some of them straight, some of them squiggly. But I think I can do this. Since I have this book, I am wondering if some of you will follow me out on a football field. Don’t worry, we aren’t not going to take on the Dallas Cowboys but maybe a semi-pro team like the Miami Dolphins. Any takers? I do have the book and I will bring it with me.
Alright, I imagine that just having a playbook would not qualify me to play football. I do know, however, that without a playbook, a team wouldn’t be very successful. Imagine it’s the Super Bowl, the Cowboys are down by three, there are fourteen seconds on the clock, they are on the defender’s 45. No time outs. The crowd is deafening. They are at the line, the clock is ticking, Romo barks out, “Owens, you run into the end zone, but first do a squiggly thing, Barber, you run over there, you guys block and somebody else stand by me and pretend I just handed you the ball. Go!”
These guys have a playbook. But not with them. Imagine the same scenario. It’s the Super Bowl, the Cowboys are down by three, there are fourteen seconds on the clock, they are on the defender’s 45. Not time outs. The crowd is deafening. They are at the line, the clock is ticking, Romo barks out, “Everybody turn to page 15. Let’s do that one.” Now if the Buffalo Bills did this, we would understand, but we expect pro teams to know this stuff.
These teams know their plays. We would expect, with a team at the Super Bowl, they know the game so well, that with this time on the clock, this amount of yardage, this many points down, most of them could guess what they are about to do. But just to be clear, the quarterback says, “Pro 87 Fly.” And they all know what to do.
We, as Christians, have our own sort of playbook, don’t we? But do we know it? Do we know it like a pro football player knows his playbook?
The scripture we read today is from on the “pastoral letters” in the New Testament. We call them “pastoral letters” because they deal with caring for the young communities of faith or congregations that had been formed. They often deal with problems or issues of order in the life of these communities. 1st and 2nd Timothy get their name from the fact that they are to Timothy. Timothy joined Paul the apostle, who is credited with writing this letter is Lystra in SE in Asia Minor around 46 A.D. and joined him as a traveling missionary.
So, thematically, we have sort of a letter between mentor and student, from a pastor to one whom he called to serve. In what we read today, Timothy is reminded of all Paul, the apostle has done and has endured for the name of Christ.
10Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11my persecutions and suffering the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured!
So Paul has been persecuted: flogged, beaten, imprisoned, etc. But don’t worry there is good news.
Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.
And then not so good news.
12Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
There is whole sermon there, but you will have to come back for that one. I will be sure to advertise that one. “Come on Sunday and hear how you are to be persecuted.”
Let’s skip ahead a bit.
14But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, 15and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
Timothy, the guy who should have gotten this letter, grew up with a Jewish mother so would have likely been taught the scriptures of what we call the Old Testament. Those would be the sacred writing that the author is referring to here because there was, as of yet, no New Testament. And when I say, he had likely been taught, I don’t mean he knew some Bible stories. It is likely that he had some pretty significant portions memorized. The letter goes on.
16All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
This is fairly significant phrase in the New Testament. It gets pulled out in lots of discussion about what scripture is, where it comes from and how we are supposed to understand it. When the author says, “All scripture is inspired by God,” the whole “inspired by God” is one word qeo,pneustoj. This is an odd word in that it is not used anywhere else in the Bible. However it is pretty clear in meaning. Theo means God. Pneu is the root of pneuma or spirit, so we get God, spirited, God in-spirited, God inspired. And that it is a lot different than God written.
Sometimes the conversation gets stuck on the first part of that sentence and misses the second. Scripture is God inspired AND “is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”
Look at all those things scripture is useful for: teaching, reproof (expression of disapproval), correction (improvement) and for training (discipline, instruction) in righteousness (or right living with God). I read the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible and I want to read this again as printed in there.
16All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
I am pretty sure from my interaction with some other Christians that there must be a translation that reads:
16All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching of others, for reproof of others, for correction of others, and for training others in righteousness,
I think that some translations that read that way because it explains why I often see Christians hurling the Bible, as if a weapon at others whose moral behavior does not live up to certain standards. But let’s move on. It says that scripture is useful for all these things,
17so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
Here’s the thing. I have a football playbook in my hand. It does not make me proficient at football. For it to make me proficient, I would have to read it. I would have to work on it with others on my team. I would need to practice. Having a Bible does not make you proficient nor obedient. Reading a Bible is what we are called to do. And reading a Bible, trying to understand what it is saying to you in the context of your team, practicing the life of a Christian, constantly returning to playbook, for instruction, correction, further training, that is how you become proficient, equipped for every good work.
As Christians, we just don’t spend as much time reading scripture as we should and we miss the opportunity to be in conversation with God through God’s Holy Word. According to a poll conducted by Gallup in 2000, 65% of Americans agreed that the Bible, “answers all or most of the most basic questions of life.” Interestingly less than half of those 65% actually read the Bible at least weekly. More interesting is the fact that 28% of those people who agreed that the Bible “answers all or most of the most basic questions of life” rarely or never read the Bible.
Believing the Bible is our playbook and not reading it puts us in a very dangerous place. When we don’t read scripture, we don’t know what is in there are we can be misled. 75% of Americans believe that the Bible teaches, “God helps those who help themselves.” Actually it was Ben Franklin who taught that. Many of us are inundated by forwarded “Christian” emails that give us non-scriptural teaching and then tell us God will bless us if we forward them. If God blesses people in exchange for forwarding emails, I give up. And many of us don’t know that what is contained in some of these messages is not scriptural because we haven’t read the playbook. There are people out there who quote scripture to defend their hatred and bigotry and because we don’t know the playbook, we don’t know they are wrong.
If it weren’t so heretical, I would give into the temptation to put a piece of scripture up on the screen that I made up and see if anyone would notice. I would get in trouble because there are a couple of you who would catch me and perhaps call the Bishop.
Here is another problem.
16All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
Often, when we are confronted with issues in our life, we turn to scripture. That is a good thing. But, when we turn to scripture in times of trouble and have not spent any time previously, weird things can happen. Alisha and I have a two year old at home who is in the midst of determining who exactly is in charge and where the boundaries are. The other morning, on not wanting me to put his shoes on, he hauled off and smacked me. Not to overreact, I told him to hold on while I went to the Bible. Deuteronomy 21 is very clear:
18If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father and mother, who does not heed them when they discipline him, 19then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his town at the gate of that place. 20They shall say to the elders of his town, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us…” 21Then all the men of the town shall stone him to death. So you shall purge the evil from your midst; and all Israel will hear, and be afraid.
Perhaps, if I read a little more scripture Psalm 103 could have been more helpful:
8The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
I know how to discipline, what I needed was grace.
We have to be careful. We have to be informed. We have to read.
I believe there are two issues at the root of why we don’t read. Time and skills.
Time is my biggest excuse. I work a lot of hours. I have a two year old. How can I possibly commit to reading scripture every day? There is a giant hole in my excuse. Is there nothing that I do that is less important than being familiar with the playbook the defines my identity as a child of God? I read Time Magazine every week. I read The New York Times every morning. When the fall season starts, I will watch House every week.
The other issue can be skills. Many people say, “I try, but I have trouble. There is a lot I don’t understand.” I will give you this one and I, as a representative of the church take some of the blame. We don’t spend enough time teaching Christians how to read the Bible. I am working on the big picture, but let me offer you some help in the mean time. First of all, you may need a new Bible. If you are reading the King James Bible, I know that it may bring you comfort and there may be passages that you still want to read from it, but you are going to have trouble understanding. You are going to need a new Bible. I recommend the New Revised Standard Version, that is the one we read from or the New International Version.
Next, you will need a place to start. If you flip it open and start reading Obadiah, you are going to be confused. Start with a Gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Just read a little every day. Want some more guidance? We have these little books in the glass way, called the Upper Room Devotional. Every day there is a reading from scripture and a little message that goes with it. Here is another tip. Bring your Bible with you to church. We read from the Bible every week and sometimes reading along in your own will help you to become more familiar.
Here is your homework. This is the easiest and most rewarding homework I will ever give. Read the Bible every day this week. I have already put some new links on my weblog to help you. There are link on my weblog, at willatgrace.blogspot.com that can help you. I have found the cheapest NRSV Bible in print. For ten dollars including shipping you can have a Bible you can read. That will take a few days to arrive. In the mean time, you can read the text online for free at the oremus Bible browser. The Upper Room Devotional I mentioned earlier will email you the daily devotion every day for free with a link to the scripture.
Alright there is extra credit. Say you already read scripture every day. You thought you were off the hook. Nope. Help someone else. Here are some ways you can do it: Chances are if you read the Bible every day you have an extra. Give it to somebody. Chance are if you read the Bible every day you know some other Christians. I bet some of them don’t read every day. I bet of you said, “Why don’t we both read Mark’s Gospel and get together and talk about it,” they might say, “O.K.”
I told you I have never played football. But I do know this. If you are on a football team, high school, college pro and you don’t learn the playbook, you get kicked off the team. I am not going to every try to kick you off the team because I believe that God loves us and tries to grow us even when we don’t try. But I urge you, read the book. Amen.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Will Rice - Sermon #48 - “A Little Polite Dinner Conversation”
Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
Luke 14:7-14
“A Little Polite Dinner Conversation”
Most pastors I know really like people to like them. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. It would be pretty hard to be a pastor if nobody liked you, right. Now churches have gotten a lot larger over the years and life has gotten a bit more complicated but years back, the way a pastor could judge his “likeability” would be dinner invitations. These days on Sunday nights pastors like John and I are either working or passed out from doing three services in a row, but back in the day, if a pastor didn’t have a dinner invitation on Sunday night, that pastor might question whether or not people liked him.
When I was reading the gospel for this week, it got me thinking. I have a goal that may be different from that of my colleagues. My goal is to be a pastor that people are a little reluctant to invite over for dinner. I want people to be a little nervous about hosting a meal including my company because they are afraid of what I might say. Because, you know what, that was the kind of dinner guest Jesus was. When you read the gospels, they start to sound like just a bunch of episodes of Jesus being invited over to dinner and doing or saying something so over the top that it stops every one dead in their tracks.
Look what happens in Luke 7:
36One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. 37And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. 38She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. 39Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.”
I love it. I am sure that many of you upon having me over for dinner would just love it if a woman of some ill repute followed me in and started rubbing stuff on my feel. I am not going to read the whole passage, but Jesus turns the who thing around on his host and forgives the sins of the woman, and Jesus is never, ever invited to dinner there again.
And what about Luke 11:
37While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. 38The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you. 42“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others. 43Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces. 44Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.”
I love it. Someday, I am going to go somewhere for dinner and my host will say, “Will you want to wash up before dinner?” and I am going to say, “Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.” And Will was never, ever invited to dinner there again.
Maybe Jesus didn’t get too watch one those wonderful instructional films in High School about proper dinner etiquette.
Today, we gather for dinner around our family table as Christians. Too often we forget that communion is more than a ritual we go through at the end of service. It is our family meal and when we gather for it, we believe that through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is very present at our table. So, as we gather at the table with the one who tends to make dinner a little uncomfortable, let’s begin by enjoying a little polite dinner conversation.
Today’s reading has Jesus accepting the invitation to another dinner. He was so popular.
1On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.
And, in typical Jesus fashion, he starts right in.
7When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. 8“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; 9and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.
This is not one of the most original saying of Jesus. It is sort of common sense and he could have been reading it right out of Proverbs 25:
6Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presenceor stand in the place of the great;7for it is better to be told, “Come up here,”than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.
This is not necessarily the mark of a good Christian, it is the mark of people who don’t want to make fools of themselves. I was at a luncheon a few weeks back and there were a whole lot of important people there and there was a big long table with place settings at every seat. As it was time to sit down, the one I would consider to be the most important one in the room sat down, sort of in the middle of the long table. And the rest of us sort of milled around the table like were in some sort of hold pattern over and airport not knowing where to sit, sort of waiting for others to sit down. Because you know what would have been humiliating would have been to sit down right next to the guest of honor and be told, “Excuse me Reverend Rice, that seat is for someone more important than you.”
When in doubt, sit in the bad seat and let someone tell you to move up. Then someone can say, “Oh, Reverend Rice, we reserved this important seat for you.” And I can act all humble and undeserving. “Oh gosh, for me?”
Let me clarify, this is not the same as sitting in the back row at church.
This is just common sense, but Jesus isn’t one to espouse common sense. What is he getting at? The text gives us a clue.
7When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable.
Just a reminder, parable comes from the Greek word paraboley parable (alongside a throw) – the idea is that it is a placing beside – a comparison. So Jesus isn’t reminding us of this common sense issue about how to not embarrass yourself at a dinner party, he is trying to tell us something about how we love God and neighbor that is like this. So, what is the lesson? Let’s read on.
11For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
So perhaps, this same sort of humility that we should show at a dinner party is how we should also align ourselves as God’s people. Let me sit here in the back and wait for God to glorify me. Hmmm. Let’s read on.
12He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Man Jesus is just ruining this lunch. Think about it: a lot of us have get-togethers at our homes. Every once in a while I get invited to one of these. Imagine we are sitting down enjoying some grilled fish and maybe some steaks and some shrimp and I ask you to go around the table and introduce everyone and tell me what they have ever done for you or could do for you. “Well that is Fred and he helped me fix my fence. That is Susan and she helped me pick out a necklace for my wife’s birthday. That is Jeff and we get together at his house for dinner once a month. And over there is Leslie and she has never really done anything for me but she is an accountant and I was thinking of asking her to help me with my taxes.
And I say, “Great, ask them all to leave. Go out and find some people who can’t do a thing for you and invite them to dinner.” After some stunned silence you might vow to invite some other people next time but I would never know because you would never ask me to dinner again.
13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
It is tempting to me to make this about mission. When we talk about the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, we tend to think about service. But this is not about reaching out in service this is about who we invite to dinner. We have set the table already. Who are we inviting to dinner? Us?
I am still a little astounded, which makes me feel as though I lack in faith that someone has offered to give this church 20 acres of prime property, on 624 for free, as a gift, with these wonderful conditions: we have to use the whole thing and we have to start building on it in two years. In other words, we have to use the gift for ministry.
You know this gift is so astounding, I just have to pause here. An anonymous donor has offered to give us a piece of land worth, right now, $650,000 and by next year the way things are going out on 624 it will probably soon be worth a million bucks. I think we just have to stop for a moment and praise God that this actually happened.
The church council on Monday unanimously voted to take this offer to the entire congregation. Over the next month, we will have a number of Town Hall meetings to discuss whether or not we will accept this offer and begin the process of building a brand new church. Now this will be a complicated and emotional conversation, but as we are beginning it I want to, in the context of today’s scripture repeat something I heard at the church council meeting on Monday night. Don Boyd, the chair of the Master Site Plan team that brought us this wonderful news said. This gift (of land) is not for us, it is for all those who aren’t here yet.”
13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
I believe this entire passage tells me is that when it comes to our relationship with God, our worship, our prayer life, our way of living out a life of service to God, it is not good to put ourselves, our needs, our desires first. As John quoted you last week, “It is so not about us.”
Alisha and I were up at University UMC in San Antonio a couple of months back for a foster parent retreat. We noticed when we were in the parking lot that nearly every spot was marked. Over here tons of visitor parking, over there, parking for folks with special needs, over there, parking for people with little ones in the nursery. We couldn’t see any plain old “member” parking. It raised the question “where do the other 2000 or so people who got to worship park?” I think the answer is, “somewhere else.” Actually they have a shuttle service from a nearby school.
10But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Many of you have heard rumblings that we might move this service out of this nice cozy sanctuary and into the gym of all places. And a number of people have told me that they won’t want to worship in the gym. I can’t help think that Jesus might ask, “what about all those people who aren’t currently worshipping with you, would they like to worship in the gym?” Will more people join us for dinner if we have more seats?
13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Don’t go out and serve them, invite them to dinner and be sure there is room at the table, kick all your friends out if you have to.
We are here for a banquet today, God’s banquet, and I believe Jesus is here trying to make us all uncomfortable by saying, “where is everybody else?” God is here saying to us, “I know you, I love you, I will take care of you. But where is everybody else?” So often when I preach sermons that are mostly focused out into the hurting world, I worry. I worry because I know that there are people right here, hurting. I know some of you. I have talked to some of you. John has talked to some of you. One or both of us may have sat by you. When I point us out, I don’t mean that God doesn’t care about you. Far from. The Lord is your shepherd.
God loves you with an everlasting love that will never ever, ever let you go. And God wants everyone else to know that too. We are here for a banquet today and if we had unlimited time this morning, I would say, before we come to the table, quick, go out and find some other people to share this with. But, that is another parable and we don’t have time. So let’s make the best of it this morning. As we come to the table this morning, let’s come thankfully, let’s come expectantly, and let’s come to be transformed and empowered to create a church where everyone is invited to the banquet and there is plenty of room for all. Amen?
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
Luke 14:7-14
“A Little Polite Dinner Conversation”
Most pastors I know really like people to like them. There is certainly nothing wrong with that. It would be pretty hard to be a pastor if nobody liked you, right. Now churches have gotten a lot larger over the years and life has gotten a bit more complicated but years back, the way a pastor could judge his “likeability” would be dinner invitations. These days on Sunday nights pastors like John and I are either working or passed out from doing three services in a row, but back in the day, if a pastor didn’t have a dinner invitation on Sunday night, that pastor might question whether or not people liked him.
When I was reading the gospel for this week, it got me thinking. I have a goal that may be different from that of my colleagues. My goal is to be a pastor that people are a little reluctant to invite over for dinner. I want people to be a little nervous about hosting a meal including my company because they are afraid of what I might say. Because, you know what, that was the kind of dinner guest Jesus was. When you read the gospels, they start to sound like just a bunch of episodes of Jesus being invited over to dinner and doing or saying something so over the top that it stops every one dead in their tracks.
Look what happens in Luke 7:
36One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. 37And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. 38She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. 39Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.”
I love it. I am sure that many of you upon having me over for dinner would just love it if a woman of some ill repute followed me in and started rubbing stuff on my feel. I am not going to read the whole passage, but Jesus turns the who thing around on his host and forgives the sins of the woman, and Jesus is never, ever invited to dinner there again.
And what about Luke 11:
37While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. 38The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you. 42“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others. 43Woe to you Pharisees! For you love to have the seat of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces. 44Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.”
I love it. Someday, I am going to go somewhere for dinner and my host will say, “Will you want to wash up before dinner?” and I am going to say, “Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.” And Will was never, ever invited to dinner there again.
Maybe Jesus didn’t get too watch one those wonderful instructional films in High School about proper dinner etiquette.
Today, we gather for dinner around our family table as Christians. Too often we forget that communion is more than a ritual we go through at the end of service. It is our family meal and when we gather for it, we believe that through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is very present at our table. So, as we gather at the table with the one who tends to make dinner a little uncomfortable, let’s begin by enjoying a little polite dinner conversation.
Today’s reading has Jesus accepting the invitation to another dinner. He was so popular.
1On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.
And, in typical Jesus fashion, he starts right in.
7When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. 8“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; 9and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.
This is not one of the most original saying of Jesus. It is sort of common sense and he could have been reading it right out of Proverbs 25:
6Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presenceor stand in the place of the great;7for it is better to be told, “Come up here,”than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.
This is not necessarily the mark of a good Christian, it is the mark of people who don’t want to make fools of themselves. I was at a luncheon a few weeks back and there were a whole lot of important people there and there was a big long table with place settings at every seat. As it was time to sit down, the one I would consider to be the most important one in the room sat down, sort of in the middle of the long table. And the rest of us sort of milled around the table like were in some sort of hold pattern over and airport not knowing where to sit, sort of waiting for others to sit down. Because you know what would have been humiliating would have been to sit down right next to the guest of honor and be told, “Excuse me Reverend Rice, that seat is for someone more important than you.”
When in doubt, sit in the bad seat and let someone tell you to move up. Then someone can say, “Oh, Reverend Rice, we reserved this important seat for you.” And I can act all humble and undeserving. “Oh gosh, for me?”
Let me clarify, this is not the same as sitting in the back row at church.
This is just common sense, but Jesus isn’t one to espouse common sense. What is he getting at? The text gives us a clue.
7When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable.
Just a reminder, parable comes from the Greek word paraboley parable (alongside a throw) – the idea is that it is a placing beside – a comparison. So Jesus isn’t reminding us of this common sense issue about how to not embarrass yourself at a dinner party, he is trying to tell us something about how we love God and neighbor that is like this. So, what is the lesson? Let’s read on.
11For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
So perhaps, this same sort of humility that we should show at a dinner party is how we should also align ourselves as God’s people. Let me sit here in the back and wait for God to glorify me. Hmmm. Let’s read on.
12He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Man Jesus is just ruining this lunch. Think about it: a lot of us have get-togethers at our homes. Every once in a while I get invited to one of these. Imagine we are sitting down enjoying some grilled fish and maybe some steaks and some shrimp and I ask you to go around the table and introduce everyone and tell me what they have ever done for you or could do for you. “Well that is Fred and he helped me fix my fence. That is Susan and she helped me pick out a necklace for my wife’s birthday. That is Jeff and we get together at his house for dinner once a month. And over there is Leslie and she has never really done anything for me but she is an accountant and I was thinking of asking her to help me with my taxes.
And I say, “Great, ask them all to leave. Go out and find some people who can’t do a thing for you and invite them to dinner.” After some stunned silence you might vow to invite some other people next time but I would never know because you would never ask me to dinner again.
13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
It is tempting to me to make this about mission. When we talk about the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, we tend to think about service. But this is not about reaching out in service this is about who we invite to dinner. We have set the table already. Who are we inviting to dinner? Us?
I am still a little astounded, which makes me feel as though I lack in faith that someone has offered to give this church 20 acres of prime property, on 624 for free, as a gift, with these wonderful conditions: we have to use the whole thing and we have to start building on it in two years. In other words, we have to use the gift for ministry.
You know this gift is so astounding, I just have to pause here. An anonymous donor has offered to give us a piece of land worth, right now, $650,000 and by next year the way things are going out on 624 it will probably soon be worth a million bucks. I think we just have to stop for a moment and praise God that this actually happened.
The church council on Monday unanimously voted to take this offer to the entire congregation. Over the next month, we will have a number of Town Hall meetings to discuss whether or not we will accept this offer and begin the process of building a brand new church. Now this will be a complicated and emotional conversation, but as we are beginning it I want to, in the context of today’s scripture repeat something I heard at the church council meeting on Monday night. Don Boyd, the chair of the Master Site Plan team that brought us this wonderful news said. This gift (of land) is not for us, it is for all those who aren’t here yet.”
13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
I believe this entire passage tells me is that when it comes to our relationship with God, our worship, our prayer life, our way of living out a life of service to God, it is not good to put ourselves, our needs, our desires first. As John quoted you last week, “It is so not about us.”
Alisha and I were up at University UMC in San Antonio a couple of months back for a foster parent retreat. We noticed when we were in the parking lot that nearly every spot was marked. Over here tons of visitor parking, over there, parking for folks with special needs, over there, parking for people with little ones in the nursery. We couldn’t see any plain old “member” parking. It raised the question “where do the other 2000 or so people who got to worship park?” I think the answer is, “somewhere else.” Actually they have a shuttle service from a nearby school.
10But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Many of you have heard rumblings that we might move this service out of this nice cozy sanctuary and into the gym of all places. And a number of people have told me that they won’t want to worship in the gym. I can’t help think that Jesus might ask, “what about all those people who aren’t currently worshipping with you, would they like to worship in the gym?” Will more people join us for dinner if we have more seats?
13But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
Don’t go out and serve them, invite them to dinner and be sure there is room at the table, kick all your friends out if you have to.
We are here for a banquet today, God’s banquet, and I believe Jesus is here trying to make us all uncomfortable by saying, “where is everybody else?” God is here saying to us, “I know you, I love you, I will take care of you. But where is everybody else?” So often when I preach sermons that are mostly focused out into the hurting world, I worry. I worry because I know that there are people right here, hurting. I know some of you. I have talked to some of you. John has talked to some of you. One or both of us may have sat by you. When I point us out, I don’t mean that God doesn’t care about you. Far from. The Lord is your shepherd.
God loves you with an everlasting love that will never ever, ever let you go. And God wants everyone else to know that too. We are here for a banquet today and if we had unlimited time this morning, I would say, before we come to the table, quick, go out and find some other people to share this with. But, that is another parable and we don’t have time. So let’s make the best of it this morning. As we come to the table this morning, let’s come thankfully, let’s come expectantly, and let’s come to be transformed and empowered to create a church where everyone is invited to the banquet and there is plenty of room for all. Amen?
Will Rice - Sermon #47 - It’s Important to Be Nice, But…”
Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
Luke 12:49-56
I bet everyone has had it on a poster, bookmark, bumper sticker, t-shirt or something. It is well known, catchy and even true.
It is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice.
That is a really “nice” expression. It helps us to be mindful of how we treat other people, but… I think I am going to have to add a “but” to it.
49"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”
Today’s passage is the assigned reading in the life of the church for today. Preachers all over the country are skipping it or trying to make it a little bit more palatable. Preachers are pretty good at making things in the Bible sound not quite so bad.
49"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
Well, fire that could mean all sorts of things. Fire represents the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost, when the disciples received the Holy Spirit, it looked a bit like this: Acts 2:3:
3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.
Perhaps Jesus is saying that he has come to bring the Holy Spirit and he wishes it was already here!
50I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!
This fits, sort of, when we consider that John the Baptist, in speaking of Jesus, connects baptism and fire, perhaps the fire of the Holy Spirit in Luke 3:16:
16John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Alright, maybe we can make this happy. But then Jesus says:
51Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth?
Yes, Jesus, in fact, most of us do.
Hark! the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth
With news of joy foretold,
"Peace on the earth, good will to men
From heaven's all gracious King."
Its like this Jesus fellow has never heard a Christmas carol when he says:
51Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!
You know there are times when we just want to argue with scripture. No Jesus, you clearly came to bring peace. We have Christmas carols as proof:
Truly He taught us
to love one another;
His law is love and
His gospel is peace.
For Christ is born of Mary,
And, gathered all above
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth.
And praises sing to God the King.
And peace to men on earth.
I mean, come on Jesus get on board.
But, you know what is interesting is that the images we get for these Christmas songs which I have been singing far too early come from Luke’s Gospel, the gospel we are reading from today.
From much earlier in this gospel we get the canticle of Mary, Mary’s song of praise of being blessed by carrying Jesus in her womb. Last advent we sang a song called The Canticle of the Turning:
From the halls of power to the fortress tower, not a stone will be left on stone.
Let the king beware for your justice tears ev'ry tyrant from his throne.
The hungry poor shall weep no more, for the food they can never earn;
There are tables spread, ev'ry mouth be fed, for the world is about to turn.
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
And the world is about to turn.
Which is far less peaceful. Straight from scripture, Mary, the mother of Jesus says,
52He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
So maybe fire means fire.
49"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
There is a lot of scripture to support that this is a fire of purification, judgment, separation of the fruitful from the unfruitful.
Luke 3:17:
17His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Zephaniah 1:18:
18Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord’s wrath; in the fire of his passion the whole earth shall be consumed.
51Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!
Maybe fire means the burning fire of purification, the fire of judgment, the fire of the spirit, the fire of passion, compassion, justice and change.
But this is not the Jesus we are used to. This is not the God we like to talk about in church.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.
We want a God, we want a Jesus who is nice. I mean the God John and I preach about every Sunday is a God of seemingly limitless compassion. This is a God who offers us unconditional, unmerited love. God loves us and there is nothing we can do to stop God from loving us. John 3:16:
16“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
And God clearly tells us to love one another. Matt 22:36-39
36“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
And the apostle Paul sums it up in Galatians 5:14:
14For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
But we, as humans really want to be able to fit that on a bumper sticker.
It is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice.
Do unto others as you would have done unto you.
Jesus loves you and I am trying.
But when slick the Gospel up enough to put it on a bumper sticker, this is what we end up with:
Be nice.
But when you look up nice in the dictionary, you find words like pleasing, agreeable, pleasant. From that aspect, if you really read carefully, Jesus wasn’t always nice. He was just, passionate, empathetic, etc. but not always nice.
Look at Luke 19:45-48:
45Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; 46and he said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.”
If he were being nice, perhaps no one would have wanted to kill him.
47Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him;
It actually sort of burns me when I hear someone comment on the action of another and say “That wasn’t very Christian.” Because 90% of the time they mean, “That wasn’t pleasing, agreeable, pleasant. Nice”
As a follower of Jesus, I would, just once, like to hear someone say, “That wasn’t very Christian” and mean “That wasn’t very passionate, just, revolutionary, world changing!” “That wasn’t very Christian. That was nice.”
Jesus was after something way more than nice. I think that maybe “nice” would be ok if we lived in a different sort of world. But we live in a broken, hurting world. I always jump off into genocide and wars and poverty around the world. But let’s stay home. In homes that I could hit from here with a rock, there are people without adequate healthcare. Diabetes in our community is becoming an epidemic and people most at risk really can’t afford healthcare and can’t afford to buy the kind of food that we tell them they should eat to stay healthy.
Our consumer based society is tempting people who are going without to go without even more so that they can have more things that can’t actually sustain them. Television tells them that they are nothing if they don’t have a plasma screen, a four wheel drive and a phone that plays music. Our neighbors are trapped in debt, forced to pay 30% interest on loans they will never pay off. There are single moms and single dads and grandparents raising babies. Right in our neighborhood there are homeless men and women and even in our church people hooked on drugs unable to escape a trap that is ruining their lives and the lives of the ones they love. And so many of these people face all this without even knowing that there is a force greater than them that loves them and that the God of all creation is calling his followers to help them.
Teresa Berger, Professor of Liturgical Studies at Yale Divinity School writes:
“If our world were nothing but a place of created goodness and profound beauty, a space of flourishing for all, just and life-giving for all in God’s creation, then Jesus’ challenge would be deeply troubling. If, on the other hand, our world is deeply marred and scarred, death-dealing for many life forms, with systems of meaning that are exploitative and nonsustainable (sic.), then redemption can come only when those systems are shattered and consumed by fire. Life cannot (re-) emerge without confrontation. This is the basis of the conflict Jesus envisions. He comes not to disturb a nice world but to shatter the disturbing and death-dealing systems of meaning that stifle life.”[1]
49"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
If Jesus came to bring that kind of fire then, perhaps, as followers of Jesus, we should be on fire.
I have been out of seminary for around 3 years now. What I always found a little unnerving when I was a student and I find disturbing now is how the passionate fire of those called to preach the gospel is purposefully doused. Great seminary students tend to come out of seminary like wild horses. They are full of passion and vision and truly believe that with the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit that can bring change to the world. What saddens me is the condescending smirk I see on the faces of clergy and church leaders who say, “Don’t worry, a few years in the church will take care of that.” We will douse those flames.
Not that these young pastors don’t need some guidance and maturity. Not that they don’t need to blend their enthusiasm with some compassion, skill, knowledge and patience. But at the same time, the church should be fanning the fires of passion in these people and following their lead to change the world. Because Jesus didn’t come to make us nice.
People sometimes say to me, “Will in a few years you could be a District Superintendent or even a bishop!” And I think, “No, fortunately, I don’t have that kind of patience.” I hear countless stories of bishops and district superintendents going into churches that are dying and asking, “What are you passionate about?” And the churches respond, “We have really great warm fellowship.” In other words, we are all really nice to each other. The reason I would not make a good bishop is that I might say, “Stop being nice to each other and start changing the world!”
That is what I want you to think about this week as you are praying, as you a working as you are living your life. What spark has God planted in your heart. How is God calling you to be more than polite, but world changing? Is God calling you, or this church in to a type of ministry that isn’t necessarily just nice. And if God is calling you to such a thing, what is stopping you. Are you afraid someone won’t think you are nice?
[1] Teresa Berger, Disturbing the Peace (Luke 12:49-56), The Christian Century, August 10, 2004, p.18. accessed online at http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=3116
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
Luke 12:49-56
I bet everyone has had it on a poster, bookmark, bumper sticker, t-shirt or something. It is well known, catchy and even true.
It is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice.
That is a really “nice” expression. It helps us to be mindful of how we treat other people, but… I think I am going to have to add a “but” to it.
49"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”
Today’s passage is the assigned reading in the life of the church for today. Preachers all over the country are skipping it or trying to make it a little bit more palatable. Preachers are pretty good at making things in the Bible sound not quite so bad.
49"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
Well, fire that could mean all sorts of things. Fire represents the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost, when the disciples received the Holy Spirit, it looked a bit like this: Acts 2:3:
3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.
Perhaps Jesus is saying that he has come to bring the Holy Spirit and he wishes it was already here!
50I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!
This fits, sort of, when we consider that John the Baptist, in speaking of Jesus, connects baptism and fire, perhaps the fire of the Holy Spirit in Luke 3:16:
16John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Alright, maybe we can make this happy. But then Jesus says:
51Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth?
Yes, Jesus, in fact, most of us do.
Hark! the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth
With news of joy foretold,
"Peace on the earth, good will to men
From heaven's all gracious King."
Its like this Jesus fellow has never heard a Christmas carol when he says:
51Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!
You know there are times when we just want to argue with scripture. No Jesus, you clearly came to bring peace. We have Christmas carols as proof:
Truly He taught us
to love one another;
His law is love and
His gospel is peace.
For Christ is born of Mary,
And, gathered all above
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth.
And praises sing to God the King.
And peace to men on earth.
I mean, come on Jesus get on board.
But, you know what is interesting is that the images we get for these Christmas songs which I have been singing far too early come from Luke’s Gospel, the gospel we are reading from today.
From much earlier in this gospel we get the canticle of Mary, Mary’s song of praise of being blessed by carrying Jesus in her womb. Last advent we sang a song called The Canticle of the Turning:
From the halls of power to the fortress tower, not a stone will be left on stone.
Let the king beware for your justice tears ev'ry tyrant from his throne.
The hungry poor shall weep no more, for the food they can never earn;
There are tables spread, ev'ry mouth be fed, for the world is about to turn.
My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
And the world is about to turn.
Which is far less peaceful. Straight from scripture, Mary, the mother of Jesus says,
52He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
So maybe fire means fire.
49"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
There is a lot of scripture to support that this is a fire of purification, judgment, separation of the fruitful from the unfruitful.
Luke 3:17:
17His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Zephaniah 1:18:
18Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord’s wrath; in the fire of his passion the whole earth shall be consumed.
51Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!
Maybe fire means the burning fire of purification, the fire of judgment, the fire of the spirit, the fire of passion, compassion, justice and change.
But this is not the Jesus we are used to. This is not the God we like to talk about in church.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.
We want a God, we want a Jesus who is nice. I mean the God John and I preach about every Sunday is a God of seemingly limitless compassion. This is a God who offers us unconditional, unmerited love. God loves us and there is nothing we can do to stop God from loving us. John 3:16:
16“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
And God clearly tells us to love one another. Matt 22:36-39
36“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
And the apostle Paul sums it up in Galatians 5:14:
14For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
But we, as humans really want to be able to fit that on a bumper sticker.
It is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice.
Do unto others as you would have done unto you.
Jesus loves you and I am trying.
But when slick the Gospel up enough to put it on a bumper sticker, this is what we end up with:
Be nice.
But when you look up nice in the dictionary, you find words like pleasing, agreeable, pleasant. From that aspect, if you really read carefully, Jesus wasn’t always nice. He was just, passionate, empathetic, etc. but not always nice.
Look at Luke 19:45-48:
45Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; 46and he said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.”
If he were being nice, perhaps no one would have wanted to kill him.
47Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him;
It actually sort of burns me when I hear someone comment on the action of another and say “That wasn’t very Christian.” Because 90% of the time they mean, “That wasn’t pleasing, agreeable, pleasant. Nice”
As a follower of Jesus, I would, just once, like to hear someone say, “That wasn’t very Christian” and mean “That wasn’t very passionate, just, revolutionary, world changing!” “That wasn’t very Christian. That was nice.”
Jesus was after something way more than nice. I think that maybe “nice” would be ok if we lived in a different sort of world. But we live in a broken, hurting world. I always jump off into genocide and wars and poverty around the world. But let’s stay home. In homes that I could hit from here with a rock, there are people without adequate healthcare. Diabetes in our community is becoming an epidemic and people most at risk really can’t afford healthcare and can’t afford to buy the kind of food that we tell them they should eat to stay healthy.
Our consumer based society is tempting people who are going without to go without even more so that they can have more things that can’t actually sustain them. Television tells them that they are nothing if they don’t have a plasma screen, a four wheel drive and a phone that plays music. Our neighbors are trapped in debt, forced to pay 30% interest on loans they will never pay off. There are single moms and single dads and grandparents raising babies. Right in our neighborhood there are homeless men and women and even in our church people hooked on drugs unable to escape a trap that is ruining their lives and the lives of the ones they love. And so many of these people face all this without even knowing that there is a force greater than them that loves them and that the God of all creation is calling his followers to help them.
Teresa Berger, Professor of Liturgical Studies at Yale Divinity School writes:
“If our world were nothing but a place of created goodness and profound beauty, a space of flourishing for all, just and life-giving for all in God’s creation, then Jesus’ challenge would be deeply troubling. If, on the other hand, our world is deeply marred and scarred, death-dealing for many life forms, with systems of meaning that are exploitative and nonsustainable (sic.), then redemption can come only when those systems are shattered and consumed by fire. Life cannot (re-) emerge without confrontation. This is the basis of the conflict Jesus envisions. He comes not to disturb a nice world but to shatter the disturbing and death-dealing systems of meaning that stifle life.”[1]
49"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
If Jesus came to bring that kind of fire then, perhaps, as followers of Jesus, we should be on fire.
I have been out of seminary for around 3 years now. What I always found a little unnerving when I was a student and I find disturbing now is how the passionate fire of those called to preach the gospel is purposefully doused. Great seminary students tend to come out of seminary like wild horses. They are full of passion and vision and truly believe that with the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit that can bring change to the world. What saddens me is the condescending smirk I see on the faces of clergy and church leaders who say, “Don’t worry, a few years in the church will take care of that.” We will douse those flames.
Not that these young pastors don’t need some guidance and maturity. Not that they don’t need to blend their enthusiasm with some compassion, skill, knowledge and patience. But at the same time, the church should be fanning the fires of passion in these people and following their lead to change the world. Because Jesus didn’t come to make us nice.
People sometimes say to me, “Will in a few years you could be a District Superintendent or even a bishop!” And I think, “No, fortunately, I don’t have that kind of patience.” I hear countless stories of bishops and district superintendents going into churches that are dying and asking, “What are you passionate about?” And the churches respond, “We have really great warm fellowship.” In other words, we are all really nice to each other. The reason I would not make a good bishop is that I might say, “Stop being nice to each other and start changing the world!”
That is what I want you to think about this week as you are praying, as you a working as you are living your life. What spark has God planted in your heart. How is God calling you to be more than polite, but world changing? Is God calling you, or this church in to a type of ministry that isn’t necessarily just nice. And if God is calling you to such a thing, what is stopping you. Are you afraid someone won’t think you are nice?
[1] Teresa Berger, Disturbing the Peace (Luke 12:49-56), The Christian Century, August 10, 2004, p.18. accessed online at http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=3116
Will Rice - Sermon #45 - Summer Road Trip through Galatians Week 3 “Are We There Yet?”
Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
Galatians 2:15-21
“Are We There Yet?”
We are on our third week of our summer road trip through Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In case you are just joining us, so far, in week one, we looked at the map, talked about what sort of thing we are reading when we read this letter. Last week, we talked about backseat fighting as we looked at the very first major debate in the life of the young Christian church, the Jerusalem Council.
Along the way, I have been sharing some of my experiences of traveling across the United States every year with my family, all six of us, driving from just outside Buffalo, New York all the way down here to Texas to be with my mother’s family. All six of us, in an Oldsmobile, with no air-conditioning, not stopping at hotels, sleeping and eating in the car. Most of you have traveled some distance in a car with kids, but until you go that far under those conditions you really have no idea how many times, “Are we there yet?” can be said.
I actually remember one trip, this must have been after my two oldest sisters were out of the house because we were in our 1977 Volkswagen Rabbit, also without air conditioning, but there were only four of us. We left our house early in the morning, and I feel asleep in the backseat, I woke up and said, “Are we there yet?” We were still in New York.
That is the danger of undertaking a sermon series like this. We can get bogged down in this one letter, and I can leave you all wondering, “are we there yet? Are we ever going to get through this letter?” It is a good question. The course I am leading on Galatians is four weeks and you can ask the class, I keep saying, “we don’t have time to go into that.” We could spend months on this letter, but that would leave most of you asking, “is there a point to all this?” I can give you all the facts and background and language and history but tomorrow morning, you are going to get up and go to work or school or take care of your children and for that you need more than knowledge, you need some life-meaning.
So for fear of hearing, “are we there yet?” we are now jumping right into the meat of this letter. If I had to sum up this letter in just a few verses, they would be found in this section.
15We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;
Before we go any further I have to explain who we is. When I read “we” in worship, most of us assume I mean us, but not necessarily in this case. Now some time has past since the Jerusalem council and Paul is in Antioch. Last week we talked about the Jerusalem Council making a very important decision about what would be required for one to be a Christian. They had to decide if non-Jews would have to be circumcised and follow the Law of Moses or not. According to Paul the council decided that Paul was right and that he could keep preaching to the non-Jews that it was their faith in Christ that put them in right relationship with God. But today’s passage is a response to the issue coming up again in another way in the church in Antioch. This is Paul’s response to Peter and some others who again feel that the non-Jews need to follow the Law of Moses. The we is Paul and his Jewish colleagues.
15We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;
“Gentile sinners” is not necessarily a derogatory term. For Jews, all those who were not Jews, the gentiles, we necessarily sinners because they had no means to not be. They didn’t have the gift of the covenant of God, they had no means to even understand their sin, let alone be free from it.
16yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.
If you are taking my Galatians class, some of this will be review. But here is the good part, you get to smile and nod knowingly. We need to take this sentence apart a little bit because it is full of church words. You know, church words, words we use in church and we have been using so long that we have actually forgotten what they mean. Like why is the Narthex not just called the foyer? Pastor John knows the answer but most of the rest of us are pretty foggy.
16yet we know that a person is justified
What does that mean? The Greek word Paul uses here is dikaio,w. It means – to put into a right relationship (with God); acquit, declare and treat as righteous; show or prove to be right; set free. We translate it as justified, but that is not a word we use much anymore to talk about people. You almost need to think about justify like you would use it when talking about margins on a page. We justify the margins, we make them right. Perhaps it is just better translated as “is put in a right relationship with God.”
Yet we know that a person is put in a right relationship with God not by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.
So a person is not put in a right relationship with God through works of the law. But what does that mean. What would it mean to say that someone is put in right relationship with God through the works of the law? To oversimplify, it would mean that one was put in a right relationship with God by following the Law of Moses. We know that law mostly as the Ten Commandments although that is only a small part of the Law. A skim through the book of Leviticus will show you how much more there is and that is not the whole story. Being justified by the law would mean our doing these things commanded by God would put us into right relationship with God. But Paul says:
21I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
So let me try to take my paraphrase a little further:
Yet we know that a person is put in a right relationship with God not by doing things commanded by God but through faith in Jesus Christ.
So if those works of the law won’t put us in right relationship with God what will? Faith in Jesus Christ. Everybody knows what that is until I ask them. I ask people “what is faith?” and 90% of the time the word faith is in their definition. People often quote Hebrews 11:
1Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
What they leave out is how the author feels the need to clarify goes on for another 38 verses citing examples of the faith of Abraham, Moses, the people is Israel, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah and on and on and then goes on the in the next chapter to describe Jesus “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”
The word for faith here in Greek is pi,stij (pistis) which translates – “a state of believing on the basis of one the one trusted”. I love that, it makes it even less clear.
Let’s go back to my paraphrase:
Yet we know that a person is put in a right relationship with God not by doing things commanded by God but through a state of believing on the basis of the one trusted in this case, Jesus Christ.
I would be really surprised if there aren’t at least a few people in the room who are thinking, “duh.” I mean justification by faith is a core doctrine of our protestant faith. Not many of us when asked, “What puts us right with God?” would answer, “following the law.” So some of you are starting to think, “Are we there yet? We have been talking about grace for three weeks now.”
And you know, I get that. I think a lot of us are pretty clear on this, up to a point. But somehow, over and over in the life of the church both historically and in modern terms, we just don’t act like we get it. And I am convinced that the root of all this goes back to the Garden of Eden, a story that reminds us of who we are. The first man and the first woman had everything they could have ever wanted. They lived in paradise. Then along came a serpent who said:
“Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’“ 4But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; 5for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The serpent basically said, “God is holding out on you. Sure God is taking care of you, but eat that fruit and you can take care of yourself, you can be like God.”
And that’s where it happened. We have been trying to be like God ever since.
Yet we know that a person is put in a right relationship with God not by doing things commanded by God but through a state of believing on the basis of the one trusted in this case, Jesus Christ.
Let’s face it, we live in America. If you grew up in this country, you were raised to know that you make your own way. One of our favorite expressions is “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps!” We are rooted in the writings of dime-novelist Horatio Alger who taught us that adversity can be overcome if we persevere. Most of us grew up on books like The Little Engine that Could, which is truly a story about optimism and determination but sort of became for many of us a metaphor of the American dream. I think I can, I think I can, I can, I can, I can, I can, I can! If you just try hard enough you can do anything. A little poor boy from the wrong side of the tracks can grow up to be a millionaire.
Once again our faith becomes completely countercultural, against the wisdom of culture. We are raised to believe that we can do anything. It is all up to us. Now wonder we have trouble living into the idea that we have to let go of the most important thing in our life.
We might be able to say, we believe we are made right through faith, but our cultural understanding of the world tells us that we are responsible. We so can’t stand not being in charge that we make faith itself a work, something we can do. I have relatives who aren’t sure that I am actually right with God because I didn’t do the right things to get saved. Some think I didn’t say a prayer right others think I didn’t have enough water in my baptism.
I want to read you a poem by Shel Silverstein. Many of you know him as the author of children’s classics, A Light in the Attic, Where the Sidewalk Ends and Falling Up.
The Little Blue Engine by Shel Silverstein (1932-1999)
The little blue engine looked up at the hill.His light was weak, his whistle was shrill.He was tired and small, and the hill was tall,And his face blushed red as he softly said,“I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.”
So he started up with a chug and a strain,And he puffed and pulled with might and main.And slowly he climbed, a foot at a time,And his engine coughed as he whispered soft,“I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.”
With a squeak and a creak and a toot and a sigh,With an extra hope and an extra try,He would not stop — now he neared the top —And strong and proud he cried out loud,“I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!”
He was almost there, when — CRASH! SMASH! BASH!He slid down and mashed into engine hashOn the rocks below... which goes to showIf the track is tough and the hill is rough,THINKING you can just ain’t enough!
The apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10:
9The Lord said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.
Yet we know that a person is put in a right relationship with God not by doing things commanded by God but through a state of believing on the basis of the one trusted in this case, Jesus Christ.
When it comes to our justification, our salvation, our redemption our “rightness” with God, we might think we can, but we can’t. God can.
Amen.
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
Galatians 2:15-21
“Are We There Yet?”
We are on our third week of our summer road trip through Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In case you are just joining us, so far, in week one, we looked at the map, talked about what sort of thing we are reading when we read this letter. Last week, we talked about backseat fighting as we looked at the very first major debate in the life of the young Christian church, the Jerusalem Council.
Along the way, I have been sharing some of my experiences of traveling across the United States every year with my family, all six of us, driving from just outside Buffalo, New York all the way down here to Texas to be with my mother’s family. All six of us, in an Oldsmobile, with no air-conditioning, not stopping at hotels, sleeping and eating in the car. Most of you have traveled some distance in a car with kids, but until you go that far under those conditions you really have no idea how many times, “Are we there yet?” can be said.
I actually remember one trip, this must have been after my two oldest sisters were out of the house because we were in our 1977 Volkswagen Rabbit, also without air conditioning, but there were only four of us. We left our house early in the morning, and I feel asleep in the backseat, I woke up and said, “Are we there yet?” We were still in New York.
That is the danger of undertaking a sermon series like this. We can get bogged down in this one letter, and I can leave you all wondering, “are we there yet? Are we ever going to get through this letter?” It is a good question. The course I am leading on Galatians is four weeks and you can ask the class, I keep saying, “we don’t have time to go into that.” We could spend months on this letter, but that would leave most of you asking, “is there a point to all this?” I can give you all the facts and background and language and history but tomorrow morning, you are going to get up and go to work or school or take care of your children and for that you need more than knowledge, you need some life-meaning.
So for fear of hearing, “are we there yet?” we are now jumping right into the meat of this letter. If I had to sum up this letter in just a few verses, they would be found in this section.
15We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;
Before we go any further I have to explain who we is. When I read “we” in worship, most of us assume I mean us, but not necessarily in this case. Now some time has past since the Jerusalem council and Paul is in Antioch. Last week we talked about the Jerusalem Council making a very important decision about what would be required for one to be a Christian. They had to decide if non-Jews would have to be circumcised and follow the Law of Moses or not. According to Paul the council decided that Paul was right and that he could keep preaching to the non-Jews that it was their faith in Christ that put them in right relationship with God. But today’s passage is a response to the issue coming up again in another way in the church in Antioch. This is Paul’s response to Peter and some others who again feel that the non-Jews need to follow the Law of Moses. The we is Paul and his Jewish colleagues.
15We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;
“Gentile sinners” is not necessarily a derogatory term. For Jews, all those who were not Jews, the gentiles, we necessarily sinners because they had no means to not be. They didn’t have the gift of the covenant of God, they had no means to even understand their sin, let alone be free from it.
16yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.
If you are taking my Galatians class, some of this will be review. But here is the good part, you get to smile and nod knowingly. We need to take this sentence apart a little bit because it is full of church words. You know, church words, words we use in church and we have been using so long that we have actually forgotten what they mean. Like why is the Narthex not just called the foyer? Pastor John knows the answer but most of the rest of us are pretty foggy.
16yet we know that a person is justified
What does that mean? The Greek word Paul uses here is dikaio,w. It means – to put into a right relationship (with God); acquit, declare and treat as righteous; show or prove to be right; set free. We translate it as justified, but that is not a word we use much anymore to talk about people. You almost need to think about justify like you would use it when talking about margins on a page. We justify the margins, we make them right. Perhaps it is just better translated as “is put in a right relationship with God.”
Yet we know that a person is put in a right relationship with God not by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.
So a person is not put in a right relationship with God through works of the law. But what does that mean. What would it mean to say that someone is put in right relationship with God through the works of the law? To oversimplify, it would mean that one was put in a right relationship with God by following the Law of Moses. We know that law mostly as the Ten Commandments although that is only a small part of the Law. A skim through the book of Leviticus will show you how much more there is and that is not the whole story. Being justified by the law would mean our doing these things commanded by God would put us into right relationship with God. But Paul says:
21I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
So let me try to take my paraphrase a little further:
Yet we know that a person is put in a right relationship with God not by doing things commanded by God but through faith in Jesus Christ.
So if those works of the law won’t put us in right relationship with God what will? Faith in Jesus Christ. Everybody knows what that is until I ask them. I ask people “what is faith?” and 90% of the time the word faith is in their definition. People often quote Hebrews 11:
1Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
What they leave out is how the author feels the need to clarify goes on for another 38 verses citing examples of the faith of Abraham, Moses, the people is Israel, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah and on and on and then goes on the in the next chapter to describe Jesus “the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”
The word for faith here in Greek is pi,stij (pistis) which translates – “a state of believing on the basis of one the one trusted”. I love that, it makes it even less clear.
Let’s go back to my paraphrase:
Yet we know that a person is put in a right relationship with God not by doing things commanded by God but through a state of believing on the basis of the one trusted in this case, Jesus Christ.
I would be really surprised if there aren’t at least a few people in the room who are thinking, “duh.” I mean justification by faith is a core doctrine of our protestant faith. Not many of us when asked, “What puts us right with God?” would answer, “following the law.” So some of you are starting to think, “Are we there yet? We have been talking about grace for three weeks now.”
And you know, I get that. I think a lot of us are pretty clear on this, up to a point. But somehow, over and over in the life of the church both historically and in modern terms, we just don’t act like we get it. And I am convinced that the root of all this goes back to the Garden of Eden, a story that reminds us of who we are. The first man and the first woman had everything they could have ever wanted. They lived in paradise. Then along came a serpent who said:
“Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; 3but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’“ 4But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; 5for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
The serpent basically said, “God is holding out on you. Sure God is taking care of you, but eat that fruit and you can take care of yourself, you can be like God.”
And that’s where it happened. We have been trying to be like God ever since.
Yet we know that a person is put in a right relationship with God not by doing things commanded by God but through a state of believing on the basis of the one trusted in this case, Jesus Christ.
Let’s face it, we live in America. If you grew up in this country, you were raised to know that you make your own way. One of our favorite expressions is “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps!” We are rooted in the writings of dime-novelist Horatio Alger who taught us that adversity can be overcome if we persevere. Most of us grew up on books like The Little Engine that Could, which is truly a story about optimism and determination but sort of became for many of us a metaphor of the American dream. I think I can, I think I can, I can, I can, I can, I can, I can! If you just try hard enough you can do anything. A little poor boy from the wrong side of the tracks can grow up to be a millionaire.
Once again our faith becomes completely countercultural, against the wisdom of culture. We are raised to believe that we can do anything. It is all up to us. Now wonder we have trouble living into the idea that we have to let go of the most important thing in our life.
We might be able to say, we believe we are made right through faith, but our cultural understanding of the world tells us that we are responsible. We so can’t stand not being in charge that we make faith itself a work, something we can do. I have relatives who aren’t sure that I am actually right with God because I didn’t do the right things to get saved. Some think I didn’t say a prayer right others think I didn’t have enough water in my baptism.
I want to read you a poem by Shel Silverstein. Many of you know him as the author of children’s classics, A Light in the Attic, Where the Sidewalk Ends and Falling Up.
The Little Blue Engine by Shel Silverstein (1932-1999)
The little blue engine looked up at the hill.His light was weak, his whistle was shrill.He was tired and small, and the hill was tall,And his face blushed red as he softly said,“I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.”
So he started up with a chug and a strain,And he puffed and pulled with might and main.And slowly he climbed, a foot at a time,And his engine coughed as he whispered soft,“I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.”
With a squeak and a creak and a toot and a sigh,With an extra hope and an extra try,He would not stop — now he neared the top —And strong and proud he cried out loud,“I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!”
He was almost there, when — CRASH! SMASH! BASH!He slid down and mashed into engine hashOn the rocks below... which goes to showIf the track is tough and the hill is rough,THINKING you can just ain’t enough!
The apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10:
9The Lord said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.
Yet we know that a person is put in a right relationship with God not by doing things commanded by God but through a state of believing on the basis of the one trusted in this case, Jesus Christ.
When it comes to our justification, our salvation, our redemption our “rightness” with God, we might think we can, but we can’t. God can.
Amen.
Will Rice - Sermon #45 - Summer Road Trip through Galatians Week 2 “No Fighting in the Backseat”
Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
Galatians 2:1-14
“No Fighting in the Backseat”
We are on the second week of our summer road trip through Paul’s letter to the Galatians. We spent the first week of our trip just sort of figuring out the map. I mentioned last week that my family and I took a lot of car trips when I was young. Picture that there were six of us driving 1300 miles each way in an Oldsmobile station wagon, with no air-conditioning. Nearly every trip started off well. In fact, it was kind of fun all being together sharing a sort of adventure. Sometimes even the whole first day went really well. Now we weren’t a rich family. So at the end of the first day of this multi-day trip, we did not pull oFf the interstate, have a nice sit-down meal and settle into a Holiday Inn. No, we drove most of the night and slept in the car.
So, on day two, things got a little, rough. “Mom! His leg is touching mine.” “Dad! It’s my turn to sit by the window.” “I don’t have enough room.” “Move over!” “Give me my pretzels.” “Roll down the window!” “Quit breathing on me!” And it usually only got worse.
This may be an odd way to start a sermon, because we all know that Christians could never be accused of any sort of childish petty bickering.
For good or for bad, Christians have been arguing in one form or another since just about five minutes after Jesus ascended into heaven. Now as a representative of the institutional church, I should say, we aren’t arguing, we are debating doctrinal differences or working to clarify our core beliefs. Much like I would talk to my sister Julie in the back seat clarifying my core belief that it was my turn to sit by the window.
The section of Paul’s letter to the Galatians that we are looking at today represents what may have been the first, major, official argument in the life of the young Christian church. Historically, it is known as the Jerusalem Council. It took place around 48 AD and we read about it here, in Galatians and also in the Book of Acts, chapter 15.
2Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me.
Paul is in the midst of telling us about his faith journey and his journey as an apostle. But he leaves out a little time, fourteen years.
Let me bring you up to speed on what we talked about last week and the part we skipped. In other words, “Previously on The Adventures of Paul and the Galatians:” We have Paul, who used to be named Saul, who used to persecute Christians until he had this amazing encounter with the risen Christ. Paul was immediately called into the ministry of spreading the good news, or Gospel of Jesus, mostly to those outside of the Jewish faith, whom scripture refers to as the gentiles. One of the gentile groups he spreads the good news to is the Galatians whom this letter is a addressed to.
If you were here last week, you may remember that these Galatians lived way up in the northern part of the Roman Empire, so they were not Jewish. So, he is trying to convince them, right from the beginning of his letter, that he is sent, with the good news of Jesus, not from the Jewish authorities, but straight from God in Jesus Christ.
1Paul an apostle—sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—
And why is it so important where his Gospel comes from, because there are some people who have come to the Galatian churches trying to sell them on a different version of the gospel. In the first chapter he writes.
6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
He wants them to know his gospel comes from Jesus and hasn’t been influenced by anyone else.
17nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.
He is trying to reinforce that his version of the Gospel comes straight from Jesus Christ, but he does admit he eventually made contact with the church in Jerusalem.
18Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; 19but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord’s brother.
What he did during those three years, I am not sure, but then he goes and sees Cephas, who we know as Peter. They “why” of why we aren’t just calling him Peter is beyond the scope of this sermon, but for know just hear that as Peter.
We might wonder why Paul, if we wanted to show that his gospel came straight from Jesus Christ would even tell the Galatians he went to the Jerusalem church. If we think about it, even though Paul wanted them to know his authority came from Jesus, he still wanted to show that he and thereby the Galatian Christians were all part of the same church of Jesus Christ.
And here is what happened for the next fourteen years:
21Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, 22and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; 23they only heard it said, “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24And they glorified God because of me.
If you want more details check out Acts chapters 11, 13 and 15.
2Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2I went up in response to a revelation.
Paul wants to let you know that he wasn’t summoned, he wasn’t be called on the carpet by the big shots in Jerusalem. He had a revelation from God that caused him to go.
He was going to the Jerusalem Council, the first sort of “come to Jesus meeting” in the history of the Christian Church, their first official argument. Fortunately or unfortunately, there is another account of this in the Book of Acts. What is interesting is that there are some differences. Paul says:
2I went up in response to a revelation.
Acts says:
1Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders.
It seems from this perspective, he still wasn’t summoned, but he was appointed to go and have a little debate. Back to Galatians:
Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain.
It seems that Paul may have delivered a sermon to the leaders of the church there in Jerusalem laying out the good news as he had been presenting it in his ministry.
in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain.
That is an interesting line. The picture I have of Paul from scripture is this incredibly brash, self-confident man who truly believed that he had gotten his understanding of the good news of Christ right from Christ himself. That line makes it sound like that he was seeking their approval and if they hadn’t given it, he may have changed his gospel. Not likely!
10Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ. . 11For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; 12for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Back to today’s text
4But because of false believers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us—
This is starting to sound like and episode of 24, there are spies in the room now, spies who are trying to mess with Paul, but it doesn’t work.
5we did not submit to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you. 6And from those who were supposed to be acknowledged leaders (what they actually were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality) —those leaders contributed nothing to me.
Paul is telling the Galatians that his version of the Gospel, which he got right from Jesus Christ, is right on.
7On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised.
Without getting too explicit, let me just say this. Whenever you read uncircumcised in Galatians think, non-Jewish, gentile. When you read circumcised, think Jewish. Here is why it matters. Paul is writing this letter because the Galatians are being led astray by some teachers who disagree with Paul on a fundamental thing. Paul told the Galatians, “It is your faith in Jesus Christ that puts you right with God.” It seems the teachers are saying, “It is the Law of God that puts your right with God.” According to the Jews the way you entered into following the law was circumcision. And that is what is behind the argument of the Jerusalem Council. The institutional church was deciding what would be required to be a Christian. Would someone who wasn’t Jewish basically need to become Jewish and follow the Jewish laws before they could become Christian?
According to Paul, here is how it works out:
When James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do.
So Paul, in his Jerusalem meeting has worked out an arrangement. The folks in Jerusalem would keep preaching the Gospel to the Jews and Paul would keep preaching his Gospel to the gentiles, preaching the grace of God, no strings attached. End of story. Not quite.
Unfortunately, this part is a little different in Acts. To review the outcome in the version Paul tells in Galatians, Paul presents his version of the Gospel which we know to say that you are made right with God through faith, not through following the law. No strings attached, just remember the poor.
Here is how it ends up in Acts 15. James says:
19Therefore I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those Gentiles who are turning to God, 20but we should write to them to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled* and from blood.
This seems like a minor difference, but let me try to put it all together and make it clear:
Paul, in Galatians, says the Jerusalem council approved of his gospel which said, “You are made right with God through believing in Jesus Christ. (period)”
Acts says that the Jerusalem council approved of Paul’s gospel which said, “You are made right with God through believing in Jesus Christ,” but you should abstain from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood.
Don’t worry too much right now about the “things polluted by idols, and the strangled stuff and the blood.” Suffice it to say these all are parts of the Jewish law, the law that Paul was saying you do not need to keep to be made right with God. We are going to spend more time next week thinking about what this all means, but for right now, let me ask you, when we talk about our faith, when we think about our faith, is it “Your faith in Jesus Christ is what puts you in right relationship with God.” or is it “Your faith in Jesus Christ is what puts you in right relationship with God, but…”
Really, think about it. In your mind, is their any sort of prerequisite to receiving the forgiving, transforming, grace of God? If having faith is what makes you right with God, is there anything else you have to do? Do you have to act a certain way? Is any behavior prohibited?
Really push yourself on this. Just about anyone could walk through our doors and we would accept them into our community, but is there someone who, in your mind, wouldn’t be accepted, even if they said, they believed in Jesus Christ?
What about a man in woman’s clothing? What if the person was drunk or high? What if they had a tattoo… on their forehead… of the devil? What if they announced they were gay? What if they hated America?
Now, even if you are saying, with a little discomfort, ok, “I would accept any of those if they said they had faith in Jesus Christ” what do you think the perception is? Do you think any of those people, upon finding faith in Jesus Christ would feel like they would be accepted here?
Let me give you the bad news: some of the people who most need to accept the forgiving, redeeming, life-transforming grace of God hold the perception that Christians won’t accept them. That’s because, as Christians, we only have so much control over the message.
There are people out there who present the message of Christianity as legalistic, intolerant, hypocritical and downright mean.[1] That’s the bad news, the perception. Here is the good news, the reality. God loves everybody. God is not always pleased with our behavior and God may work in our lives to change us. If someone is a murderer and accepts the grace of Christ, we are going to have to trust that God is going to help them not to murder. However we believe that the only thing necessary for salvation, the only thing necessary to be put into right relationship with God is faith. Period.
So here is our task. We have to let people know that. We have to overcome the loud voices that say Christianity is about manners and morals and judgement and say in an even louder voice, “Christianity is about grace!” And in order to do that, we have to get that idea very clear in our heads.
So here is your assignment this week: Do something to change someone’s perception. Everybody by now has a friend who doesn’t believe or has completely fallen away from the faith, right? If not, please remember that it is pretty hard to spread the good news of Christ when you are completely surrounded by people who already know about it.
Within nearly everyone’s workplace or extended group of friends or family is someone who is very much turned off of Christianity, very often because they have encountered it as judgmental and moralistic and condemning. Is there something you can do or say to begin to change their perception?
Maybe its time to interject a different viewpoint into a conversation. Maybe it is time to start a conversation of your own. Maybe it is time to just be an exceptionally caring individual who makes it clear that you place grace ahead of judgement.
Let me know how it goes.
[1] During the sermon, I projected some images of protestors from Westboro Baptist Church who have taken it upon themselves to spread their message of intolerance at the funerals of servicemen killed in Iraq. If you would like to see some of these images, go to www.google.com/images and enter “Westboro Baptist Church.” I will warn you that some of these images are more hateful that the ones I displayed in worship.
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
Galatians 2:1-14
“No Fighting in the Backseat”
We are on the second week of our summer road trip through Paul’s letter to the Galatians. We spent the first week of our trip just sort of figuring out the map. I mentioned last week that my family and I took a lot of car trips when I was young. Picture that there were six of us driving 1300 miles each way in an Oldsmobile station wagon, with no air-conditioning. Nearly every trip started off well. In fact, it was kind of fun all being together sharing a sort of adventure. Sometimes even the whole first day went really well. Now we weren’t a rich family. So at the end of the first day of this multi-day trip, we did not pull oFf the interstate, have a nice sit-down meal and settle into a Holiday Inn. No, we drove most of the night and slept in the car.
So, on day two, things got a little, rough. “Mom! His leg is touching mine.” “Dad! It’s my turn to sit by the window.” “I don’t have enough room.” “Move over!” “Give me my pretzels.” “Roll down the window!” “Quit breathing on me!” And it usually only got worse.
This may be an odd way to start a sermon, because we all know that Christians could never be accused of any sort of childish petty bickering.
For good or for bad, Christians have been arguing in one form or another since just about five minutes after Jesus ascended into heaven. Now as a representative of the institutional church, I should say, we aren’t arguing, we are debating doctrinal differences or working to clarify our core beliefs. Much like I would talk to my sister Julie in the back seat clarifying my core belief that it was my turn to sit by the window.
The section of Paul’s letter to the Galatians that we are looking at today represents what may have been the first, major, official argument in the life of the young Christian church. Historically, it is known as the Jerusalem Council. It took place around 48 AD and we read about it here, in Galatians and also in the Book of Acts, chapter 15.
2Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me.
Paul is in the midst of telling us about his faith journey and his journey as an apostle. But he leaves out a little time, fourteen years.
Let me bring you up to speed on what we talked about last week and the part we skipped. In other words, “Previously on The Adventures of Paul and the Galatians:” We have Paul, who used to be named Saul, who used to persecute Christians until he had this amazing encounter with the risen Christ. Paul was immediately called into the ministry of spreading the good news, or Gospel of Jesus, mostly to those outside of the Jewish faith, whom scripture refers to as the gentiles. One of the gentile groups he spreads the good news to is the Galatians whom this letter is a addressed to.
If you were here last week, you may remember that these Galatians lived way up in the northern part of the Roman Empire, so they were not Jewish. So, he is trying to convince them, right from the beginning of his letter, that he is sent, with the good news of Jesus, not from the Jewish authorities, but straight from God in Jesus Christ.
1Paul an apostle—sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—
And why is it so important where his Gospel comes from, because there are some people who have come to the Galatian churches trying to sell them on a different version of the gospel. In the first chapter he writes.
6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
He wants them to know his gospel comes from Jesus and hasn’t been influenced by anyone else.
17nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.
He is trying to reinforce that his version of the Gospel comes straight from Jesus Christ, but he does admit he eventually made contact with the church in Jerusalem.
18Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; 19but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord’s brother.
What he did during those three years, I am not sure, but then he goes and sees Cephas, who we know as Peter. They “why” of why we aren’t just calling him Peter is beyond the scope of this sermon, but for know just hear that as Peter.
We might wonder why Paul, if we wanted to show that his gospel came straight from Jesus Christ would even tell the Galatians he went to the Jerusalem church. If we think about it, even though Paul wanted them to know his authority came from Jesus, he still wanted to show that he and thereby the Galatian Christians were all part of the same church of Jesus Christ.
And here is what happened for the next fourteen years:
21Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, 22and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; 23they only heard it said, “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24And they glorified God because of me.
If you want more details check out Acts chapters 11, 13 and 15.
2Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2I went up in response to a revelation.
Paul wants to let you know that he wasn’t summoned, he wasn’t be called on the carpet by the big shots in Jerusalem. He had a revelation from God that caused him to go.
He was going to the Jerusalem Council, the first sort of “come to Jesus meeting” in the history of the Christian Church, their first official argument. Fortunately or unfortunately, there is another account of this in the Book of Acts. What is interesting is that there are some differences. Paul says:
2I went up in response to a revelation.
Acts says:
1Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders.
It seems from this perspective, he still wasn’t summoned, but he was appointed to go and have a little debate. Back to Galatians:
Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain.
It seems that Paul may have delivered a sermon to the leaders of the church there in Jerusalem laying out the good news as he had been presenting it in his ministry.
in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain.
That is an interesting line. The picture I have of Paul from scripture is this incredibly brash, self-confident man who truly believed that he had gotten his understanding of the good news of Christ right from Christ himself. That line makes it sound like that he was seeking their approval and if they hadn’t given it, he may have changed his gospel. Not likely!
10Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ. . 11For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; 12for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Back to today’s text
4But because of false believers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us—
This is starting to sound like and episode of 24, there are spies in the room now, spies who are trying to mess with Paul, but it doesn’t work.
5we did not submit to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you. 6And from those who were supposed to be acknowledged leaders (what they actually were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality) —those leaders contributed nothing to me.
Paul is telling the Galatians that his version of the Gospel, which he got right from Jesus Christ, is right on.
7On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised.
Without getting too explicit, let me just say this. Whenever you read uncircumcised in Galatians think, non-Jewish, gentile. When you read circumcised, think Jewish. Here is why it matters. Paul is writing this letter because the Galatians are being led astray by some teachers who disagree with Paul on a fundamental thing. Paul told the Galatians, “It is your faith in Jesus Christ that puts you right with God.” It seems the teachers are saying, “It is the Law of God that puts your right with God.” According to the Jews the way you entered into following the law was circumcision. And that is what is behind the argument of the Jerusalem Council. The institutional church was deciding what would be required to be a Christian. Would someone who wasn’t Jewish basically need to become Jewish and follow the Jewish laws before they could become Christian?
According to Paul, here is how it works out:
When James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do.
So Paul, in his Jerusalem meeting has worked out an arrangement. The folks in Jerusalem would keep preaching the Gospel to the Jews and Paul would keep preaching his Gospel to the gentiles, preaching the grace of God, no strings attached. End of story. Not quite.
Unfortunately, this part is a little different in Acts. To review the outcome in the version Paul tells in Galatians, Paul presents his version of the Gospel which we know to say that you are made right with God through faith, not through following the law. No strings attached, just remember the poor.
Here is how it ends up in Acts 15. James says:
19Therefore I have reached the decision that we should not trouble those Gentiles who are turning to God, 20but we should write to them to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled* and from blood.
This seems like a minor difference, but let me try to put it all together and make it clear:
Paul, in Galatians, says the Jerusalem council approved of his gospel which said, “You are made right with God through believing in Jesus Christ. (period)”
Acts says that the Jerusalem council approved of Paul’s gospel which said, “You are made right with God through believing in Jesus Christ,” but you should abstain from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood.
Don’t worry too much right now about the “things polluted by idols, and the strangled stuff and the blood.” Suffice it to say these all are parts of the Jewish law, the law that Paul was saying you do not need to keep to be made right with God. We are going to spend more time next week thinking about what this all means, but for right now, let me ask you, when we talk about our faith, when we think about our faith, is it “Your faith in Jesus Christ is what puts you in right relationship with God.” or is it “Your faith in Jesus Christ is what puts you in right relationship with God, but…”
Really, think about it. In your mind, is their any sort of prerequisite to receiving the forgiving, transforming, grace of God? If having faith is what makes you right with God, is there anything else you have to do? Do you have to act a certain way? Is any behavior prohibited?
Really push yourself on this. Just about anyone could walk through our doors and we would accept them into our community, but is there someone who, in your mind, wouldn’t be accepted, even if they said, they believed in Jesus Christ?
What about a man in woman’s clothing? What if the person was drunk or high? What if they had a tattoo… on their forehead… of the devil? What if they announced they were gay? What if they hated America?
Now, even if you are saying, with a little discomfort, ok, “I would accept any of those if they said they had faith in Jesus Christ” what do you think the perception is? Do you think any of those people, upon finding faith in Jesus Christ would feel like they would be accepted here?
Let me give you the bad news: some of the people who most need to accept the forgiving, redeeming, life-transforming grace of God hold the perception that Christians won’t accept them. That’s because, as Christians, we only have so much control over the message.
There are people out there who present the message of Christianity as legalistic, intolerant, hypocritical and downright mean.[1] That’s the bad news, the perception. Here is the good news, the reality. God loves everybody. God is not always pleased with our behavior and God may work in our lives to change us. If someone is a murderer and accepts the grace of Christ, we are going to have to trust that God is going to help them not to murder. However we believe that the only thing necessary for salvation, the only thing necessary to be put into right relationship with God is faith. Period.
So here is our task. We have to let people know that. We have to overcome the loud voices that say Christianity is about manners and morals and judgement and say in an even louder voice, “Christianity is about grace!” And in order to do that, we have to get that idea very clear in our heads.
So here is your assignment this week: Do something to change someone’s perception. Everybody by now has a friend who doesn’t believe or has completely fallen away from the faith, right? If not, please remember that it is pretty hard to spread the good news of Christ when you are completely surrounded by people who already know about it.
Within nearly everyone’s workplace or extended group of friends or family is someone who is very much turned off of Christianity, very often because they have encountered it as judgmental and moralistic and condemning. Is there something you can do or say to begin to change their perception?
Maybe its time to interject a different viewpoint into a conversation. Maybe it is time to start a conversation of your own. Maybe it is time to just be an exceptionally caring individual who makes it clear that you place grace ahead of judgement.
Let me know how it goes.
[1] During the sermon, I projected some images of protestors from Westboro Baptist Church who have taken it upon themselves to spread their message of intolerance at the funerals of servicemen killed in Iraq. If you would like to see some of these images, go to www.google.com/images and enter “Westboro Baptist Church.” I will warn you that some of these images are more hateful that the ones I displayed in worship.
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