Sermon at North Hill, March 26, 2011.
The other day outside Safeway I met a couple kids selling Girl Scout cookies. I wasn't interested in their cookies, but I gave them a couple of dollars as a contribution. I don't receive any direct benefit from the Girl Scouts. My kids were never members of the Girl Scouts. I don't know if any of my neighbors are members of the Girl Scouts. But I believe the organization does good work. So I gave them a couple of dollars. I'm rich enough but a couple of dollars won't break my bank, and I figure a couple of dollars will encourage them.
Every year I give money to an organization that supports a website, blueletterBible.org. I use the web site regularly in my Bible research for my sermons. So, I figure I owe them some money for the service they provide me. I wouldn't have to give them anything. Their website is free to any user. But I received personal benefit and by contributing I hope to make this Bible study resource available to others as well.
Every year I also give money to the Washington trails Association (WTA). What do I get from my contribution? I receive a magazine four times a year. I also enjoy access to their website which provides hundreds of reports on trails all across Washington. In addition to any direct personal benefit I receive when I give money to the WTA, I am voicing my support for trails and hiking and outdoor recreation. WTA sponsors work parties that volunteer thousands of hours every year doing trail maintenance. My money helps with that. The organization also lobbies for policies supportive of outdoor recreation. My dollars through this organization help to spread the influence of my values through the larger community. Every dollar I give to the Washington trails Association is a vote for the outdoor culture that I think is conducive to a healthy society.
I don't need the WTA in order to go hiking myself. I don't need the WTA to tell me where the trails are or what to put in my pack. I can buy my own bird book or wildflower book or tree identification book. But I cannot by myself build and maintain the trails. By myself I cannot create a culture hiking and camping and other kinds of outdoor recreation. That can only be done cooperatively. So I give my money as a way of participating in that cooperative effort.
The people here at North Hill contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Seventh-day Adventist church every year. Why? What do we get out of these contributions?
We get direct benefits. Church is where we meet our friends. We experience the uplifting joy of shared music. We count on sermons to challenge our thinking, to inspire us, to renew our confidence in God. Sometimes, when we are in trouble, church comes through with concrete, down to earth assistance. Many of us have experienced the benefit of Adventist education for ourselves or for our children.
But I am not sure these kinds of direct, somewhat measurable, benefits justify the amount of money that some of us put into church. There's something else going on. And today I want to encourage all of you to join in that secret, extra something that fuels our giving.
When we contribute to church, we are helping to support a culture, a society that has a special understanding of the world and a distinctive way of living. Our gifts of money play a direct role in giving life to our deepest convictions and our most precious practices.
Sometimes, people talk about church in terms of "what I get out of it." That's not a completely illegitimate question. But it is somewhat immature. I don't get anything out of giving to the Girl Scouts. That is I'm not going to go on a Girl Scout camp out. My kids are too old to enroll and Girl Scout programs. There is no direct simple benefit to me. But as a wise old man, I realize that there is a value to society as a whole and having programs like the Girl Scouts. So when the girls are out front of the grocery store collecting, I give. I give because I believe in girls. I give because I appreciate the hundreds and thousands of hours of volunteer service given by the parents and other adults who participate in the Girl Scouts. I give because the Girl Scout program is serving people in places I can't go.
It's the same with the Washington trails Association. I do not receive $100 of personal benefit from the organization. But I do believe the goals of the organization. I believe that the organization is helping to bring to the larger society values that I hold dear.
So with the church. When I give to church, I am giving to an organization that bring some benefits to me personally. But even more importantly, when I give to the church my money is helping to create a community, a society that embodies the ideals that I hold dear.
The church multiplies the effects of my money. When my money is added to the money given by tens of thousands of other people the cumulative effect of our giving makes a large difference in the world.
What is the job of the church? To provide good music? To be a place where people can make good friends. To provide interesting and inspiring preaching?
The church should do all of these things. But they are not the central mission of the church. They are tools the church uses to accomplish the mission the Jesus outlined. Jesus described his mission in the mission of the church in several different places. One of the most famous is found at the end of the book of Matthew. Jesus told his disciples, "go into all the world and make disciples of all people. Baptize them and teach them to obey everything I commanded you."
At the heart of the mission of the church is this call to teach people the truth as it was seen by Jesus. Jesus spent much of his time during his three years of public ministry healing people. He worked miracles to see people. He raised the dead. And he taught. And taught and taught and taught. Jesus made it very clear that ideas and beliefs are important.
Just as he spent a lot of time teaching people, so the church is called to pass on those ideas, to pass on those beliefs and convictions.
When we give money to the church we are helping to spread the beliefs of Jesus. We are giving life to the convictions and doctrines Jesus taught. And going beyond that, we are giving life to doctrines and insights that have arisen among Christians as the result of two millennia of reflection on the mission and message of Jesus.
Of course, the church does not perfectly embody the character and teachings of Jesus. There is no large group of people that is flawless. (There is no small group of people that is flawless either.) Still, if I want the ideas, the beliefs, the teachings of Jesus to touch the lives of my neighbors, my children, my grandchildren and people around the world, then giving money to the church is one powerful way to pursue that objective.
There are about 2 billion Christians in the world. So so we have lots of company as we work to spread the values of Jesus. Our respect for the Bible, our beliefs that God was present in the person of Jesus Christ and that Jesus is coming again to inaugurate a bright new future – these beliefs we share with 2 billion other people.
Adventists treasure some convictions that are not so widely shared, even in the Christian community. Over the next couple of months I want to examine some of these special beliefs, the special heritage of Seventh-day Adventist Christians.
A quick list of some Adventist treasures:
Jesus. Jesus above Paul. Jesus above Moses. Jesus above Mohammed. Jesus above Buddha. (Notice, I am not saying that everything everyone else says is false. Just because something was taught by Mohammed or Buddha does not make it false. On the other hand I am saying we look to Jesus above all others. Not only do we subordinate non-Christian spiritual authorities to Jesus. We subordinate even the apostles to Jesus. So when we read something in Paul that appears to contradict the teachings of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus hold preeminence.)
God is love. Of course, all Christians agree with this. Adventists have developed a distinctive way of using this conviction as a theological lens.
Sabbath. We are Sabbath keepers. We are Sabbath promoters.
Soteriology. We are saved by God not by a formula—not even by the formulas of John 3:16 or Romans 10:10. While the classic evangelical formulas can be very helpful for people seeking a connection with God, God's saving action is not constrained by those formulas.
Human value and human nature. We understand a single human being to have a value comparable to the value of God himself. This is one of the meanings of the crucifixion. We also understand that humans are capable of sin. So while we value human beings, and thus are pro-life in the largest sense of the word, we also distrust human beings and believe that all human authority should be constrained by other authority. So we oppose monarchy and dictatorship. We oppose popery and bibliolatry. We oppose war and the American system of capital punishment (which is far more likely to execute poor people and brown and black people than rich people or white people even taking into account differences in crime rates).
Divine Judgment. There is no formula that can predict the eternal destiny of any human being. Observing a person's outward behavior, whether that behavior is words, actions or facial expressions, cannot provide a sufficient basis for making a conclusive determination of their eternal fate. The Bible doctrine of judgment insists that God will examine the entirety of a person's life. This flatly contradicts two key opinions held by many Christians: 1. All people who have not fulfilled the formulas spelled out in John 3:16 or Romans 10:10 are automatically damned. 2. The only consideration in the judgment is a person's profession of faith or lack thereof. The Adventist position insists, 1. God is judge. There is no automatic salvation or automatic damnation. 2. A person's whole life matters. You cannot reduce a person to a single formulaic statement.
Law-keeping is the key to good living.
Miracles are no substitute for obedience. Grace is no substitute for wisdom. God gives laws as a guide for healthy, happy living. As a church, we unabashedly advocate lawful living. That's what God wants for us. That's what we want for our children. It's good.
No eternal torment. We find it inconceivable that a God of love would supernaturally keep billions of people alive for billions of years for the sole purpose of torturing them. We point to multiple passages of Scripture which explicitly and vividly describe an end to the existence of sin, suffering and sinners.
Health.
Salvation is not only a blissful future in another world. It is also well being here. Just as Jesus devoted much of his time and energy to healing people's physical bodies and addressing their physical needs so we believe it is the mission of today's church to attend to people's overall well-being. Him and him Margie We believe it is an essential part of the mission of the church to teach people habits that support physical, mental, and social health.
Money.
In this area, there is no uniquely Adventist perspective. I place it here because money management is so integrally linked with spiritual, social, and family health. Our use of money powerfully affect our well-being and powerfully expresses our real convictions.
Today, my focus is hell. It is, as someone blurted out during my sermon on Sabbath, a hot topic. :-)
Rob Bell, an evangelical pastor in Michigan, has written a book titled Love Wins. Bell questions the classic evangelical doctrine about eternal torment in the formulaic damnation of people outside formal Christianity. There has been a fierce outcry against him. Big names in the evangelical community have a damned Bell because he has softened damnation.
While Bell does not understand hell in the same way that Seventh-day Adventists do, his book represents a wonderful step forward for the evangelical community, and for Christianity as a whole.
What do Adventist believe about hell?
In Matthew 13 Jesus twice refers to the fate of the wicked as being similar to something that is thrown into a blazing furnace. Things thrown into a furnace burn up. They cease to exist. This imagery of hell as a furnace connects the traditional picture of hell as a fiery place. However, the furnace imagery flatly contradicts the notion of perpetual torment. Even soggy, wet wood eventually burns up. The fire consumes it. And this is what Adventist and many other Christians believe happens in hell. The wicked cease to exist.
Perhaps the best way to put the difference between what Adventists believe the Bible teaches about hell and the traditional view is this: Adventists believe hell is an event. It is something that happens at the end of time. Traditional views describe hell as an eternal place. It will endure as long as heaven and God himself.
There are two major criticisms of the traditional view. First, how could a God of love torture anyone for billions of years? Second, how could any person, no matter how wicked, do enough evil in a limited life span available to humans to justify torturing them for literally all eternity? The doctrine of eternal torment obviates any real meaning for either love or justice. Both words and the concepts they express become meaningless if eternal torment is true.
Those who try to defend the idea everlasting hell insist they do so only because it is the clear teaching of Scripture. They cite passages that do appear to support the idea and insist that the counter passages regarding hell and all the Bible's teachings about God's love must be reinterpreted to agree with their understanding of the few verses that appear to support eternal torment.
Our rebuttal is simply this: there are multiple passages in the Bible that clearly teach the extinction of evil and evil people. There is a superabundance of affirmation in the Bible of love is supreme characteristic of God. We insist that the few passages that appear to support eternal torment must be reinterpreted in the light of the counter passages regarding hell in the over arching theme in the Bible of God's love.
The Bible basis for rejecting eternal torment
Following is a collection of Bible verses that I copied from Bibleinfo.com. These passages form the basis of the classic Adventist teaching regarding hell. To repeat what I said earlier: we understand hell as an event at the end of time. It is not a place that exists now or will exist after Jesus has fully established his kingdom (Revelation 21).
The wicked have not yet been rewarded. Revelation 22:12, NKJV. ‘“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.”
Those who do not believe in Christ perish. The opposite of everlasting life and existence is death, or cease to exist. John 3:16, NKJV. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Does God burn sinners into the ceaseless ages? The wicked do not burn forever. Psalm 37:20, NIV. "But the wicked will perish: The Lord's enemies will be like the beauty of the fields, they will vanish—vanish like smoke."
The unchanging sinners will be burned up and nothing will remain, just ashes. Malachi 4:1,3 NIV. "Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire, says the Lord Almighty. Not a root or a branch will be left to them…Then you will trample on the wicked; they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day when I act,” says the LORD Almighty.”
Hell is not a place in the center of the earth; it is an event on face of the earth. Revelation 20:9, NKJV. “They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.”
“Eternal fire” refers to the results that are eternal, not fire that is eternally burning. Sodom and Gomorrah suffered eternal fire but they are not burning today. Jude 7, NIV. "In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire." 2 Peter 2:6, NKJV. “and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly.”
The fire will be unquenchable, but when there is nothing left to burn it will go out. Matthew 3:12. "His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, gathering the wheat into His barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
God does not enjoy seeing anybody destroyed, and has done everything possible so that nobody would have to be. Ezekiel 33:11: “Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?”
But there is coming a time when God will rid the world of sin, of wickedness, fear, death, sorrow, and pain. Revelation 21:4: “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
For most of us who have been Adventists for a long time this is common sense doctrine. We do not realize how rare and special this belief is.
When I give my money to the Seventh-day Adventist church I am voting with my dollars for a better picture of God. I am voting against the picture of God painted by the Westboro Baptist Church people. I am voting against the picture of God taught by Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Seminary in Dallas. (He argues contra Bell, that every human who does not have a “conscious faith” in Jesus will be “eternally conscious” in the torments of hell fire. So every human who is born with mental defects that prevent them from developing the requisite mental and verbal skills for understanding and testifying to the truth of Jesus' vicarious death for their sins is automatically destined for an eternity of torment in the fires of hell. When I give to the Adventist Church I am voting against the view of God taught by John Piper a famous conservative Protestant theologian, who is so offended by Bell's questions about hell that he has publicly written Bell off as a Christian preacher.
Like every other human institution – like Greenpeace, the Salvation Army, the Red Cross, the Libertarian Party, ADRA, the Sierra Club, World Vision, 3ABN – the church is a confounding mix of ideals and human frailties. However, this one conviction, this one doctrine – no eternal torment – is worth half my life savings.
The world needs to know that embracing Jesus does not require us to embrace a diabolical view of God. To believe that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself does not require us to believe that everyone who does not perfectly understand that is automatically consigned to billions of years of indescribable torture.
Christianity properly understood is the good news about a God of love. It is the good news that God's great goal is restoration, redemption, healing, reconciliation. It is the incredible news that suffering, even the suffering of the most wicked people, will come to an end. The destiny of every human being and the destiny of the universe is ultimately peace.
That's good news. It's worth putting money into.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Talking to Ourselves
Sermon for March 19, 2011
North Hill Adventist Church.
I talked about what we say to ourselves. A couple of ideas: No whining and no boasting. Both are seriously destructive. Whining reinforces my image of myself as a pick them. Boasting reinforces my image of myself as a self made person.
Reality, of course, is that my greatest triumphs come from a mix of gifts that came to me quite apart from my deserving or earning and my discipline and work habits.
And in my greatest difficulties in most perplexing predicaments there is always still something I can do. Perhaps all I can do is close my eyes and refuse to berate myself. Sometimes all we can do is rest.
One way we can help ourselves to say good things to ourselves is by memorizing good words, especially the words of the Bible.
To hear the sermon, follow the link to the audio file.
Maybe sometime I will get around to posting the manuscript.
North Hill Adventist Church.
I talked about what we say to ourselves. A couple of ideas: No whining and no boasting. Both are seriously destructive. Whining reinforces my image of myself as a pick them. Boasting reinforces my image of myself as a self made person.
Reality, of course, is that my greatest triumphs come from a mix of gifts that came to me quite apart from my deserving or earning and my discipline and work habits.
And in my greatest difficulties in most perplexing predicaments there is always still something I can do. Perhaps all I can do is close my eyes and refuse to berate myself. Sometimes all we can do is rest.
One way we can help ourselves to say good things to ourselves is by memorizing good words, especially the words of the Bible.
To hear the sermon, follow the link to the audio file.
Maybe sometime I will get around to posting the manuscript.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Five Rules for Managing Money
Sermon preached at North Hill Adventist Fellowship, Sabbath March 3.
I may get around to posting the sermon. Here are the five rules: Earn some. Save some. Spend some. Give some. Don't borrow. Bonus rule: Don't gamble.
Work is a good thing (if we have a good job.).
Saving, i.e. spending less than we have, is the first sign of wealth and the first step toward enjoying money.
Spend some. It's okay. That's what money is for.
Give some. The ultimate form of enjoying money. When I give, I am aware of having so much money, I have more than I need. This is the ultimate proof to my heart that I am wealthy.
Don't borrow. This is really aimed at credit card borrowing. DON'T. PLEASE. If you've gotten caught in this trap get help, but not from anyone who is going to charge you anything. Borrow a Dave Ramsey book from the library--FREE!!! Read it and do what it says. Or go to someone in your church who is trustworthy and experienced in managing money and ask their help.
Only gamble if you have so much money left over after saving, spending and giving you don't know what to do with it. Gambling is a poor form of investing or credit repair. It's a really, really, really, really bad get-out-of-debt plan.
I may get around to posting the sermon. Here are the five rules: Earn some. Save some. Spend some. Give some. Don't borrow. Bonus rule: Don't gamble.
Work is a good thing (if we have a good job.).
Saving, i.e. spending less than we have, is the first sign of wealth and the first step toward enjoying money.
Spend some. It's okay. That's what money is for.
Give some. The ultimate form of enjoying money. When I give, I am aware of having so much money, I have more than I need. This is the ultimate proof to my heart that I am wealthy.
Don't borrow. This is really aimed at credit card borrowing. DON'T. PLEASE. If you've gotten caught in this trap get help, but not from anyone who is going to charge you anything. Borrow a Dave Ramsey book from the library--FREE!!! Read it and do what it says. Or go to someone in your church who is trustworthy and experienced in managing money and ask their help.
Only gamble if you have so much money left over after saving, spending and giving you don't know what to do with it. Gambling is a poor form of investing or credit repair. It's a really, really, really, really bad get-out-of-debt plan.
Words: Five Rules
Sermon preached at North Hill, March 12, 2011
Primary texts: Genesis 1 and John 1. Matthew 5:21-24, 33-37; 12:34-36
Money is powerful. For the cost of 5 cans of potato chips you could pay the cost for providing clean water for one person for a lifetime in the African nation of Cameroon. For the cost of 2 cans of potato chips, you could finance a week's tuition for a single mom in Nigeria, changing her life forever. There is incredible power in some pieces of paper or some numbers in an electronic transaction.
Managing wealth is one way we connect with God. Managing wealth, taking deliberate, intentional action with our money is one way we can act like God. Last week I offered five rules for managing our money. When we follow these rules, we become partners with God. Money becomes a source of happiness for us and for others. When we follow these rules, usually money is no longer source of stress.
Of course, money can be used as a tool for evil. Last month Dr. Michael Mockovak, co-founder of the popular Clearly Lasik eye-surgery centers, was found guilty of hiring someone to kill his former business partner. The failed plot was going to cost him $125,000. Apparently $125,000 is the going price for hiring a hit man here in the Northwest. In March, an attorney who lives in Idaho, named Edgar Steele, was indicted for offering $125,000 to a man named Larry Fairfax to kill Mr. Steele's wife and his mother-in-law. Fortunately that plot didn't work out any better than Dr. Mockovak's scheme.
My point is, you can use money to heal or to harm, you can use money to bless or to curse. Obviously, we are supposed to use our money to bless and heal. Money is a gift God has given us to be used for his glory, our own well-being, and the benefit of others. Money gives us God-like power to bless.
Today I want to talk about another gift. This gift is even more powerful than money. It connects us with God even more powerfully than money. The gift of speech, the gift of words. When we manage wealth wisely we are acting in the image of God. When we manage our speech wisely we come even closer to the identity and heart of God.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. … Then God said, 'Let there be light.'" The first thing God does is speak. His words become the resource of reality. Throughout the Bible the most salient characteristic of God is his speech. He gives commands, warnings, promises. At Mount Sinai, God "appears" to Israel. There is some thunder and lightning, there are dark clouds. But the most important fact about the appearance is what God says. It's God's words, not his shape that is indelibly imprinted in the awareness of his people.
When we come to the New Testament, to Jesus, we see again this focus on the words. The gospel of John introduces Jesus by saying, "in the beginning was the word. And the word was with God. And the Word was God." The gospel of Matthew announces the beginning of Jesus' ministry with these words, "the people sitting in darkness have seen a great light." Then it announces, "Jesus began to preach." Jesus' words brought light.
The vital heart of the mission of Jesus was words. Words that gave hope, words that gave wisdom, words that connect us with God. People came to Jesus because he was a powerful healer. They stayed and stayed because he was an absolutely riveting speaker. I like the picture given in Luke 5. “One day as Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water's edge two boats.… He got into one of the boats… Then sat down and taught the people.
Crowds of people, probably thousands people, standing, sitting, hanging out on the shore, captivated by the words of the man in the boat.
What did they hear? Why did thousands of people stand for days on occasion listening to Jesus talk?
There was life in his words. There was hope, there was wisdom, there was divine love. There was light.
This is what God wants to do with our words. Create light. God wants us to talk in such a way that when people listen to us they hear hope, wisdom and goodness. That's what Christians do with words.
In the sermon on the Mount, which is recorded in Matthew 5-7, Jesus lays down the fundamental principles of his kingdom, the basic rules for his disciples.
The first rule: Be light.
Applied to speech, this means: say nice things. Say good things. Say things that will bring encouragement hope and help to others. When you come into a room does it get brighter or darker? When you enter a conversation, does it get lighter or darker?
Rule one for Christians in regards to words: say only those things which will be helpful for building others up, or protecting others.
When you talk to your kids does their world get lighter? When you talk to your husband, your wife, your parents?
Rule number two: Don't say mean things.
Jesus talked about murder (Matthew 5:21ff.). Obviously he was against it. However, he was almost dismissive of murder as a commandment. Here's what he said, "you have heard that it was said do not commit murder." Obviously, the people in his audience knew that murder was wrong. Jesus would have been wasting their time if he spent any energy trying to “persuade” them that murder was wrong. They already knew that. So Jesus applied this commandment in a new way. It was an application that stretched his audience then. It still stretches us today.
"You have heard that it was said long ago, do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. . . . Anyone who says to his brother, "You idiot!" will be in danger of hellfire."
When we use speech that is dismissive of the character and value of the people around us we are guilty of an evil similar to murder.
Stay with that for a bit.
Did you use speech this week that was dismissive of the character or value of another person? When we use words that demean others, when we use words that slice and dice others, we are acting in a way that is morally similar to murderers.
Jesus takes it further. “If you're on your way to worship with an offering for God and on the way remember some wound you have caused your brother or sister, turn around and go home. Go find the person you have offended and be reconciled to them. Then come and offer your gift.”
If we are slicing and dicing with our words, our worship at church is worthless. I am not suggesting that we should stay away from church unless we are flawless in our speech. I am saying if your words at home make those who hear them cringe and ache, before you head out to church, ask their forgiveness.
If it is a common occurrence in your home for words to cause pain, get help to change the pattern. You do not have to continue using words as weapons. There is help available. You can learn to use words to bring hope and happiness. You can learn to avoid using words as instruments of anger and revenge. God does not want us using words to bully, badger, nag, sass, intimidate. Words are to be instruments of righteousness, tools for building relationships, vehicles of hope.
So do not overly congratulate yourself because you did not hire a hit man this week. Rather, congratulate yourself if your spouse and your children heard from you words that were helpful, hopeful, full of affirmation and encouragement. If you wonder what your spouse thinks about your words, ask them.
Jesus first rule for words: Make them instruments of light.
The second rule: don't say mean things.
Rule three: Tell the truth.
Further down in chapter 5, Jesus gives another rule for speech. Tell the truth. Speak in such a way that others who hear your words will know what you mean. And make sure your meaning lines up with reality. Tell the truth.
As I have said before, this means that you will not forward e-mails unless you have verified all of the facts that are in the e-mails. Especially advocacy e-mails. When someone send you an e-mail outlining how stupid or evil or malicious or dangerous some politician is, don't forward it. Do some research. So far I think every single e-mail like this I have ever received turned out to contain substantial factual error. The errors were usually the juiciest part. They were the dramatic statements that made the emails interesting. But they were still errors of fact, errors that were readily ascertained. All you had to do was spend two or three minutes Googling to discover that some of the assertions in the e-mails were factually incorrect. When we forward these e-mails we are violating Jesus' command to tell the truth. (We are also violating rule number two: Don't say mean things.)
So first rule a sure your words fuel hope and happiness. Second rule don't say mean things. Third row tell the truth.
Fourth rule. Don't use ugly words.
I made this one up. Don't use ugly words. Don't use any words that would be bleeped on the radio or have asterisks inserted in standard print media.
Don't use the F word. Don't say to your children, "you're stupid." Don't say, "you're lazy." Don't ever use the word fag in private or in public.
I could go on. But I do not want to use ugly words from the pulpit. And the reality is that I am so culturally out of touch I may not be aware of the latest ugly words. Use good words. Use words that enhance respect for the people. Do not use any titles, labels, or slang that imply disrespect or violence or dismissiveness or contempt. Just don't do it. And if you catch yourself, say excuse me. Then quit doing it.
Fifth rule. Memorize good stuff.
Memorize Bible passages.
David writes in the Psalms, “Your word have I hidden in my heart than I might not sin against you.” Jesus said, in arguing with the devil, “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Of course in saying that, Jesus was quoting from the Old Testament.
In our Sabbath School classes for the kids, they are assigned a memory verse every week. Parents, make sure they learn it. Go over their memory verse with them every day. EVERY SINGLE DAY. Before the kids go to sleep, go over their memory verse with them.
If you don't have kids to review memory verses with, then get your own verse for week. It's a whole lot easier to memorize when you're young. That's one reason why it's so important for parents to lead their children in memorizing verses of the Bible every week. But even if you're older and your memory is like a sieve, still take some time to put Bible words into your head. Take a verse and live with it for a week.
Put good words into your head.
Authoritative Backup
Just in case you think I'm overstating the importance of our words, notice the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 12:34. “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the goods stored up in him and the evil man brings evil things out of the stored up in him. So I tell you be aware of this: men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. By your words you will be acquitted. By your words you will be condemned.”
Words matter. They can bring hope and life and healing. They can wound and slice and hurt. Words are not trivial. We must not excuse ourselves when we use words that are sharp and cutting.
Jesus was called the word of God. Throughout the Old Testament the most prominent characteristic of God with speech. In our lives together, if we are Christians, if we are followers of Christ, we will make our speech full of grace. As we do so, we will find ourselves partnering with God. We will experience the joy God experiences in speaking good news. As we share good news with others not only will they be touched by the warmth of God's grace. Our own lives will be warmed, our own souls will be watered. Our hearts will discover fresh hope in the bright words, the good words that flow from God through us to the world.
Primary texts: Genesis 1 and John 1. Matthew 5:21-24, 33-37; 12:34-36
Money is powerful. For the cost of 5 cans of potato chips you could pay the cost for providing clean water for one person for a lifetime in the African nation of Cameroon. For the cost of 2 cans of potato chips, you could finance a week's tuition for a single mom in Nigeria, changing her life forever. There is incredible power in some pieces of paper or some numbers in an electronic transaction.
Managing wealth is one way we connect with God. Managing wealth, taking deliberate, intentional action with our money is one way we can act like God. Last week I offered five rules for managing our money. When we follow these rules, we become partners with God. Money becomes a source of happiness for us and for others. When we follow these rules, usually money is no longer source of stress.
Of course, money can be used as a tool for evil. Last month Dr. Michael Mockovak, co-founder of the popular Clearly Lasik eye-surgery centers, was found guilty of hiring someone to kill his former business partner. The failed plot was going to cost him $125,000. Apparently $125,000 is the going price for hiring a hit man here in the Northwest. In March, an attorney who lives in Idaho, named Edgar Steele, was indicted for offering $125,000 to a man named Larry Fairfax to kill Mr. Steele's wife and his mother-in-law. Fortunately that plot didn't work out any better than Dr. Mockovak's scheme.
My point is, you can use money to heal or to harm, you can use money to bless or to curse. Obviously, we are supposed to use our money to bless and heal. Money is a gift God has given us to be used for his glory, our own well-being, and the benefit of others. Money gives us God-like power to bless.
Today I want to talk about another gift. This gift is even more powerful than money. It connects us with God even more powerfully than money. The gift of speech, the gift of words. When we manage wealth wisely we are acting in the image of God. When we manage our speech wisely we come even closer to the identity and heart of God.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. … Then God said, 'Let there be light.'" The first thing God does is speak. His words become the resource of reality. Throughout the Bible the most salient characteristic of God is his speech. He gives commands, warnings, promises. At Mount Sinai, God "appears" to Israel. There is some thunder and lightning, there are dark clouds. But the most important fact about the appearance is what God says. It's God's words, not his shape that is indelibly imprinted in the awareness of his people.
When we come to the New Testament, to Jesus, we see again this focus on the words. The gospel of John introduces Jesus by saying, "in the beginning was the word. And the word was with God. And the Word was God." The gospel of Matthew announces the beginning of Jesus' ministry with these words, "the people sitting in darkness have seen a great light." Then it announces, "Jesus began to preach." Jesus' words brought light.
The vital heart of the mission of Jesus was words. Words that gave hope, words that gave wisdom, words that connect us with God. People came to Jesus because he was a powerful healer. They stayed and stayed because he was an absolutely riveting speaker. I like the picture given in Luke 5. “One day as Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water's edge two boats.… He got into one of the boats… Then sat down and taught the people.
Crowds of people, probably thousands people, standing, sitting, hanging out on the shore, captivated by the words of the man in the boat.
What did they hear? Why did thousands of people stand for days on occasion listening to Jesus talk?
There was life in his words. There was hope, there was wisdom, there was divine love. There was light.
This is what God wants to do with our words. Create light. God wants us to talk in such a way that when people listen to us they hear hope, wisdom and goodness. That's what Christians do with words.
In the sermon on the Mount, which is recorded in Matthew 5-7, Jesus lays down the fundamental principles of his kingdom, the basic rules for his disciples.
The first rule: Be light.
Applied to speech, this means: say nice things. Say good things. Say things that will bring encouragement hope and help to others. When you come into a room does it get brighter or darker? When you enter a conversation, does it get lighter or darker?
Rule one for Christians in regards to words: say only those things which will be helpful for building others up, or protecting others.
When you talk to your kids does their world get lighter? When you talk to your husband, your wife, your parents?
Rule number two: Don't say mean things.
Jesus talked about murder (Matthew 5:21ff.). Obviously he was against it. However, he was almost dismissive of murder as a commandment. Here's what he said, "you have heard that it was said do not commit murder." Obviously, the people in his audience knew that murder was wrong. Jesus would have been wasting their time if he spent any energy trying to “persuade” them that murder was wrong. They already knew that. So Jesus applied this commandment in a new way. It was an application that stretched his audience then. It still stretches us today.
"You have heard that it was said long ago, do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. . . . Anyone who says to his brother, "You idiot!" will be in danger of hellfire."
When we use speech that is dismissive of the character and value of the people around us we are guilty of an evil similar to murder.
Stay with that for a bit.
Did you use speech this week that was dismissive of the character or value of another person? When we use words that demean others, when we use words that slice and dice others, we are acting in a way that is morally similar to murderers.
Jesus takes it further. “If you're on your way to worship with an offering for God and on the way remember some wound you have caused your brother or sister, turn around and go home. Go find the person you have offended and be reconciled to them. Then come and offer your gift.”
If we are slicing and dicing with our words, our worship at church is worthless. I am not suggesting that we should stay away from church unless we are flawless in our speech. I am saying if your words at home make those who hear them cringe and ache, before you head out to church, ask their forgiveness.
If it is a common occurrence in your home for words to cause pain, get help to change the pattern. You do not have to continue using words as weapons. There is help available. You can learn to use words to bring hope and happiness. You can learn to avoid using words as instruments of anger and revenge. God does not want us using words to bully, badger, nag, sass, intimidate. Words are to be instruments of righteousness, tools for building relationships, vehicles of hope.
So do not overly congratulate yourself because you did not hire a hit man this week. Rather, congratulate yourself if your spouse and your children heard from you words that were helpful, hopeful, full of affirmation and encouragement. If you wonder what your spouse thinks about your words, ask them.
Jesus first rule for words: Make them instruments of light.
The second rule: don't say mean things.
Rule three: Tell the truth.
Further down in chapter 5, Jesus gives another rule for speech. Tell the truth. Speak in such a way that others who hear your words will know what you mean. And make sure your meaning lines up with reality. Tell the truth.
As I have said before, this means that you will not forward e-mails unless you have verified all of the facts that are in the e-mails. Especially advocacy e-mails. When someone send you an e-mail outlining how stupid or evil or malicious or dangerous some politician is, don't forward it. Do some research. So far I think every single e-mail like this I have ever received turned out to contain substantial factual error. The errors were usually the juiciest part. They were the dramatic statements that made the emails interesting. But they were still errors of fact, errors that were readily ascertained. All you had to do was spend two or three minutes Googling to discover that some of the assertions in the e-mails were factually incorrect. When we forward these e-mails we are violating Jesus' command to tell the truth. (We are also violating rule number two: Don't say mean things.)
So first rule a sure your words fuel hope and happiness. Second rule don't say mean things. Third row tell the truth.
Fourth rule. Don't use ugly words.
I made this one up. Don't use ugly words. Don't use any words that would be bleeped on the radio or have asterisks inserted in standard print media.
Don't use the F word. Don't say to your children, "you're stupid." Don't say, "you're lazy." Don't ever use the word fag in private or in public.
I could go on. But I do not want to use ugly words from the pulpit. And the reality is that I am so culturally out of touch I may not be aware of the latest ugly words. Use good words. Use words that enhance respect for the people. Do not use any titles, labels, or slang that imply disrespect or violence or dismissiveness or contempt. Just don't do it. And if you catch yourself, say excuse me. Then quit doing it.
Fifth rule. Memorize good stuff.
Memorize Bible passages.
David writes in the Psalms, “Your word have I hidden in my heart than I might not sin against you.” Jesus said, in arguing with the devil, “Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Of course in saying that, Jesus was quoting from the Old Testament.
In our Sabbath School classes for the kids, they are assigned a memory verse every week. Parents, make sure they learn it. Go over their memory verse with them every day. EVERY SINGLE DAY. Before the kids go to sleep, go over their memory verse with them.
If you don't have kids to review memory verses with, then get your own verse for week. It's a whole lot easier to memorize when you're young. That's one reason why it's so important for parents to lead their children in memorizing verses of the Bible every week. But even if you're older and your memory is like a sieve, still take some time to put Bible words into your head. Take a verse and live with it for a week.
Put good words into your head.
Authoritative Backup
Just in case you think I'm overstating the importance of our words, notice the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 12:34. “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the goods stored up in him and the evil man brings evil things out of the stored up in him. So I tell you be aware of this: men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. By your words you will be acquitted. By your words you will be condemned.”
Words matter. They can bring hope and life and healing. They can wound and slice and hurt. Words are not trivial. We must not excuse ourselves when we use words that are sharp and cutting.
Jesus was called the word of God. Throughout the Old Testament the most prominent characteristic of God with speech. In our lives together, if we are Christians, if we are followers of Christ, we will make our speech full of grace. As we do so, we will find ourselves partnering with God. We will experience the joy God experiences in speaking good news. As we share good news with others not only will they be touched by the warmth of God's grace. Our own lives will be warmed, our own souls will be watered. Our hearts will discover fresh hope in the bright words, the good words that flow from God through us to the world.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Cats and Grace
This sermon preached at WindWorks Adventist Fellowship in Lacey, WA, February 26, 2011.
A group rents our church on Wednesday evenings. Someone in the group called to report a problem.
When someone in their group got out of his car back behind the trash inclosure he heard noises coming from some boxes. When he investigated, he discovered four boxes of cats. They had moved the boxes onto the porch out of the rain, but now what?
He didn't know how many cats there were. There were at least eight. Some kittens. Some adults.
I didn't know whether to laugh or groan. I knew what was going to happen next. My wife was going to ask who was on the phone. What did they want? When I explained the situation to her, she was going to ride to the rescue.
I told Randy, we'd take care of the situation and hung up the phone.
Sure enough, Karin asked, “Who was that?” Then, “What did he want?”
We recruited our daughter, Bonnie, who lives with us and has a pickup truck with a canopy, and is as soft-hearted toward animals as her mother. Then we headed off to the church with several animal crates in the back of the truck.
It was a sorry sight on the front porch of the church. Three cardboard boxes, soggy from rain, and one cat carrier. I pulled on gloves and began extracting the cats from the boxes and handing them off to Karin and Bonnie who transferred them to the crates in the back of the truck.
12 cats total. 2 adults, 9 kittens, 1 adolescent. All of them were emaciated. One kitten was dead.
In my humble opinion, the most logical thing to do would have been to keep them over night, then deliver them to the Pierce County Animal Shelter as soon as it opened in the morning. Of course, we did not do the logical thing.
We took them home. Set them up in a warm, dry space with food. Next day, the women took them to the vet to have them checked. They bought medicine and began the slow process of nursing all eleven remaining cats back to health.
Then, when they were fully recovered, when they were happy, healthy, cute and scampering around, Karin and Bonnie found homes for them—quality homes that met the women's high standards.
Those cats had no claim on us. They were not born at our place. They did not belong to friends of ours. They were not physically attractive, at least not when we first pulled them out of their soggy cardboard prisons.
Getting involved with these critters was guaranteed take a lot of time and money. Vet care and medicine are not cheap. These cats were going to be inconvenient. In addition to feeding them several times a day, we had to put ointment in their eyes twice a day.
There is only one word for what happened to these cats: grace.
In the book of Ephesians, Paul writes,
“For by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8
Once when the Apostle Peter was making a speech to entire leadership of the early Christian church, he declared,
“We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we are saved, just as the Gentiles are.” Acts 15:11
Paul and Peter both begin their letters with this prayer: “Grace and peace to you from God and Jesus Christ. The Apostle John also blesses his readers with the prayer, “Grace and peace to you.”
Grace: what is it?
Grace is what happens when any animal manages to hook up with my wife or my daughter. Grace is warm, dry shelter and food for cats dying of starvation in cold, wet cardboard boxes.
Grace is a new life, a pampered life for a huge dog that has been thrown out of three homes already.
Grace is my daughter Bonnie buying two horses from an auction where they were headed to the dog food factory.
When it comes to people, grace is a label for God's affectionate regard for us. It is the flow of forgiveness that dissolves our guilt. It is the bright future God promises to people whose actions have set them up for a catastrophic end. Grace is God's activity to make us—all of us, in fact, all people—part of his family, part of his community for all eternity.
Let me be clear: I'm not merely defining a word. I'm painting a portrait of a person. I'm detailing some heavenly legal procedure, I'm picturing a heavenly lover.
If I asked you to tell me the first thought that runs through your mind when I say, “Mt. Rainier,” my guess is that many of you would respond with descriptions of the grand views you have of the massive stratovolcano east of here. Some of you might talk about climbing the mountain. Others might call up pictures on your Droid or your iPhone and show us pictures of wild in the meadows around Paradise. Or pictures of Nerada Falls or mountain goats. A few might even have pictures of a long slog up to Camp Muir.
If someone asked about the etymology of the word Rainier we would probably roll our eyes. We don't know who Colonel Rainier was and we don't much care. We don't give much attention to old debates over whether the mountain should be called Rainier or Tacoma. For most of us, “Mt. Rainier” is not merely a word. Rather it is the massive and magnificent reality that towers 14,000 feet high over western Washington.
When it comes to defining grace, it's somewhat the same. We could go back and analyze the linguistic history of the word in various Greek dialects. But I'll leave that to others. I'm inviting you to explore with me the grand, almost fantastical, reality the word brings to mind.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might be rich.” 2 Cor. 8:9
For by grace you are saved . . . Ephesians 2:8
What is this thing called grace?
Amazingly there is a story in the Bible about an old cat that got dumped on a porch. Well, sort of.
John 5.
Jesus was out walking on a Sabbath afternoon. He went by a place called the Pool of Bethesda. According to legend, an angel occasionally stirred the waters of the pool. When this happened, the first person into the water would be healed of whatever disease he had. Because of this belief, sick people with all kinds of incurable miseries congregated around the pool.
Years before Jesus' time, a rich philanthropist had paid for the construction of five porches around the pool to provide some shade from the desert sun.
Jesus walked through all this misery and singled out a man who had been an invalid for 38 years. We don't know how many of those 38 years he had spent hanging out there beside the pool. But he had probably been there a long time.
Jesus walked up to him and asked, “Do you want to get well?”
The man protested, “Sir, I have no one to help me. When the angel stirs the water, I try to get myself into the water, but before I can make it someone else always gets there before me. I'm doing the best I can to get well, but I just can't do it.”
In response, Jesus said, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!”
The man did what Jesus said. This guy who hadn't walked in 38 years, rolled over onto his stomach, pushed himself to his knees, then stood up!
Excitedly, he rolled up his mat, stuck it under his arm and rushed out onto the street. My guess is he was wondering if it was a dream. Was he really walking? Was it going to last? He was so astonished he didn't even think to ask the guy who healed him what his name was.
Out in the street, people challenged him, “Hey bud, what are you doing? Don't you realize it's Sabbath? How come you're carrying your bed?”
Ordinarily, as a Jew he would have never even thought of carrying a sleeping mat down the street on Sabbath, but here he was. When the people challenged him, he answered, “The man who healed me, told me to pick up my mat and carry it. So I am.”
“Who healed you?” they demanded.
“I don't know,” he said. John, the writer, says the man had no idea who healed him.
This story is a perfect illustration of grace. Grace is what we call God's habit of stepping into people's lives to bring them help and healing. God does this without making any demands or insisting on pre- conditions. God just shows up and blesses us. Does good things for us.
The man in this story did not go looking for Jesus. Jesus came and found him. The man did not ask for healing. In fact, he had no idea that healing was even an option. Jesus brought up the idea of healing. And notice: when Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be healed, Jesus did not wait for the man to declare his faith or to confidently articulate his goal. The man's response was pretty anemic. “I don't have anyone to put me in the water. So I guess I'll just hang here and keep waiting. Forever.”
Jesus answered, “Get up and get out of here.” So the man did.
And here is the kicker. The man was a scoundrel. How do we know? Some days later, Jesus found the man again. (Notice the pattern here, Jesus finds the man, the man does not find Jesus.) What did Jesus say to the man? “Stop sinning or something worse is going to happen to you.”
If I tell someone, “Quit acting like a jerk!” the clear implication is that they are, in fact, acting like a jerk. When Jesus tells this guy, “Quit sinning,” it's obvious the guy was misbehaving. Jesus has poured grace into his life. Jesus has healed him, liberated him from the prison of the porches. What does the man do with the new life that Jesus has graciously given? Apparently he invested his blessings in sin.
Receiving a windfall does not necessarily change us. Most people who win the lottery, within a few years are bankrupt. Why? Because they do with the new money what they did with the old. They spend it.
But grace is not merely a windfall. It is the outpouring of the affection of God. Grace comes with the heart of God attached. Jesus did not withhold grace from this man because he did not deserve it.
There was one string attached to Jesus' gift: the string of hope. Jesus hoped the guy would take the new life he was given and do something good with it. Jesus was hoping that healing the man's paralysis would open up a future of health, and happiness and holiness.
When Jesus told the man, “Quit sinning or something worse may happen to you,” Jesus was revealing his hope, his anticipation. It's a hope that Jesus (and God the Father) cannot turn off. All grace comes with hope.
Those cats in soggy cardboard boxes on the church's porch . . . They were hopeless. Helpless, Miserable. Desperate. There was nothing they could do to save themselves. Without intervention they would have all died.
Then Karin and Bonnie arrived and changed everything. That's grace.
All of the cats were infested with fleas. On the adult cats, the women applied chemical flea control. But the kittens were too young, so the women had to wash each kitten and pull off the fleas by hand. Some of the kittens they washed three times.
All of the cats were sick. They had eye infections and upper respiratory infections. So twice a day, we had to pick up each squirming kitten and apply ointment in its eyes. We had to use a syringe and squirt antibiotics down each throat twice a day. The women did it freely. That's grace.
And there was a string attached. Maybe I should say, there was a steel cable attached. And that was Karin's and Bonnie's fierce hope these cats would improve, that they would gain weight, would rally against the malnutrition, would beat back the infections in their eyes and lungs. Karin and Bonnie wanted these kittens to thrive.
God's grace is not a commodity that he dumps on the world. God's grace is the outpouring of his heart toward us. It is full of his hope, his expectation that we will thrive, that we will invest his forgiveness and help in new habits, leaving behind unproductive and harmful patterns of life.
Jesus was thrilled to see Jake walking around Jerusalem. But he wasn't satisfied to leave it at that. When Jesus observed Jake wasting his new life in foolishness, he sought him out and challenged him: “Quit sinning or something worse is going to happen to you!”
Being paralyzed is not a picnic, being sick is not a trivial matter. But there are worse things. There is a darkness worse than sickness, worse than poverty, worse than getting fired. I am not making light of those difficulties, but something worse could happen to us. And we set up that worse thing by rejecting God's wisdom for our lives.
The cats we rescued did respond to grace. It was touch and go for a few days for some of the littlest kittens, but they all rallied. They turned into comical bundles of life, full of energy and playfulness. Eventually they moved on to good homes.
One of the last kittens to be placed was picked up at six o'clock on Christmas morning by a dad carrying out a carefully constructed plan for surprising his six-year old girl. The kitten who had been an unsupportable burden for whoever dumped the boxes had been transformed into a heart-warming gift by the power of grace.
This is God's intention for us as well. Others may see us as worthless, as too much trouble to bother with, as more trouble than we are worth. God comes and says to us, “You are precious. You are a treasure. I want you to live. Not merely survive, but live.”
God will give us what we need.
Have you screwed up big time? Damaged other people? God offers forgiveness.
Have you been damaged by others? Traumatized by parents, spouses, siblings, teachers, preachers, bullies, strangers? God offers justice, the promise of a final judgment in which nothing will be hidden.
Have you been undervalued? Have others convinced you that you are nobody special, that the world would be better if you used less oxygen? God declares emphatically that he loves you, treasures you. God loves you so much, he would rather die than live without you.
God offers grace.
Have you already surrendered yourself to the gracious affection of God? God offers you grace, too—grace to be passed along to other cats who need it.
Of course, grace comes with strings attached, the steel string of divine hope and expectation. Jesus wants you to live, to thrive. He wants you to be happy, healthy, holy. He wants to make you his gift to someone. There is someone, somewhere—at your place of work, in your neighborhood, at your school—there is someone God needs to touch. And he is hoping you will be the one to pass his touch along.
So I join the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter and the Apostle John in praying for you: Grace and peace. The warm affection of heaven. God likes you. He has great plans for you.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace.
A group rents our church on Wednesday evenings. Someone in the group called to report a problem.
When someone in their group got out of his car back behind the trash inclosure he heard noises coming from some boxes. When he investigated, he discovered four boxes of cats. They had moved the boxes onto the porch out of the rain, but now what?
He didn't know how many cats there were. There were at least eight. Some kittens. Some adults.
I didn't know whether to laugh or groan. I knew what was going to happen next. My wife was going to ask who was on the phone. What did they want? When I explained the situation to her, she was going to ride to the rescue.
I told Randy, we'd take care of the situation and hung up the phone.
Sure enough, Karin asked, “Who was that?” Then, “What did he want?”
We recruited our daughter, Bonnie, who lives with us and has a pickup truck with a canopy, and is as soft-hearted toward animals as her mother. Then we headed off to the church with several animal crates in the back of the truck.
It was a sorry sight on the front porch of the church. Three cardboard boxes, soggy from rain, and one cat carrier. I pulled on gloves and began extracting the cats from the boxes and handing them off to Karin and Bonnie who transferred them to the crates in the back of the truck.
12 cats total. 2 adults, 9 kittens, 1 adolescent. All of them were emaciated. One kitten was dead.
In my humble opinion, the most logical thing to do would have been to keep them over night, then deliver them to the Pierce County Animal Shelter as soon as it opened in the morning. Of course, we did not do the logical thing.
We took them home. Set them up in a warm, dry space with food. Next day, the women took them to the vet to have them checked. They bought medicine and began the slow process of nursing all eleven remaining cats back to health.
Then, when they were fully recovered, when they were happy, healthy, cute and scampering around, Karin and Bonnie found homes for them—quality homes that met the women's high standards.
Those cats had no claim on us. They were not born at our place. They did not belong to friends of ours. They were not physically attractive, at least not when we first pulled them out of their soggy cardboard prisons.
Getting involved with these critters was guaranteed take a lot of time and money. Vet care and medicine are not cheap. These cats were going to be inconvenient. In addition to feeding them several times a day, we had to put ointment in their eyes twice a day.
There is only one word for what happened to these cats: grace.
In the book of Ephesians, Paul writes,
“For by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8
Once when the Apostle Peter was making a speech to entire leadership of the early Christian church, he declared,
“We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we are saved, just as the Gentiles are.” Acts 15:11
Paul and Peter both begin their letters with this prayer: “Grace and peace to you from God and Jesus Christ. The Apostle John also blesses his readers with the prayer, “Grace and peace to you.”
Grace: what is it?
Grace is what happens when any animal manages to hook up with my wife or my daughter. Grace is warm, dry shelter and food for cats dying of starvation in cold, wet cardboard boxes.
Grace is a new life, a pampered life for a huge dog that has been thrown out of three homes already.
Grace is my daughter Bonnie buying two horses from an auction where they were headed to the dog food factory.
When it comes to people, grace is a label for God's affectionate regard for us. It is the flow of forgiveness that dissolves our guilt. It is the bright future God promises to people whose actions have set them up for a catastrophic end. Grace is God's activity to make us—all of us, in fact, all people—part of his family, part of his community for all eternity.
Let me be clear: I'm not merely defining a word. I'm painting a portrait of a person. I'm detailing some heavenly legal procedure, I'm picturing a heavenly lover.
If I asked you to tell me the first thought that runs through your mind when I say, “Mt. Rainier,” my guess is that many of you would respond with descriptions of the grand views you have of the massive stratovolcano east of here. Some of you might talk about climbing the mountain. Others might call up pictures on your Droid or your iPhone and show us pictures of wild in the meadows around Paradise. Or pictures of Nerada Falls or mountain goats. A few might even have pictures of a long slog up to Camp Muir.
If someone asked about the etymology of the word Rainier we would probably roll our eyes. We don't know who Colonel Rainier was and we don't much care. We don't give much attention to old debates over whether the mountain should be called Rainier or Tacoma. For most of us, “Mt. Rainier” is not merely a word. Rather it is the massive and magnificent reality that towers 14,000 feet high over western Washington.
When it comes to defining grace, it's somewhat the same. We could go back and analyze the linguistic history of the word in various Greek dialects. But I'll leave that to others. I'm inviting you to explore with me the grand, almost fantastical, reality the word brings to mind.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might be rich.” 2 Cor. 8:9
For by grace you are saved . . . Ephesians 2:8
What is this thing called grace?
Amazingly there is a story in the Bible about an old cat that got dumped on a porch. Well, sort of.
John 5.
Jesus was out walking on a Sabbath afternoon. He went by a place called the Pool of Bethesda. According to legend, an angel occasionally stirred the waters of the pool. When this happened, the first person into the water would be healed of whatever disease he had. Because of this belief, sick people with all kinds of incurable miseries congregated around the pool.
Years before Jesus' time, a rich philanthropist had paid for the construction of five porches around the pool to provide some shade from the desert sun.
Jesus walked through all this misery and singled out a man who had been an invalid for 38 years. We don't know how many of those 38 years he had spent hanging out there beside the pool. But he had probably been there a long time.
Jesus walked up to him and asked, “Do you want to get well?”
The man protested, “Sir, I have no one to help me. When the angel stirs the water, I try to get myself into the water, but before I can make it someone else always gets there before me. I'm doing the best I can to get well, but I just can't do it.”
In response, Jesus said, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!”
The man did what Jesus said. This guy who hadn't walked in 38 years, rolled over onto his stomach, pushed himself to his knees, then stood up!
Excitedly, he rolled up his mat, stuck it under his arm and rushed out onto the street. My guess is he was wondering if it was a dream. Was he really walking? Was it going to last? He was so astonished he didn't even think to ask the guy who healed him what his name was.
Out in the street, people challenged him, “Hey bud, what are you doing? Don't you realize it's Sabbath? How come you're carrying your bed?”
Ordinarily, as a Jew he would have never even thought of carrying a sleeping mat down the street on Sabbath, but here he was. When the people challenged him, he answered, “The man who healed me, told me to pick up my mat and carry it. So I am.”
“Who healed you?” they demanded.
“I don't know,” he said. John, the writer, says the man had no idea who healed him.
This story is a perfect illustration of grace. Grace is what we call God's habit of stepping into people's lives to bring them help and healing. God does this without making any demands or insisting on pre- conditions. God just shows up and blesses us. Does good things for us.
The man in this story did not go looking for Jesus. Jesus came and found him. The man did not ask for healing. In fact, he had no idea that healing was even an option. Jesus brought up the idea of healing. And notice: when Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be healed, Jesus did not wait for the man to declare his faith or to confidently articulate his goal. The man's response was pretty anemic. “I don't have anyone to put me in the water. So I guess I'll just hang here and keep waiting. Forever.”
Jesus answered, “Get up and get out of here.” So the man did.
And here is the kicker. The man was a scoundrel. How do we know? Some days later, Jesus found the man again. (Notice the pattern here, Jesus finds the man, the man does not find Jesus.) What did Jesus say to the man? “Stop sinning or something worse is going to happen to you.”
If I tell someone, “Quit acting like a jerk!” the clear implication is that they are, in fact, acting like a jerk. When Jesus tells this guy, “Quit sinning,” it's obvious the guy was misbehaving. Jesus has poured grace into his life. Jesus has healed him, liberated him from the prison of the porches. What does the man do with the new life that Jesus has graciously given? Apparently he invested his blessings in sin.
Receiving a windfall does not necessarily change us. Most people who win the lottery, within a few years are bankrupt. Why? Because they do with the new money what they did with the old. They spend it.
But grace is not merely a windfall. It is the outpouring of the affection of God. Grace comes with the heart of God attached. Jesus did not withhold grace from this man because he did not deserve it.
There was one string attached to Jesus' gift: the string of hope. Jesus hoped the guy would take the new life he was given and do something good with it. Jesus was hoping that healing the man's paralysis would open up a future of health, and happiness and holiness.
When Jesus told the man, “Quit sinning or something worse may happen to you,” Jesus was revealing his hope, his anticipation. It's a hope that Jesus (and God the Father) cannot turn off. All grace comes with hope.
Those cats in soggy cardboard boxes on the church's porch . . . They were hopeless. Helpless, Miserable. Desperate. There was nothing they could do to save themselves. Without intervention they would have all died.
Then Karin and Bonnie arrived and changed everything. That's grace.
All of the cats were infested with fleas. On the adult cats, the women applied chemical flea control. But the kittens were too young, so the women had to wash each kitten and pull off the fleas by hand. Some of the kittens they washed three times.
All of the cats were sick. They had eye infections and upper respiratory infections. So twice a day, we had to pick up each squirming kitten and apply ointment in its eyes. We had to use a syringe and squirt antibiotics down each throat twice a day. The women did it freely. That's grace.
And there was a string attached. Maybe I should say, there was a steel cable attached. And that was Karin's and Bonnie's fierce hope these cats would improve, that they would gain weight, would rally against the malnutrition, would beat back the infections in their eyes and lungs. Karin and Bonnie wanted these kittens to thrive.
God's grace is not a commodity that he dumps on the world. God's grace is the outpouring of his heart toward us. It is full of his hope, his expectation that we will thrive, that we will invest his forgiveness and help in new habits, leaving behind unproductive and harmful patterns of life.
Jesus was thrilled to see Jake walking around Jerusalem. But he wasn't satisfied to leave it at that. When Jesus observed Jake wasting his new life in foolishness, he sought him out and challenged him: “Quit sinning or something worse is going to happen to you!”
Being paralyzed is not a picnic, being sick is not a trivial matter. But there are worse things. There is a darkness worse than sickness, worse than poverty, worse than getting fired. I am not making light of those difficulties, but something worse could happen to us. And we set up that worse thing by rejecting God's wisdom for our lives.
The cats we rescued did respond to grace. It was touch and go for a few days for some of the littlest kittens, but they all rallied. They turned into comical bundles of life, full of energy and playfulness. Eventually they moved on to good homes.
One of the last kittens to be placed was picked up at six o'clock on Christmas morning by a dad carrying out a carefully constructed plan for surprising his six-year old girl. The kitten who had been an unsupportable burden for whoever dumped the boxes had been transformed into a heart-warming gift by the power of grace.
This is God's intention for us as well. Others may see us as worthless, as too much trouble to bother with, as more trouble than we are worth. God comes and says to us, “You are precious. You are a treasure. I want you to live. Not merely survive, but live.”
God will give us what we need.
Have you screwed up big time? Damaged other people? God offers forgiveness.
Have you been damaged by others? Traumatized by parents, spouses, siblings, teachers, preachers, bullies, strangers? God offers justice, the promise of a final judgment in which nothing will be hidden.
Have you been undervalued? Have others convinced you that you are nobody special, that the world would be better if you used less oxygen? God declares emphatically that he loves you, treasures you. God loves you so much, he would rather die than live without you.
God offers grace.
Have you already surrendered yourself to the gracious affection of God? God offers you grace, too—grace to be passed along to other cats who need it.
Of course, grace comes with strings attached, the steel string of divine hope and expectation. Jesus wants you to live, to thrive. He wants you to be happy, healthy, holy. He wants to make you his gift to someone. There is someone, somewhere—at your place of work, in your neighborhood, at your school—there is someone God needs to touch. And he is hoping you will be the one to pass his touch along.
So I join the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter and the Apostle John in praying for you: Grace and peace. The warm affection of heaven. God likes you. He has great plans for you.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace.
Paul's Seven Essentials
This sermon was preached at North Hill Adventist Fellowship on February 19, 2011. This is a very rough sketch of the sermon done a week after preaching it. For the full sermon, check out the audio. See the link to the right.
Here in the Northwest the Mountaineers Club is famous for its advocacy of the out of doors. They want you to get outside, especially to get up into the mountains. However, with all their enthusiasm, they don't encourage people to “just go.” Just as loudly as they urge people to get outside, they also urge people to take with them the “Ten Essentials.” Extra clothes for protection against changes in weather. Water. Food. Compass. Map. Fire starter. Knife. Light and batteries. First aid kit. Sunglasses and sunscreen (and insect repellent, space blanket, whistle, GPS, duct tape, etc.).
If you talk to those of us who spend a lot of time in the Cascades, you will hear a lot of enthusiasm. It is a beautiful, wonderful world up there. However, we are aware there is an enemy up there. It's called weather. And because of the enemy. We carry our Ten Essentials. When we are hiking, when we see weather closing in or darkness, we don't panic because we know our Ten Essentials will enable us to handle the enemy.
In the Book of Ephesians, Paul recognizes there is an enemy in the world. He then outlines seven essentials we can equip ourselves with. If we equip ourselves with these seven essentials, we don't have to worry about the enemy. Paul assures that if we arm ourselves with these seven essentials, if there is a crisis, we will survive and when it is all over we will still be standing.
The Belt of Truth
For Paul, the most important element of truth is the incredible news about what God has accomplished through the saving mission of Jesus. The center of truth, the most important elements of truth are good news. If your spiritual life is characterized by a fascination with the dark and dangerous, you need to change your focus. Don't spend your time studying the devil or his friends.
In politics, beware of giving too much attention to people who specialize in bad news.
Of course, there is a place for appropriate awareness of dangers and perils. But that place should not have highest prominence in our thinking or conversation.
Another implication of “truth” as a necessity: my feelings, my perceptions, even my convictions are not the same thing as reality. My feelings, perceptions and convictions need to be open to the correction that comes from the Bible, other believers, science, and history. My own experience and study are never sufficient to place me beyond the need to be corrected and shaped through respectful listening to others.
Breastplate of Righteousness
Paul uses the word righteous in two senses. The most prominent in his writing is acceptance with God or approval by God. I am righteous when God looks at me and declares me okay, approved, innocent. This links with the message of forgiveness and my union with Jesus. The second meaning of the word refers to doing right, to character. A righteous person, in this sense, is one who does right.
Healthy spiritual life is inseparable from both meanings. We are approved by God because Jesus died for our sins and God acts with reference to his own love quite apart from our performance. Those who are engaged with God will be learning to act more and more like their heavenly Father. Their characters will change.
Sandals of the gospel of peace
“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
We live in the full assurance that God is seeking reconciliation. God's goal is to eliminate his enemies by making them friends. And we are called to join him in this ministry of reconciliation.
Shield of faith.
If we have faith, Paul assures us, we can quench ALL the darts of the enemy. No worries. No fretting about whether we will be able to stand through some future trouble—whether that trouble is a theoretical period of temptation and persecution at the end of time or the very real experience of old age dementia, divorce, alienation from children, or losing our job. Faith in God makes all these threats less than terrifying. They are not pleasant. They are not trivial. But we can withstand them.
Helmet of Salvation.
God has your head. If the devil trips you or throws you off your bike or snow board, if someone drops a wrench while working above you on the job site God has your head. No worries.
Sword. The word of God
Paul uses “the word of God” in some places as a synonym for “my gospel.” (See 2 Tim. 2:8.) Other times he uses the phrase to mean the Old Testament. Other times it refers to God's personal communication through conscience or even visions and dreams. God speaks into our lives and through our lives. As we cultivate openness to God's communication to us and through us, we will be effective agents of the kingdom of heaven.
So pick up your essentials and get out there. Don't be intimidated by the enemy. There is a saying here in the Northwest: there is no bad weather, just inappropriate gear. With the right clothing you can safely go adventuring in any kind of weather. And you don't have to worry about being surprised by changes.
Those who think they can guard themselves by studying the tactics of the enemy are likely to be unpleasantly surprised. About the time you figure out what his tactics are, he'll change. Far better to equip yourselves with the seven essentials. Then you are secure no matter what.
I sometimes poke a little fun at my friends who constantly talk about the ten essentials. But I've had my cavalier attitude rudely challenged a couple of times. Once, I ended up walking for hours in pitch blackness following a leash I could not see that was attached to a dog I could not see who was “hopefully) following a trail I could not see. I had nothing with me besides the dog. No extra clothes, no fire starter, no light, no food. I had to make it out before I stopped. It was scary.
Another time, I was hiking with a young friend. The weather changed. We ended up navigating by compass cross-country for about five hours, unable to see any landmarks. Shortly before dark, we called our respective families to let them know we would not make it home that night. We were going to drop off the ridge into the valley where there would be no cell phone reception but where we would be out of the wind and where there was wood for a fire.
We weren't worried. We figured we'd probably be uncomfortable, but we would survive because we were carrying our Ten Essentials.
Paul wants us to face crises with similar confidence. And we can.
Here in the Northwest the Mountaineers Club is famous for its advocacy of the out of doors. They want you to get outside, especially to get up into the mountains. However, with all their enthusiasm, they don't encourage people to “just go.” Just as loudly as they urge people to get outside, they also urge people to take with them the “Ten Essentials.” Extra clothes for protection against changes in weather. Water. Food. Compass. Map. Fire starter. Knife. Light and batteries. First aid kit. Sunglasses and sunscreen (and insect repellent, space blanket, whistle, GPS, duct tape, etc.).
If you talk to those of us who spend a lot of time in the Cascades, you will hear a lot of enthusiasm. It is a beautiful, wonderful world up there. However, we are aware there is an enemy up there. It's called weather. And because of the enemy. We carry our Ten Essentials. When we are hiking, when we see weather closing in or darkness, we don't panic because we know our Ten Essentials will enable us to handle the enemy.
In the Book of Ephesians, Paul recognizes there is an enemy in the world. He then outlines seven essentials we can equip ourselves with. If we equip ourselves with these seven essentials, we don't have to worry about the enemy. Paul assures that if we arm ourselves with these seven essentials, if there is a crisis, we will survive and when it is all over we will still be standing.
The Belt of Truth
For Paul, the most important element of truth is the incredible news about what God has accomplished through the saving mission of Jesus. The center of truth, the most important elements of truth are good news. If your spiritual life is characterized by a fascination with the dark and dangerous, you need to change your focus. Don't spend your time studying the devil or his friends.
In politics, beware of giving too much attention to people who specialize in bad news.
Of course, there is a place for appropriate awareness of dangers and perils. But that place should not have highest prominence in our thinking or conversation.
Another implication of “truth” as a necessity: my feelings, my perceptions, even my convictions are not the same thing as reality. My feelings, perceptions and convictions need to be open to the correction that comes from the Bible, other believers, science, and history. My own experience and study are never sufficient to place me beyond the need to be corrected and shaped through respectful listening to others.
Breastplate of Righteousness
Paul uses the word righteous in two senses. The most prominent in his writing is acceptance with God or approval by God. I am righteous when God looks at me and declares me okay, approved, innocent. This links with the message of forgiveness and my union with Jesus. The second meaning of the word refers to doing right, to character. A righteous person, in this sense, is one who does right.
Healthy spiritual life is inseparable from both meanings. We are approved by God because Jesus died for our sins and God acts with reference to his own love quite apart from our performance. Those who are engaged with God will be learning to act more and more like their heavenly Father. Their characters will change.
Sandals of the gospel of peace
“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
We live in the full assurance that God is seeking reconciliation. God's goal is to eliminate his enemies by making them friends. And we are called to join him in this ministry of reconciliation.
Shield of faith.
If we have faith, Paul assures us, we can quench ALL the darts of the enemy. No worries. No fretting about whether we will be able to stand through some future trouble—whether that trouble is a theoretical period of temptation and persecution at the end of time or the very real experience of old age dementia, divorce, alienation from children, or losing our job. Faith in God makes all these threats less than terrifying. They are not pleasant. They are not trivial. But we can withstand them.
Helmet of Salvation.
God has your head. If the devil trips you or throws you off your bike or snow board, if someone drops a wrench while working above you on the job site God has your head. No worries.
Sword. The word of God
Paul uses “the word of God” in some places as a synonym for “my gospel.” (See 2 Tim. 2:8.) Other times he uses the phrase to mean the Old Testament. Other times it refers to God's personal communication through conscience or even visions and dreams. God speaks into our lives and through our lives. As we cultivate openness to God's communication to us and through us, we will be effective agents of the kingdom of heaven.
So pick up your essentials and get out there. Don't be intimidated by the enemy. There is a saying here in the Northwest: there is no bad weather, just inappropriate gear. With the right clothing you can safely go adventuring in any kind of weather. And you don't have to worry about being surprised by changes.
Those who think they can guard themselves by studying the tactics of the enemy are likely to be unpleasantly surprised. About the time you figure out what his tactics are, he'll change. Far better to equip yourselves with the seven essentials. Then you are secure no matter what.
I sometimes poke a little fun at my friends who constantly talk about the ten essentials. But I've had my cavalier attitude rudely challenged a couple of times. Once, I ended up walking for hours in pitch blackness following a leash I could not see that was attached to a dog I could not see who was “hopefully) following a trail I could not see. I had nothing with me besides the dog. No extra clothes, no fire starter, no light, no food. I had to make it out before I stopped. It was scary.
Another time, I was hiking with a young friend. The weather changed. We ended up navigating by compass cross-country for about five hours, unable to see any landmarks. Shortly before dark, we called our respective families to let them know we would not make it home that night. We were going to drop off the ridge into the valley where there would be no cell phone reception but where we would be out of the wind and where there was wood for a fire.
We weren't worried. We figured we'd probably be uncomfortable, but we would survive because we were carrying our Ten Essentials.
Paul wants us to face crises with similar confidence. And we can.
Friday, February 11, 2011
The Gospel's Bottom Line, a Valentine sermon
The bottom line in the Book of Ephesians is not theological in the classic sense of the word. Where does the mighty work God accomplished in Christ take us? What is the grand conclusion of Paul's gospel? Just this:
Chapter 5
22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives,
just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy,
cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church,
without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.
He who loves his wife loves himself.
29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church--
30 for we are members of his body.
31 "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."
32 This is a profound mystery--
but I am talking about Christ and the church.
33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself,
and the wife must respect her husband.
Chapter Six
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2 "Honor your father and mother"--which is the first commandment with a promise-- 3 "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."
4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children;
instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.
6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.
7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.
9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way.
Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
The punch line of Paul's preaching was a call to behavior conducive to harmonious domestic and civic relationships.
Frequently over the last 2000 years Christian theologians have gotten engrossed in Paul's theological/theoretical verbiage. There have fierce debates, even riots, over the precisely correct interpretation of Paul's words about predestination, the divine nature of Christ, the nature of the human will, the activity of the Spirit. There are ministries based on people's interpretations of Paul's cryptic language about authorities, rulers and spiritual forces in the heavenly realms. In Adventist circles people have lost their jobs because of “wrong” views of Paul's ideas about justification and sanctification.
It's all interesting stuff to a lot of people, but it seems to me to miss the point. All this stuff is preamble. It is not the punch line. It is not the bottom line. It is not the conclusion. And far too often people's obsession with this theoretical stuff blinds them to the truly significant elements of spiritual life. Those elements have to do supremely with harmonious relationships.
This interpretation of Paul is set up by the first two chapters of Genesis.
In Chapter One, Moses pictures creation as a week-long process that climaxes in the Sabbath—a day when nothing happens—that is nothing that can be written about. It is a honeymoon Sabbath and appropriately occurs behind a veil of privacy.
In Chapter Two, Moses pictures creation as a process of ordering the world around a man. Man is created first, then the plants—which need his care to thrive. Then the animals which need man's naming to achieve their full dignity. Then comes the climax. There is a grand reversal. Instead of man supplying the caretaking, he becomes aware of his own insuperable need—for companionship, for love. And God creates Eve and Moses explicitly ends the story with an affirmation of marriage.
The goal of creation is a community. Intimacy. Communion. Relationship. Family.
The purpose of the gospel, the goal of Jesus' mission on earth was to restore the divine vision of harmonious community. Working for wholeness in our relationships, helping others achieve happiness and peace in their relationships is the highest, most noble endeavor we can engage in.
With this as a background, I want to outline several principles that help facilitate happy, healthy relationships.
(Note: It's Valentines Day weekend and we have reached the section in Ephesians that deals with the relationships between husbands and wives. So this is a sermon about marriage. But as far as I can tell these principles are every bit as relevant in all kinds of friendships as they are in marriage.)
Principle One: God's purpose in creation was social connection, especially the intimacy of family. So our number one purpose as creatures is social connection. If we are married, our highest obligation is the cultivation of intimacy and harmony with our spouse.
Principle Two: Changing someone else is extremely difficult and highly unlikely. So, if I'm wise, most of my efforts to enhance the sweetness of my marriage or my friendships will focus on my contribution to the relationship. (Aiming to change someone else is usually evidence of my own lack of love.)
Principle Three: Love hopes for response, but love does not wait for a guarantee of a return on investment before taking action. Love risks rejection. God loves quite apart from our worthiness and even our response. Still he hopes for response. Jesus died SO THAT people would live forever.
Principle Four: The best thing I can do for happiness in relationships is to learn what warms their heart and then do it! Don't do for others what would make you happy. This means that often we can't do “what comes naturally” because our natural impulses are guided by our desires instead of the desires of the other. One example of this is the stereotypical differences between men and women which may not be universal and invariable, but they are real.
Principle Five: Obeying the rules—no adultery, harsh speech, disrespect, violence, neglect—is conducive to a good relationship. Breaking the rules can ruin your relationship.
Principle Six: Rules will ruin your relationships if you use them as a yardstick for measuring the performance of others.
Does my wife do enough submitting? If I'm asking the question, my heart, of course, is going to answer no, no matter what an objective observer would say. Does my husband demonstrate enough love and affection? Not if I'm asking the question. And since I'm asking the question in the light of a “divine rule,” it is a no-brainer to conclude that my spouse's “failure” is a moral fault.
When people complain about being neglected by the church, they are measuring the church by some yardstick. And often they are right. The church has failed. So where does the exercise of measuring the church leave them? Abandoned and alone.
It is often possible for the person who has been neglected to take action to enrich the relationship. They can request a visit. They can make a phone call. They can themselves seek out other church members who are even more isolated than they are. If they engage in these activities, they will experience increased sweetness and light. But as long as they hold up the yardstick and measure the quality of care they are receiving they will always see some shortcoming.
Finally coming to Paul's words about wives submitting and husbands loving. If we treat this passage as analogous to the Ten Commandments—as high moral principles independent of time and circumstance--we will end up with abuse. Domineering husbands (and other men) will tyrannize their wives (and usually their children as well) and cite the Bible to justify their wretched behavior. Even in homes where the men are not tyrants, women who are convinced it is their moral duty to submit will experience wrenching conflict between their religion and their mind. They will know, on occasion, that their husband is wrong, that he is proceeding in a direction that will harm him, their family and maybe others, but their religion compels them to cooperate in and condone behavior they know is ill-advised. God never wanted to put women in this kind of straight jacket.
If a husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church, sacrificing himself for her, and there are NO limits, no ifs, ands or buts, then there will be rare occasions where this kind of love will cause a husband to fail to protect the family from a crazy or evil wife. There are times when love is not enough (at least love in any but the coldest, toughest, tough-love sense.)
These words of Paul are not commandments. They are the words of a man who was not married, who on another occasion argued that women should keep silent in church. We routinely treat some of Paul's words as less than authoritative. We do best with these words to treat them as advice on seducing your spouse. If you want to do something to enrich your marriage consider whether submitting might do it. You've probably already tried yelling, nagging and manipulating. You'd like a sweeter, happier marriage. Try submitting. See if it awakens a response in your man that warms your own heart. (Of course, perhaps Paul and for sure Paul's fundamentalist devotees would be offended that we would merely "consider" his words and not necessarily obey them.)
If you want to improve your marriage, try loving, showing affection, consideration, thoughtfulness (or some other synonym for love). You've probably already tried a variety of other, ineffective ways of relating.
It is worse than pointless to try to enrich your marriage by telling the other person to submit or to love or to be sweeter or to be more thoughtful. You can't change the other person. Look for ways to connect with the person you are actually married to instead of dreaming about the person you could/should have married.
So try loving and submitting. Be careful not to demand that someone else love or submit.
Rather than imagining that Paul in the two words--submit and love--has given us a comprehensive and inflexible rule for marriage, we ought to recognize this section for what it is--an illustration of the meaning of Paul's theology. God has been gracious to us. We ought to be gracious to one another. God has done "whatever it took" to save us and is actively seeking our hearts. So we should do whatever it takes to save our marriages and friendships and actively seek to put sweetness and joy into the lives of people close to us.
Rather than slavishly obsessing on the words "submit" and "love" we ought to creatively pursue every avenue of building intimacy and harmony.
Fathers, don't exasperate your children. Don't be jerks. Don't promise and break your promises. If you lose your temper, apologize. If you lose it often, get help.
Bosses, treat your employees with respect. Employees, give your boss the kind of service you'd give if Jesus was the boss.
To all who consider themselves knowledgeable regarding Christian theology: Don't waste your breath spouting your theology unless your wife, your kids, your friends testify to the sweetness you add to their lives.
Chapter 5
22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives,
just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy,
cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church,
without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.
He who loves his wife loves himself.
29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church--
30 for we are members of his body.
31 "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh."
32 This is a profound mystery--
but I am talking about Christ and the church.
33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself,
and the wife must respect her husband.
Chapter Six
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2 "Honor your father and mother"--which is the first commandment with a promise-- 3 "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."
4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children;
instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.
6 Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.
7 Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, 8 because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.
9 And masters, treat your slaves in the same way.
Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
The punch line of Paul's preaching was a call to behavior conducive to harmonious domestic and civic relationships.
Frequently over the last 2000 years Christian theologians have gotten engrossed in Paul's theological/theoretical verbiage. There have fierce debates, even riots, over the precisely correct interpretation of Paul's words about predestination, the divine nature of Christ, the nature of the human will, the activity of the Spirit. There are ministries based on people's interpretations of Paul's cryptic language about authorities, rulers and spiritual forces in the heavenly realms. In Adventist circles people have lost their jobs because of “wrong” views of Paul's ideas about justification and sanctification.
It's all interesting stuff to a lot of people, but it seems to me to miss the point. All this stuff is preamble. It is not the punch line. It is not the bottom line. It is not the conclusion. And far too often people's obsession with this theoretical stuff blinds them to the truly significant elements of spiritual life. Those elements have to do supremely with harmonious relationships.
This interpretation of Paul is set up by the first two chapters of Genesis.
In Chapter One, Moses pictures creation as a week-long process that climaxes in the Sabbath—a day when nothing happens—that is nothing that can be written about. It is a honeymoon Sabbath and appropriately occurs behind a veil of privacy.
In Chapter Two, Moses pictures creation as a process of ordering the world around a man. Man is created first, then the plants—which need his care to thrive. Then the animals which need man's naming to achieve their full dignity. Then comes the climax. There is a grand reversal. Instead of man supplying the caretaking, he becomes aware of his own insuperable need—for companionship, for love. And God creates Eve and Moses explicitly ends the story with an affirmation of marriage.
The goal of creation is a community. Intimacy. Communion. Relationship. Family.
The purpose of the gospel, the goal of Jesus' mission on earth was to restore the divine vision of harmonious community. Working for wholeness in our relationships, helping others achieve happiness and peace in their relationships is the highest, most noble endeavor we can engage in.
With this as a background, I want to outline several principles that help facilitate happy, healthy relationships.
(Note: It's Valentines Day weekend and we have reached the section in Ephesians that deals with the relationships between husbands and wives. So this is a sermon about marriage. But as far as I can tell these principles are every bit as relevant in all kinds of friendships as they are in marriage.)
Principle One: God's purpose in creation was social connection, especially the intimacy of family. So our number one purpose as creatures is social connection. If we are married, our highest obligation is the cultivation of intimacy and harmony with our spouse.
Principle Two: Changing someone else is extremely difficult and highly unlikely. So, if I'm wise, most of my efforts to enhance the sweetness of my marriage or my friendships will focus on my contribution to the relationship. (Aiming to change someone else is usually evidence of my own lack of love.)
Principle Three: Love hopes for response, but love does not wait for a guarantee of a return on investment before taking action. Love risks rejection. God loves quite apart from our worthiness and even our response. Still he hopes for response. Jesus died SO THAT people would live forever.
Principle Four: The best thing I can do for happiness in relationships is to learn what warms their heart and then do it! Don't do for others what would make you happy. This means that often we can't do “what comes naturally” because our natural impulses are guided by our desires instead of the desires of the other. One example of this is the stereotypical differences between men and women which may not be universal and invariable, but they are real.
Principle Five: Obeying the rules—no adultery, harsh speech, disrespect, violence, neglect—is conducive to a good relationship. Breaking the rules can ruin your relationship.
Principle Six: Rules will ruin your relationships if you use them as a yardstick for measuring the performance of others.
Does my wife do enough submitting? If I'm asking the question, my heart, of course, is going to answer no, no matter what an objective observer would say. Does my husband demonstrate enough love and affection? Not if I'm asking the question. And since I'm asking the question in the light of a “divine rule,” it is a no-brainer to conclude that my spouse's “failure” is a moral fault.
When people complain about being neglected by the church, they are measuring the church by some yardstick. And often they are right. The church has failed. So where does the exercise of measuring the church leave them? Abandoned and alone.
It is often possible for the person who has been neglected to take action to enrich the relationship. They can request a visit. They can make a phone call. They can themselves seek out other church members who are even more isolated than they are. If they engage in these activities, they will experience increased sweetness and light. But as long as they hold up the yardstick and measure the quality of care they are receiving they will always see some shortcoming.
Finally coming to Paul's words about wives submitting and husbands loving. If we treat this passage as analogous to the Ten Commandments—as high moral principles independent of time and circumstance--we will end up with abuse. Domineering husbands (and other men) will tyrannize their wives (and usually their children as well) and cite the Bible to justify their wretched behavior. Even in homes where the men are not tyrants, women who are convinced it is their moral duty to submit will experience wrenching conflict between their religion and their mind. They will know, on occasion, that their husband is wrong, that he is proceeding in a direction that will harm him, their family and maybe others, but their religion compels them to cooperate in and condone behavior they know is ill-advised. God never wanted to put women in this kind of straight jacket.
If a husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church, sacrificing himself for her, and there are NO limits, no ifs, ands or buts, then there will be rare occasions where this kind of love will cause a husband to fail to protect the family from a crazy or evil wife. There are times when love is not enough (at least love in any but the coldest, toughest, tough-love sense.)
These words of Paul are not commandments. They are the words of a man who was not married, who on another occasion argued that women should keep silent in church. We routinely treat some of Paul's words as less than authoritative. We do best with these words to treat them as advice on seducing your spouse. If you want to do something to enrich your marriage consider whether submitting might do it. You've probably already tried yelling, nagging and manipulating. You'd like a sweeter, happier marriage. Try submitting. See if it awakens a response in your man that warms your own heart. (Of course, perhaps Paul and for sure Paul's fundamentalist devotees would be offended that we would merely "consider" his words and not necessarily obey them.)
If you want to improve your marriage, try loving, showing affection, consideration, thoughtfulness (or some other synonym for love). You've probably already tried a variety of other, ineffective ways of relating.
It is worse than pointless to try to enrich your marriage by telling the other person to submit or to love or to be sweeter or to be more thoughtful. You can't change the other person. Look for ways to connect with the person you are actually married to instead of dreaming about the person you could/should have married.
So try loving and submitting. Be careful not to demand that someone else love or submit.
Rather than imagining that Paul in the two words--submit and love--has given us a comprehensive and inflexible rule for marriage, we ought to recognize this section for what it is--an illustration of the meaning of Paul's theology. God has been gracious to us. We ought to be gracious to one another. God has done "whatever it took" to save us and is actively seeking our hearts. So we should do whatever it takes to save our marriages and friendships and actively seek to put sweetness and joy into the lives of people close to us.
Rather than slavishly obsessing on the words "submit" and "love" we ought to creatively pursue every avenue of building intimacy and harmony.
Fathers, don't exasperate your children. Don't be jerks. Don't promise and break your promises. If you lose your temper, apologize. If you lose it often, get help.
Bosses, treat your employees with respect. Employees, give your boss the kind of service you'd give if Jesus was the boss.
To all who consider themselves knowledgeable regarding Christian theology: Don't waste your breath spouting your theology unless your wife, your kids, your friends testify to the sweetness you add to their lives.
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