Tuesday, October 29, 2013

No Comparison

Luke 18:9-14

October 27, 2013


            Not every prayer is holy.  Not every prayer is honored by God, because sometimes, the Bible says, “we do not know how to pray as we ought”.[1] We ask God to do that, which what he would never do because it stands in stark opposition to his nature and purpose.  In the Bible it is clear, God is pleased by some prayers, but dismayed by others.

            In our story today we will see the difference and maybe learn to pray in a way that is more honest.  We may come to mean what we say when we pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”[2]  Let us prepare ourselves in prayer:

            Lord, long ago you noticed that we are all much better in seeing the flaws in others than in ourselves.  We are quick to offer criticism and slow to take it.  So, you counseled us to remove the “log from our own eyes before we attempt to remove the speck from the eye of another.”[3]  But, sometimes our vision is so blurred and our perspective so slanted we don’t know where to begin.  “Open the eyes of the heart”, we pray, so that “we may know what is the hope to which you have called us and what are the riches of your glorious grace.”[4]  Amen.

            Almost everything decays over time.  Houses need repainted, automobiles repaired.  Bodies, once young and vigorous, soon lean on canes and reach for eyeglasses that become thicker over the years.

            Strange as it seems, even goodness can go bad over time.  The Pharisees at the time of Jesus had come from godly stock.  Their grandparents and great grandparents had preserved and defended their faith against Greek occupiers who wanted nothing more than to replace the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with gods like Zeus, Athena, and Aphrodite.  The Greeks had desecrated the Temple, dispersed the people, and did everything in their power to drive this faith in only one God off of the face of the earth.

            Armed only with a book containing the Law and the Prophets, the early Pharisees stood against spear and sword and said in effect, “Here we stand, we can do no other.”[5]  They would not sacrifice their faith to fear, nor sell it out for political ends.  They believed the scripture that promised, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, and so we will not fear though the earth should change, the mountains shake, and the waters roar and foam.”[6]

            Had it not been for those Pharisees the nation of Israel at the time of Jesus could well have been populated by people who would have had no clue about what Jesus was talking about when he said, “I have come not to abolish the law or the prophets; but to fulfill them.”[7]  They may have had no notion that “God is one”, or that “the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”[8] They may never have heard the prophecy that spoke of a suffering servant who would be “wounded for our transgressions, and crushed for our iniquities.”[9]

            Those early Pharisees did a good job.  By the time Jesus came, there was a foundation of faith for him to build upon.  But, somewhere between the time of the great grandfathers and the time when the great grandchildren were no longer persecuted, but held instead positions of power and position  - something happened – something changed their faith.  Something good went bad.  The fruit of the spirit spoiled and became only works of the flesh.

            Somehow the “strength that came from the joy in the Lord” had been sapped and replaced by a dull faith and a plodding mechanical going-through- the-motions reading of God’s Word.[10]  Those who had once been respected for piety were now condemned for pride.

            Jesus parable catches this shift.  “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.”[11]  The contrast, for Jesus’ audience, could not have been more obvious.  Although the Pharisees were seen as a bit dour, they were at least, for the most part - honest.  They may have been a little too preachy, but they were not pickpockets.  Tax collectors on the other hand were worse than thieves because they stole your money with the permission and power of their Roman captors.  A mugger, at least, made no pretense about what he is doing, but a tax collector wrapped himself up in the Roman flag and told you it was O.K. for him to cheat and steal your money.  When Jesus said, “two men went up to the temple to pray, a Pharisee and a tax collector”, Jesus audience knew which one wore the black hat.

            Jesus continued, “The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people; thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.”[12]  Notice, Jesus said he was “standing by himself.”  So, there is no indication that his prayer was for public consumption, that he was just bragging and wants everyone or anyone else to hear. Jesus did not say the Pharisee was pointing at the tax collector when he prayed in order to put him down.

            The prayer may have been genuine because it is still quite common. Who has not glanced sidelong with some spiritual smugness at someone whose lifestyle makes you with all your flaws look like Mother Theresa?  You tell yourself, “I may not be perfect, but I’m not nearly as bad as that guy”.

Seeing the sins in someone else often make us feel better about ourselves because we have learned from the time we were very young to measure ourselves against others.  That’s the whole point of receiving a grade for learning a subject. That’s how we know how well we are doing.  Every class reunion is filled with sidelong glances and veiled questions designed to determine which class mates have done well in life and which ones haven’t. 

            This even happens in Church. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve overheard one group of Christians put down another group of Christians because their theology has a different flavor and their witness a different emphasis.

Go to one side of the church and you can almost hear people praying praying, “Lord, we thank you that we’re am not like those Bible-thumping, right-wing, evangelicals who think that religion is all about getting to heaven and that Jesus is the only way.  We are the only ones who really care for the poor and understand justice and how to make the world a better place. O Lord, we thank you that we are not like them.”              

Go to the other side of the church and you may overhear another prayer, “Lord, we thank you that we are not like those wishy-washy left-wing liberals who are so enamored with the things of this world they never pay attention to the things of the next.  We are the ones who rightly read the scriptures and know what’s right and wrong. O Lord, we thank you that we are not like them.”

That Pharisee’s prayer is more common than you think because it springs from a theology that looks upon the tax collectors in this world, the disappointments and failures not with “There but for the grace of God go I”, but rather with, “There, but for my good character, self-discipline, and right living go I.”  This theology of works puts the power in our hands to determine and secure our future and so removes the fear that we might end up like those we look down upon.  We tell ourselves it could never happen to us because we are not like them – we’re better than that.

It seems the only time the power of that theology is shaken is when something happens that is entirely beyond your control.  You did all the right things, obeyed the rules, planned ahead, but still something broke into your routine and forced you to turn toward God once more.  You realized and recognized you just didn’t have the strength and fortitude to do it on your own. It could have been anything, a broken marriage, a bottle, a job that didn’t work out or even a nebulous shadow that settled over your soul.  For reasons you couldn’t comprehend you had this uneasy feeling.  You needed help.  You needed God.

Meanwhile back at the Temple, “The tax collector was standing far off, which means he was barely in the door. He knew he was a fish out of water and how others like the Pharisee might look at him.  He was afraid of their sidelong glances, pointed fingers and whispers among themselves. So, he could not even muster enough confidence to look up to heaven when he prayed because he felt too embarrassed to look God in the eye.  There was no fancy church language in his prayer, no poetry. All he could do was beat his chest and pray, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.”[13] 

He offered no excuse and no reason why God should show him any favor at all.  He did not list a litany of religious duties he had completed, as did the Pharisee.  He did not compare himself to others he thought might be worse in order to make him look good.  There was nothing about his life he could brag about or point to or rely upon – so all he had left was God.

All he could lean on was the grace and mercy of the Lord, and Jesus said God would be enough, would be all he needed.

 Of the two at prayer that day, Jesus said, only one left the Temple justified, right in the sight of God.  Only one prayer was heard, and the other never got past the ceiling.

One old preacher put it this way, “Christ sends none away empty, except those that are full of themselves.”[14]  That’s why self-righteousness is ultimately self-defeating - it leaves no room for God.

Think of a closet, maybe your closet, and it’s filled with clothes.  I mean it is stuffed, jam packed, crammed with jeans and sweatshirts, suits and shorts – a lifetime of stuff.  Some of it fits – some of it doesn’t.  It’s so full there is not room for one more garment. Does that mean you’ll never go shopping again?  Well, probably not.  Something will catch your eye, but before you can hang it up you’re going to have to make a decision.  You’re going to have to throw something out.

There’s a verse in Isaiah that compares our righteousness, the things we think we can do to make God like us, to “filthy rags”, to old clothes filling an overstuffed closet.[15]  Zechariah picks upon on this image in a vision he has of Joshua standing before the Lord clothed in these same “old clothes”.  Satan is standing next him, pointing an accusatory finger, numbering his sins, cataloging his flaws, and poking fun at the good Joshua thought he might have done in his life.

Joshua offered no excuse and no reason why God should show him mercy.  He did not list a litany of religious duties he had completed or compare himself to others he thought might be worse in order to make him look good.  He relied only on the grace of God and that it turns out is enough.

How did God respond?  He rebuked Satan and sent him back from whence he came, and then commanded an angel to take off the old clothes and put on new clothes because he had removed his iniquity from him.[16]

In other words you only need one suit in your closet, one dress. If you’re relying on blue jeans worn-out from the hard work you did to make God like you, throw them out.  If you are hoping your Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes will get you into heaven, you’re going to be disappointed.  If you’re counting on choir robes or pastor’s robes – forget about it.  If you’re trying to stitch together your salvation with a carefully balanced blend works and righteousness, then put down the needle and thread.  Isaiah described it this way:  “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exalt in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation and covered me with the robe of righteousness.”[17]  God and only God can tailor your salvation.       
 
Jesus concluded this parable with an observation he made more than once, “For all who exalt themselves shall be humbled, and all who humble themselves shall be exalted.”[18]  The Latin root behind our English word for humble is “humus” and every gardener knows what that is.  It is the fertile earth that makes things grow. 

So, if you want to reach for the heavens you need to be well grounded.  Eugene Peterson paraphrased it this way:  “If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you’ll become more than yourself.”[19]

That’s why we include a prayer of confession in our worship service. It is where we pray like that tax-collector, “God, be merciful to me – a sinner.” 

After every prayer of confession is the Assurance of God’s grace.  This is wishful thinking or for psychological therapy.  We count on God’s grace because of the cross of Jesus Christ.  That’s how we know it’s for real.  The promise is sealed by his sacrifice.  So, let us come before the Lord.  Let us pray.






 











[1] Romans 8:26
[2] Matthew 6:10
[3] Matthew 7:1-5
[4] Ephesians 1:18
[5] Paraphrase of Martin Luther
[6] Psalm 46:1
[7] Matthew 5:17
[8] Deuteronomy 6:4, Psalm 145:8
[9] Isaiah 53:5
[10] Nehemiah 8:10
[11] Luke 18:10
[12] Luke 18:11
[13] Luke 18:13
[14] Donald Barnhouse
[15] Isaiah 64:6
[16] Zechariah 3:1-5
[17] Isaiah 6:10
[18] Luke 18:14
[19] The Message, Luke 18:14

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Investment Strategies

Matthew 25:14-30

October 20, 2013

click to listen

            You will hear this at almost every Little League game.  A batter will step up to the plate and a parent in the stands will shout out, “You can do it!  Swing hard!  Concentrate and remember everything I taught you, hands together and shoulder squared.  Keep your eye on the ball.  You can do it!”

            That same sermon will be repeated over the dinner table when report cards are reviewed.  “I know you can do better.  You just need to try harder.  Pay attention to the teacher.  You can do it.  I know you can. I know you have it in you to do better.”

            It is the job of all parents to believe in their children, to encourage them, to build up their self-esteem and help them discover the gifts and abilities that lie within, and tell them, “You can do it.  I know you can.”

            That is Jesus’ message in his parable of the talents.  He’s behind you, encouraging you, telling you, “You can do it.  I know you can.” He knows you have it in you as surely as he knows the heavenly Father.  He knows God has given each of his children gifts and abilities, talents and treasure and the blessing of time that can be used to further the kingdom. Jesus knows you have it in you to be and do more than you ever thought you could.

            That’s the meaning of this parable. So, I could probably stop right here and send you out to do it; but you know that’s not going to happen.  There’s always a little more to uncover, a little more to understand.  Before we do that, let us pray:

            God, we are continually amazed at the care and concern you show for a world of flesh and blood.  We think of you so much in a spiritual realm, but you’ve taught us to pray, “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

            Again and again in story after story you have lifted physical needs and placed them on par with those that are spiritual.  Again and again in story after story you have shown that the worth of an individual is measured not in what they have gathered for themselves but in how they have given of themselves.  Help us Lord to learn to give so that we might learn to live as you have called us.  Help us so that we might one day hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  Amen.

            Jesus tells this story of three servants.  Their master is going on a journey and calls them together for the purpose of distributing the responsibilities of keeping the home fires burning.  He entrusts them with varying amount of wealth so they would have the ability to do that.  The first receive five talents, the second – two, and the third – one.  Now, a talent was a measure of weight and not ability.  It was not something you could do like playing the guitar; it was something you could own, a talent of silver or gold. By the time of Jesus it signified great wealth.  Today you could read a “million dollars” for the word talent. 

            Now you’ll notice that each one was given a different amount “according”, Jesus said, “to their ability.”[1]  Before you say, “That’s not fair.  Why doesn’t everyone get the same?”  Remember, Jesus is describing the real world and not some idealized utopia. We are all born into different life situations. Clearly, some have more apparent ability than others for reasons only God understands.  What is important to note is that while one million dollars is not five million dollars - it is still a lot of money, which in this parable means everyone has been given something of value.  Sometimes we just don’t see what it is.

            For example, there is a psychologist at Harvard named Howard Garner who revolutionized the study of intelligence.  He says we have been studying I.Q. all wrong.  On our intelligence tests only measure one or two forms of intelligence.  Gardner says that there are actually seven.  Some people are gifted with linguistic intelligence and write particularly well and others are gifted with mathematical intelligence.  They make good accountants and scientists.  Some people are gifted spatially and these make good artists and architects.  Some are gifted kinesthetically. Their bodies are unusually graceful and coordinated.  Some are gifted interpersonally and become counselors or teachers or preachers.  Some are gifted musically.

            Here is the important point.  Gardner claims that everyone he has ever tested has scored high on at least one of these seven forms of intelligence.  All of us are gifted in our own way.  There’s more to us than we think.

            After doling out the talents, the master leaves, and don’t miss the meaning here. Matthew placed this parable right before the story of the Last Supper and his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Jesus will soon be going away on a journey to the cross.  There is no question the master in the parable is Jesus.

            After the master leaves, these three servants begin their investment strategies.  They did it the same way we do it today.  Go to a financial adviser today and the first two questions you will be asked are: “What are you investment goals? What is your tolerance for risk?”  And more recently, "what do you think the government is going to do?"

            Clearly, in this parable the first two servants answered these questions differently than the third.  Jesus said, “The one who had five talents went at once and traded with them and made five talents more.”[2]  The verb “traded” in its tense and context indicates an on-going activity.  He didn’t just get lucky with one financial investment.  He didn’t play the lotto and win.  Rather, investing became part of his life.  He thought about it every day and worked at it.  He was building a portfolio for the future, and so he was thinking long term. Remember, though, this first servant was not working for his future.  He was investing for his master.  His personal goals were not nearly as important as those  of his Lord.  This investment strategy kept that it mind and so he was willing to take some risk.  Great vision requires that.

             The second servant did the same thing.  He invested his two talents and doubled them.  Of the three, I think it is this one with whom we most identify.  This middle servant represents the average person. If you glance only at the scriptures in passing you can’t help but notice it is usually the average person God most often uses – probably because there are so many of us.  Abraham is already an old man when God calls him and there was nothing about him that really made him stand out.  Jeremiah is just a lad.  Mary was a peasant girl.  Peter was a blue-collar fisherman, yet God uses these people and more to fulfill his purpose.  The Bible is filled with these two-talent people who use what they have to make a difference.

            Now we come to the third servant who took a far more conservative course.  His goal was different from the first two.  While they followed God’s first command to “be fruitful and multiply”, the third thought it more prudent to hold tightly to what he had.     .  While the first two lifted their eyes to the horizon, the third buried his head and his treasure in the sand.

            Where the first two saw possibilities, he saw pitfalls.  Where the first two saw opportunities he saw intolerable risk.  He was afraid of failure, so his investment strategy was determined by fear and misplaced fear at that, because he had a distorted view of his master.  He said, “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you have not winnowed.”[3]

            Remember, the master here is Jesus.  This servant is saying these things about God’s Son.  So, this servant represents, I believe the Christian who has a hard time singing, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”, because he or she sees God more like the judge, jury, and executioner.

            So, rather than playing offense and trying to do something positive, this third retreated into a kind of prevent defense.  He believed God would be pleased if he didn’t make too many mistakes or commit too many sins.  Ask him about his spiritual life and he’d likely give you a self-satisfied list of sins he never committed.  “As least I never killed anyone or stole anything really big.”  But, there is no thought about doing anything for anybody.  This myopic view restricts any kind of growth, spiritual or otherwise, and people with this narrow vision will go through life with fists clenched rather than hands open.

            Jesus clearly offers his evaluation of these two investment strategies.  To the first two, the one who had used their time, talents, and treasure that God had given, he encouraged, “Well done!  Well done, good and faithful servant.”[4]   This is their R.O.I., the return on their investment. Those who invest their lives in something positive, who use their gifts for God’s kingdom will reap something positive.  What joy that will bring, to hear Jesus say to you before the angels and all the saints, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master.”

            To that last servant though, the warning is hard and even harsh.  “Cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness, where men will weep and wail and gnash their teeth.”[5]      What we do or don’t do it seems have consequences immediate and eternal.
           
“Hell begins,” someone said, “on the day when God grants us a clear vision of all that we might have achieved, of all the gifts which we have wasted, of all that we might have done which we did not do.  Hell is described in the words:  “too late.”

            The feeling of having worth or of being worthless is not measured by how much you have.  Some of you may think you’re worth a lot because of the balance in your bankbook and some of you may feel worthless for the same reason.  Some of you may think you are a person of worth because of some special talent or ability and some of you may believe you have no worth because you see no such talent in yourself.  Some of you may think you are a person of worth because you have a diploma and others worthless  because they have no degree.  Some of you may think you are a person of worth because you are in the prime of your life, and others may believe the passage of time has decreased your value.  These are the ways we measure our selves.  This is not how the Lord does it.

          One preacher told the story of the day Mother Teresa spoke at a church in Minneapolis.  After she finished, a woman in a wheelchair raised her hand to ask a question.  The woman spoke with great difficulty, because she suffered from cerebral palsy—but eventually it became clear that she was asking what she and those like her could do for others.  Mother Teresa hesitated not at all.  She said:
“You can do the most.
You can do more than any of us
because your suffering is united with the suffering of Christ on the cross
and it brings strength to all of us.”

As a result, the woman in a wheelchair joined a group called The Sick and Suffering Co-Workers of Mother Teresa.  She said, “We are fortunate to have a share in Christ’s cross.”  She also prayed:
“Lord, let us suffer without regret,
for in your will
and in our gracious acceptance of that same holy will
lives our eternal destiny.”

That woman lived for a year after she met Mother Teresa.  During that year she bore witness to her faith—a witness that few of us will ever match.  This one-talent woman, who some may have considered a no-talent woman—was able by the grace of God to give a five-talent witness during that year.  Her witness continues even today, years after her death, in the re-telling of her story.  “What can I do?” she asked.  “You can do the most!” was the answer—and that was true.[6]
            In the beginning of the story each of the three servants, the five, two, and one talent servant were all seen by the master as being equal in worth.  To be sure they had different abilities, and so were afforded different degrees of responsibility, but these differences did not diminish their worth in the sight of God.  They were all seen as being worthwhile and trustworthy.  God entrusted each one of them with something.

            It was not how much time, talent, or treasure, God measures, but rather what we do with the time, talent, and treasure we’ve been given.  All the Lord asks is that we not bury our heads or hands or hearts in the sand, but that we do what we can and use what we’ve been given.

The good news is that the results are not up to us.  Success or failure is not up to us. In Paul’s letter to the Church in Corinth he observed, “Though I may plant the seeds of the gospel and another may water, it is God who gives the increase.”[7]  To the church in Philippi he said, “I am sure that God who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”[8]

Let God work in you as you work for him and so glorify him by serving others in his name.  Let us pray:

Lord, grant us the courage of our convictions and commitment to follow through. Help us to use all that you have given not for our own comfort but for the needs of a wounded world.  When we fear failure instill, by your Holy Spirit, hope.  As you have begun a good work in us, bring it to completion we pray, so that each one might one day hear those words, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master.”  For it is in his name we pray.  Amen.




[1] Matthew 25:15
[2] Matthew 25:16
[3] Matthew 25:24
[4] Matthew 25:23
[5] Matthew 25;30
[6] Donovan, Richard:  SermonWriter, Matthew 25:14-30.
[7] 1 Corinthians 3:6
[8] Philippians 1:6

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Where are the Nine?

Luke 17:11-19

October 6, 2013


            Someone once said that the definition of a pessimist is someone who looks at a box of candy and says, “Rats, it’s half empty”.  The optimist looks at the same box and says, “Great, it’s half full.” 

            It is the same box of candy, but two entirely different perceptions.  People are like that.  Some seem to be thankful for the least crumb of bread, and some will never be satisfied no matter how much they have.

            I saw a story a while back that said the richest county in the United Sates is in California, near Hollywood, which is probably no surprise to anyone.  That county has more millionaires per square foot than any other place in the world.  It also has more psychiatrists, more alcoholics, more broken homes.  All that wealth has not bought them happiness.  They still see their candy box as being half empty.

            I also know a family who face a very uncertain future, with little more than the clothes on their backs, yet are thankful for even the smallest of blessings.

            Why?  Why is that?  Why do some see the box as half empty and others as half full?  Why do some only complain about those things they don’t have, while others count their blessings?

            Jesus seems to ask the same question in the scripture we read today?  Ten lepers are healed, but only one came back to say, “Thanks.”  Jesus asked, “Why?  Where are the nine?”

One man, Martin Bell, who is neither Methodist nor Presbyterian, but Episcopalian, of all things, answered the question this way.

            The first was frightened.  He did not understand what had happened to him.  All he had known and really understood was his disease.  He understood the ravages of leprosy.  He understood the looks of scorn thrown his way like cruel darts.  That was a part of his life.  It was expected.

            Jesus was not expected.  His compassion and generosity was not expected.  Certainly his ability to heal and restore his broken body was not expected.  And so he did not understand.  He was like many, fearful of that which he did not understand.  So, he was afraid of Jesus.  And so he did not return.

            The second leper was offended.  He did not like to be obliged to anyone.  Yet, Jesus had given him this gift right out of the blue.  He had done nothing to earn this favor.  He had not followed any prescribed formula for prayer and fasting.    He had not proven himself righteous to Jesus before he was healed.  He had done nothing to deserve it.  He did not like it.  “You get what you pay for” was his motto.  So, he did not understand “grace”.  So he felt obliged and did not like the feeling.  He did not know how to say “thank you”.

            The third leper had not really wanted to be cleansed.  Leprosy was his life.  It was his crutch.  People pitied him.  He liked the pity.  He liked to complain.  Jesus took the pity away.  Now there was nothing to complain about.  He did not return.

            The fourth leper forgot.  He was so happy to be released from this scourge that he just ran off in sheer joy.  That’s not unusual.  Every year the Post Office receives thousands if not millions of letters from children to Santa Claus.  In those letters children pour out their holiday dreams for dogs and dolls, Nintendo and Nikes.  After Christmas, the Post Office reports, only a trickle of letters come in to Santa to say Thank you. When in the midst of crisis prayers come fast and furious.  But, thanks are often slow to come.  It’s not that the people are ungrateful.  It is just that they are so anxious to begin their new life; they hit the ground running and just keep going.

            The fifth leper never said “Thank you” to anyone.  He had been shunned too many times.  He had been ignored too many times.  He had been put down and shut out.  And the scars had grown thick and the calluses too thick.  He had been given charity before, but there were always strings attached.  So, he had built a wall, in impenetrable wall.  And no one could break through, no matter what.  He did not return

            The sixth leper was a woman – a mother.  Her disease had separated her from her family.  Now she was free.  So she hurried home to hold the children she had missed so much.

            The seventh leper did not believe in miracles.  For him it was all so much hocus-pocus.  He believed in the world.  He believed in what you could see and touch and measure with a yardstick.  He did not know how it came to be that he was healed, but he was sure there must be some logical and scientific explanation.  Jesus was not part of that logic.  He couldn’t have had anything to do with it.  He did not return.

            The eighth leper did believe.  He believed that Jesus was the Messiah, and so went to tell his neighbors.

            And the ninth?  Well, whatever the reasons, they were his reasons.

            So, what’s the point?  Is it that 10 were cleansed and only one returned?  Or is it that 10 were cleansed?  Sometimes there are good reasons why people do the things they do.  Sometimes the reasons are chap and petty and selfish.  But, we don’t know.

            This story is not intended to lead us to judgment or cynicism.  It meant to show us the glory of God.  You see, the only thing that we can give to God, which God has not first given to us is worship and praise and thanksgiving.

            That is what the tenth leper knew by instinct.  Did you catch the order of events in this story?  First, Jesus heals all ten and then commands that they go and show themselves to the priests.  The reason for this is so that these victims may receive official confirmation that they are now cleansed.  Only the priest could give them the clean bill of health they would need to join the community.  Otherwise, healed or not, they would still be shunned by those who they most loved.

            Now that was all Jesus asked of them.  But, this tenth leper “turned back glorifying God with a loud voice.”  This tenth leper to the surprise of Jesus’ Jewish audience was a Samaritan.  So, this one had been an outcast in more ways than one.  Yet, it was to this one Jesus said, “Rise and go, your faith has made you well.”

            There were all healed.  None of them bore the marks of leprosy.  Still, this tenth leper had been made well in more ways than one.  You know and I know that a healthy body is one thing, but a healthy spirit is another.  Remember, some people look at the candy box as being half empty, and others half full.

            So, we yearn for that attitude which the Apostle Paul described when he wrote, “Rejoice always, pray with out ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.[1]

            When it comes down to it, this is really a choice.  And it is a choice that is always available to us.

            “When your son comes home with purple hair and rings in his nose, you’ve got a choice to make.  You can get upset, because you don’t really like purple hair. Or you can be thankful, that he came home, that he is healthy, and that he is so obviously a creative soul.  When your boss tells you that you’re being transferred to the Midwest, you can get furious that you’re going to have to move – again.  Or you can choose to be thankful that you have a job.  Later in life, when the time comes to see the big family house and move to a retirement home, you can get struck in what you are losing.  Or you can choose to give thanks for the wonderful memories created in that house, for the adventure that still lies ahead, and for the grace of having a place to go.  You are not homeless.

            When we choose gratitude, we are choosing not to be victims.  We are determining our own response to the volatility and unpredictability of life.  We defy our disappointment by finding reasons to be thankful[2].

            When we give thanks we rely on the belief that God is bigger than any problem we might face.

            William Law, an eighteenth-century English theologian said, “If anyone can tell you the shortest, surest way to all happiness and perfection, he must tell you to make it a rule to yourself to than and praise God for everything that happens to you, for God can turn anything into a blessing.”

            Corrie Ten Boom a Dutch evangelist, who passed away a few years ago, used to the story of the days when she and her sister, Betsy, were kept prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp.  Their family had hidden Jews from the Germans out of their sense of Christian responsibility.  They were discovered and so were sentenced to the same fate and those whom they were protecting.

            One of the greatest fears the women had in their barracks was that the German guards would come in at night and rape those women they desired.  One of the greatest hardships was fleas.  They infested the place.  They were in their clothes, their hair…everywhere.  Betsy, in particular, was repulsed by the fleas; but Corrie used to read from the Bible, “in all things give thanks.”   But, even she had a hard time giving thanks for the fleas.

            She used to tell that story as a traveling evangelist, and after one service a German man came up to her.  He confessed that he had been one of her guards, and he said he had come to confess Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.  He had come to ask her forgiveness.  She offered it, as that was her nature and her faith.  Then in their discussion that followed he asked her if she knew why the guards had not come into her barracks in the middle of the night, as they had in so many others.  She said she had no idea.  He said – “It was the fleas. We knew your barracks was infested with fleas, so we never came in.”  At last Corrie said, she could truly give thanks for the fleas.

            That is what that tenth leper understood so well.  That is why Jesus said; his faith had made him well.

            By your presence here you have made a choice to give thanks.  It is obvious others are absent.  And they are absent for various reasons, some of them good and others not.  But, that is not our concern, nor our focus.  Our aim is to give thanks to God from whom all blessings flow.  That’s our choice, and Jesus said such a choice will truly make us well.  It is as we give thanks that we come closer to understanding the meaning, the real meaning of God’s grace in our lives.

                       



[1] 1 Thessalonians 5:16
[2] Barnes, Craig: “Choosing Gratitude”

Tuesday, October 1, 2013



'via Blog this'

Can Christ Really Make a Difference?
1 Timothy 6:11-19

September 29, 2013


            I may have let it slip, so some of you may be aware that I’m a fan of football in general and the Pittsburgh Steelers in particular. However, their season thus far this season has challenged my faith.  Doubt is beginning to creep in and is eroding my confidence and hope of seeing the black and gold in the SuperBowl this year.  I may yet again be wearing purple this February.

            Now, I don’t know if the Apostle Paul would have been a fan of football because the Steelers were not around back then, but I do know he liked sports.  Several places in his letters he uses sports metaphors to describe the Christian life. In 1 Corinthians 9 he refers to the forerunner of the Olympic games and asks the rhetorical question, “do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize”.  He looks to boxing as an illustration of self-control and discipline.[1]  In this advice to his protégée Timothy, Paul  encourages, “Fight the good fight of faith.”  At the end of his life Paul summarizes, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”[2]

            That would be a good epitaph for us all.  This morning we will turn we will consider how we might carve those words into our own lives. 

Let us pray:
Prepare our hearts, O Lord, to accept our word. Silence in us any voice but your own; that hearing we may also follow through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

            Paul described the world in which he lived and saw the direction it was moving and concluded that there will come a time when, “people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God.  They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they are still animals.”[3]

            Does any of this sound familiar?  Have you read anything in the newspaper or seen anything on the news that fits this description?  Do you know anyone with some of these tendencies?

            The Apostle Paul did and he knew this was the world his student Timothy would be living in.  This was the world that would challenge his role as a pastor of a fledgling Christian Church.  Given that reality the questions that consumed his thoughts were these, “How then shall we live?” “Can Christ really make a difference?”

            He believes he can and uses this metaphor of sports to tell us how.

            It begins of course with understanding the goal.  That’s why I like football.  The goal is clearly defined.  It has a line across which you are to carry or pass the ball.  It’s called the goal line.  There are no shades of gray here.  You either cross it or you don’t and we have instant replay to view the play again and again when we’re not sure. 

            Now, what is the goal of Christianity?  Some say it is going to heaven when you die.  “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”[4]  Faith for some begins and ends with baptism and the confession of faith in Jesus.  Do that and say those words and you have reached your goal.  Everything between that moment and the moment you die is just waiting around, killing time, and filling up space.

            In this passage though, Paul speaks to that in between time between your confession of faith and your death and describes a more immediate and fulfilling goal.  This is the difference I suppose between making the next first down or scoring a touchdown and winning the game.

            In verse 11 Paul tells us how to make the next first down, “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.”

            Now, these are all find sounding words and the kind of language you expect to hear in church, but are not usually found in the lexicon of our daily lives.  How many times have you heard someone at work say, “Have you been watching Ron, he has really been living a righteous and godly life.”  Listen to most water cooler gossip and the story is usually reversed.  Have you heard about Ron…do you know what he did…
            So much of our attention is focused on what is wrong with the world or in our lives that we are frankly surprised when we encounter a story about someone who does the right the thing just because it was the right thing.
            I saw a story on the news a couple of months ago about a homeless man who found a wallet with nearly $500 helped return it to its owner instead of keeping the cash.
Detective Lt. Thierry Crozier of the Kingston Police Department in New York says the man, identified as Hassel “Junior” Barber, found the wallet lying on a sidewalk along Broadway on Sunday and turned it in to police. The wallet contained $485 and the owner's identification.
Police say the Barber is frequently seen picking up bottles and cans for the deposit and sleeping on stoops along the street.
Crozier wrote: "Thanks to the decency and honesty of a person that most likely could have used the cash - for food, shelter, or any other number of reasons - the wallet and cash were reunited with its owner."
Barber told police he felt bad that someone had lost money and knew that returning it was the “right thing to do.”
Crozier posted details what he called a "feel-good story" on the department's Facebook page to let people know about the man's honesty.
He says, "Many times we make judgments because of another person's appearance or circumstance...remember to keep an open mind and not make that rush to judgment."
Barber was told that several individuals had contacted the Kingston Police Department and wanted to reward him for his good deed. He said that he does not need or want any reward, he just wanted to “do the right thing.”[5]
            This guy is closer to reaching the goal of right living that God sets for us all than many who are wearing fine clothes and sitting in church pews every Sunday morning.
            The next quality the Apostle Paul says we should all reach for is godliness.  He has already told us what that means in verse 6.  He links this spiritual virtue with contentment which he connects with peace.
            One of the great blessings of my ministry has been to encounter folks who I could describe with no other word than “godly”.  One of the very first hospital calls I ever made while serving as a student intern in a Presbyterian church in western Pennsylvania was to a another man named Paul.   He was a long time teacher of an adult Sunday School class in that church, but now was dying of a particularly brutal form of cancer.
            He had suffered many other challenges and obstacles in his life, but he had responded with a faith and hope and love that could be seen by all.  Every time I stopped by to visit, there was always someone from the church already there.  They came to support and encourage him, but they invariably left more encouraged and more hopeful than when they arrived because he was a godly man and everyone could see it. When they were around him they felt closer to God, and do did I.
            Paul liked to quote his apostolic namesake, who wrote, “I have learned in whatever state I am to be content.  For I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”[6]
            And that is how was how he reach the goal and how we do as well.  Every athlete knows that in the fourth quarter when the game is on the line, the “spirit may be willing, but the flesh is weak”.  We get tired and worn out.  We’re tempted to give in and give up.  This is where home field advantage comes into play.  At the end of the game when both teams are tired, only one will still hear the cheering and adulation of the crowd.  Every athlete will tell you that makes a difference, and they’ll dig deeper into the reservoir and find a little more strength than they thought they had.
            The Bible says, “Fight the good fight of the faith ; take hold of eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”[7]  That’s one of the reasons you come here on Sunday morning.  You could have stayed home and gotten your religion on T.V.  You could have heard a better preacher or listened to a full orchestra play “Amazing Grace”, but you did not.  You came here because here is where the people of God gather to pray for one another, love one another, and encourage one another.  You can’t get that on T.V.  No one on T.V. is going to ask you how your week went or how your mother is doing in the hospital.  And no one is going to cry with you when you just don’t get to where you wanted to be.
            Many of you may not remember the AFC championship game played on January 14, 1995, but I do.  The Pittsburgh Steelers were playing the San Diego Chargers and the Chargers were leading 17 to 13 as the game clock was winding down, but the Steelers were on the move, driving down the field.  A touchdown would send them to the Superbowl.  It was fourth down on the three yard line and the Steeler Quarterback Neil O’Donnel threw to the running back Barry Foster, who almost caught it, but it was knocked down at the last second by a Charger defender who shall remain nameless.  The game ended and we were three yards short – three yards from reaching the goal line three yards short of the SuperBowl.  Three yards!!!
            Maybe you know the feeling.  Maybe you were so close to receiving the job you always wanted you could taste it or the promotion you thought you deserved was almost in your reach, but you came up three yards short.  Maybe the doctor told you the tests did not turn out as you hoped and you came up three yards short.
            When that happens, you can sink into a funk so deep it seems like you’ll never get out, or you can turn to the one who has “promised never to leave you or forsake you.”  You can let him pick you up and dust you off and send you back into the game and try again.  This is what grace is all about.  It is about second chances and third chances and fourth chances.  You will never be defeated as long as you can fight the good fight of faith and take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you were made.

            I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you that in the year after they came up three yards short, the Steelers did return to the SuperBowl.  They still lost to the Dallas Cowboys, but they were still in the game.

            And that’s the message God gives to us, the message our parents left for us, “If you don’t succeed, try, try again.”  You have the home field advantage.  You have people around you to encourage you to love and good works. So run the race that is before you keeping your eyes fixed upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith.” 

Let us pray:
Help me to fight the good fight. Help me to finish the race. Help me to keep the faith, so that I will receive the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that Day, and not to me only but to all who have loved his appearing.  Amen





[1] 1 Corinthians 9:24-26
[2] 2 Timothy 4:7
[3] 2 Timothy 3:1-4
[4] Acts 16:31
[6] Philippians 4:11, 13
[7] 1 Timothy 6: 12