A Time to Plant

1 Corinthians 3:1-17

February 23, 2014

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            It is the hope and dream of all parents that their children shall grow and mature and reach their fullest potential.  We do our best, and plant our seeds, and water with love, and try to pull out the weeds where we see them; but then how we can do is wait and see if their lives will bear a little fruit.

            It is the same with God.  God’s hopes and dreams for you as a disciple of Jesus Christ is that you grow and mature and reach your fullest potential.  The seeds of the gospel are plants, God showers us with his love and then waits for us to bear the fruit he desires.

            Lord, our heavenly Parent; your love for us is eternal. Through those who came before us the seeds of the gospel have been planted.  Too often our growth has been stunted.  We have avoided the growing pains that come with the study of your Word.  We have avoided the growing pains that come with the exercise of faith in a faithless world.

            So, we remain as children, as “Babes in Christ”.  Stir us Lord for better things.  Make us ready for heavier loads; so that we not buckle under the responsibility, but stand tall in faith, hope, and love.  Through Jesus Christ we pray.  Amen.

            There is a difference between growing old and growing up.  A while back I saws an interview of an author by the name of Robert Bly who wrote a book called “Sibling Society”.  In it he said that American culture has as many problems as it does because there are vast numbers of Americans who have refused to grow up and accept the responsibilities of adult leadership within the family and within society at large.  He maintained they live in perpetual adolescence, not quite children, not quite grown up.  He said, “They have abdicated from the obligations incumbent upon this generation, and that they are only concerned about themselves and their own pleasure.[1]

            The Apostle Paul made the same observation almost two thousand years ago when writing his first letter to the church in Corinth:

            “I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly – mere infants in Christ.”[2]

            Paul had founded this congregation and through his ministry many had come to know the Lord Jesus Christ.  He believed they were well on their way to spiritual maturity so he believed he could move onto other mission fields.  But, then he received word that their growth had not gone as he hoped.  In fact it had stopped dead in its tracks.  They had not learned any more or grown any more. They were the same people now as they were then.

            He likens them to people in their thirties still eating Gerber’s strained peas and drinking Similac, when they should have moved on to Asparagus au gratin and Beef Wellington.  Paul believed the reason for this was their attachment to what he calls the “flesh”.

            The Greek word here is “sarx”, but it means more than just “flesh and blood”.  It means to be dominated by the ways and desires of this world.  It means “human nature apart from God, that part of the human condition both mental and physical which provides a beachhead for sin.”[3]

            The beachhead for this sin invasion takes the most subtle forms in that it can often appear to have a certain spirituality about it.  The reason the people in Corinth had grown old but not up is that they began to focus on the “teachers of the Word” rather that the “God of the Word.” The difference between these two was not apparent to some.

            Keep your ears open here because Americans have this same tendency to venerate personality and celebrity; to be moved more by style than substance.

            In Corinth the Church began to divide along the cult of personality.  The messenger had become more important than the message and each group had their favorite messenger. “AI am for Paul.” “I am for Apollos”.  They subdivided into their own little groups of like-minded people.  They felt comfortable in that clique and they felt safe.

            But, the trouble with birds of a feather flocking together is that there is no one around to challenge your beliefs or even to ask a question.  If your faith is not tested, not exercised it will not grow. It will remain the same and spiritual growth will be stunted.

            Besides that, Paul says that he and Apollos were partners not competitors: that they were messengers who carried the same message. He rhetorically asked,

            “What is Apollos?  What is Paul?  Who are we?  We’re only servants through whom you came to believe.”[4]

            He continued, “I planted the seeds, Apollo watered, but it is God who causes all things to grow.”[5]

            Many of you are gardeners and I know you are looking forward to a warm spring day to put in your garden.  You will cultivate the soil, plant the seeds, water and fertilize; but you don’t grow the plant.  God does.  God placed those genetic instructions within the seed long before you came along.  It is God who transforms the acorn into a mighty oak.  You did not create the miracle of life, but you can help it along.

            That’s the way the best leaders operate.  It is the way most successful churches function.  If a church just rallies around the personality of a charismatic leader it may have the appearance of success.  There will be people in the pews and money in the offering plate.  But, if that leader leaves and falls or dies, the spiritual maturity of the congregation will be tested and quickly revealed.

            I believe Eastminster is very fortunate to have a number of strong leaders and teachers and volunteers functioning in a very powerful way.  And some of the best things that happen around here are completely independent of my involvement.  They happen because a Sunday school teacher or a Stephen Minister or a Deacon or a Youth leader or a member of the choir plants a seed of care and compassion, of hope and faith. They may never know or see the results of their impact or influence.  They may never know how much a card of encouragement meant; they may never know the difference a home cooked meal made in a time of crisis.  Still they plant and water because that’s the way things grow. Now why do they do that?

            I had an administrative assistant once who liked to see things grow.  She planted a huge garden every year and when flowers came up or vegetables ripened she would bring them into share.  One day she brought in a little flower pot with something she called “Johnny Jump-Ups”.  I noticed whenever I came in every morning that the Johnny Jump-Ups were always leaning toward the wind from which the sun shone through.  So, I would turn them around so that I could see the flowers, and I could almost hear them call out, “Where did the light go?”  By the afternoon they had somehow twisted themselves around again so that they could face the light.

            Are you someone who leans toward Jesus who saw himself as “the light of the world” or do you turn away?  If you are feeling spiritually shallow or empty that may be the reason.  We grow spiritual as we lean into the light.  The Psalms echo this sentiment, “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” [6]

            In the ninth verse Paul abruptly switches metaphors.  He moves from planting to building, I believe so that people don’t fall into the mistaken notion that since growth is up to God I don’t have to do anything.

            That’s why he said:

            “According to the commission God gave to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation.”[7]

            Have any of you ever built a house from scratch or even watched a house being built from the ground up.  It takes a lot of different skills and talents.  You have to know how to build or pour a foundation.  You have to know how to build a straight wall, how to shingle a roof, how to put in the electrical, the plumbing, the hvac, the windows.  There are very few people who have all the skills to do all these things themselves so the master builder, the general contractors with hire sub-contractors to do all these things.

            So it is with the church.  Some people build the doorways into the church through their witness and evangelism.  Some build windows so that the light of God’s love might shine through.  Some build prayer closets so that people can learn to pray.  Some build the fireplace where the warmth of God’s Holy Spirit would burn.  Some build living rooms where people can enjoy each other’s company.  Some build family rooms so that children might have place to be.  In other words, everyone working together can build something that matters.

            To those pastors and teachers and elders and deacons Paul cautions, “Let each one take care how he builds upon the foundation.”[8] The emphasis here is on quality.  Paul issues no quota.  He sets no mark for numbers.  Church membership or budgets are not the key criteria for success – spiritual growth is.

            When you build you need to consider what your goal is.

            I remember watching an interview with Robert Young who was the actor who played the father in the old T.V. show “Father Knows Best”.  He had just celebrated his 50 wedding anniversary which was something quite unusual among Hollywood actors.  The interviewer asked what his secret was, what was the key to the success of their marriage.  Robert young told this story:

            Three bricklayers were at work and someone asked “what are you doing” and he said, “Laying brick.”  He asked the second, “what are you doing” and he said, “Putting up a wall.”  He asked the third, “what are you doing” and he said, “Building a cathedral”.  The actor said they were all doing the same thing but who you think put in the most care and greater effort.”

            That’s where Paul was going when he said some have “built with gold, silver, and precious stones and some have built with wood and straw and stubble.”[9]  The difference between these two groupings is that gold and silver and precious stones last while wood and straw and stubble decay.  The first group has substance.  It lasts.  It speaks of matters eternal.  The second group may have a light an airy appeal but it is cotton candy theology.

            Some of you are aware that my younger son serves as a fulltime Youth Director in a church in eastern Pennsylvania.  One of the things we have spoken of in the past is ministry strategy.  That is, what are the most effective ways to reach people with the gospel?  In youth ministry the maxim is very simple – feed them and they will come.  Give kids free pizza and something entertaining and they will be happy.  But, he wants them to be more than happy.  We wants them to experience the joy of the Lord which can be their strength, so he always makes time for Bible Study and discussion of things that matter.  Some of the kids are really not interested.  They just want the free pizza and to be entertained.  They are not the only ones.

            The Apostle Paul made the same observation, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears the will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and they will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths.”[10]  That’s what he means when he talks about building with wood and straw and stubble.  He says that will not last.  It will be consumed by fire.

            So, there is a great responsibility laid upon the preacher and the teacher, but there is also a responsibility laid upon the listener.  In the seventeenth chapter of the book of Acts there is an interesting description of the people Paul encountered in a place called Berea.  This is what he said, “they examined the scriptures daily to see if what Paul said was true.”[11]

            In other words, they checked up on the preacher.  They asked, “Is this preacher faithful to the Word of God?”   This may be dangerous for me to say, but I think that is a good idea.  Each one of you is responsible for the state and condition of your own soul.  You abdicate that to another at great risk.

            A friend of mine told me a story about one of his college professors who told his class that in every lecture he gave there would be one blatant and outright lie. And if a question showed up on a test concerning that one blatant and outright lie and the student answered with what the professor had said it would be marked wrong. So, after every lecture the students hurried back to their textbooks to find that on lie.

            I don’t do that, at least on purpose anyway, but I do encourage you to read the passages of scripture I mention to check up on me.  And if you think I’ve misread it or misinterpreted it don’t be shy in telling me. That’s how we all grow after all.

            There is a difference between growing old and growing up.  There is a difference between the accumulation of years and the gathering of wisdom, so set your sights high.  God has greater plans for you than you may know; but God can only take you as far as you are willing to go.

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[1] Good Morning America, may 9, 1996)

[2] 1 Corinthians 3:1

[3] Barclay, William:  1 Corinthians. Pg. 30

[4] 1 Corinthians 3:4

[5] 1 Corinthians 3:6

[6] Psalm 119:105

[7] 1 Corinthians 3:10

[8] 1 Corinthians 3:10

[9] 1 Corinthians 3:12

[10] 2 Timothy 4:3

[11] Acts 17:11

Wounded Healers

2 Corinthians 1:1-11

February 16, 2014  - Stephen Ministry Sunday

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            John Ortberg, a Presbyterian pastor tells this story about Ignacy Jan Paderewski, an acclaimed concert pianist during the first half of the twentieth century. One night he was delayed and late for a concert.  The crowd grew restless and a nine-year old boy who was dragged to the concert by his mother became especially bored, so he slipped away and before anyone knew what he was doing he climbed up the stairs and onto the stage, sat down at the piano and started to play the only song he knew – chopsticks. (*Randy – begin to lightly play.)

All of a sudden the people in the auditorium were buzzing. “Get that kid out of there. What is he doing?” Any mother could imagine what went through the mind and heart of the boy’s mom as she realized that the child at the piano was her son.

 From the wings of the stage Paderewski who had just arrived heard what was happening. Instead of calling for an usher to remove the boy he simply put on his tuxedo jacket, walked over to the piano, reached his two big arms on either side of this little boy, and began to play an improvised accompaniment. (*Randy – embellish chopsticks) Paderewski leaned toward the boy and whispered, “Don’t quit. Just keep playing. You are doing great. Don’t stop.  Don’t stop.”  [1]  (*Randy – stop playing.)

            What started out as ordinary became a masterpiece when the two played together.  I believe God wants every one of his children to know there is a deeper music to their life.  I believe God puts his arms around us and cheers us on and says, “Don’t quit. Just keep playing.  You’re doing great.  Don’t stop.   Don’t stop”.
            Before we turn to scripture let us pray:
            Preaching is a unique form of communication in that it attempts to convey divine and eternal truth through very human vessels. It is supposed to be more than someone standing up front sharing their thoughts and feelings and experience.  It is supposed to bring a word from the Lord, but no preacher can remove him or herself from the process.  Our thoughts and feelings and experience will come through.  The question every preacher wrestles with is how much of my own thoughts or feelings or experience should be shared?  When does preaching become venting on a psychiatrist’s couch and when do you these very human thoughts and feelings and experiences help to comfort and heal?
            When the Apostle Paul begins his second letter to the church he Corinth he has decided he needs to do the latter, because he has heard the criticism from the pews. Some had been grumbling about his first letter to them which was pretty direct about their particular sins and shortcomings.  Their lax sexual morality and their divisions over personality and money was a poor witness to the gospel and to the community.  
            Their response was not confession and repentance?  When Paul asked, “Do you want to know what’s wrong with you?” they did not say, “Oh, yes please tell us!”  Instead they said, “Who do you think you are to be telling us what to do or how to live?”
            Well, Paul told them, “I am an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God.”[2]  He has authority to speak to these matters not because he claimed it for himself, but because God called him, which is what the literal meaning of the word apostle.  That is the divine part of his mission and his message.
            He then moves onto the human part, because sometimes people forget that pastors are people too with the same feelings and vulnerabilities and wounds.  He wrote, “We do not want you to be uniform, brothers and sisters about the troubles we experienced in Asia.  We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.”[3]
            Now, we don’t know what exactly happened in Asia because Paul says no more about it, and I’m thinking he says no more about it because the people of Corinth already knew and he is just reminding them.
            Now, why is he reminding them?  Is he looking for sympathy? Is he inviting them all to a pity party where they can give him a group hug and say “forgive us Paul we didn’t know?”
            I don’t think so because Paul tells us why he is sharing this personal experience. “This happened that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God.”[4]  He wants them to do the same and that’s why he earlier wrote:
            “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort.”[5]
            In these 11 verses the word “comfort” appears 10 times. The Greek word behind this is parakakletos.  Para meaning, “along side” and kaleo meaning to call.  Comfort is given by someone who is called along side to help – like a nurse who answers the patients call button in a hospital room.
            This is more than a hallmark card with a sweet sentiment. Comfort is provided here by someone who is willing to show and by someone who understands.  That is how suffering can redeemed.  It is how wounds can heal.
            I saw this first hand in my first church.

Judy and Tom, her live-in boyfriend, moved into town and next door to my house no less, the town was soon buzzing. Judy and Tom were a hard-living, hard-drinking couple who didn't seem to care a whit about the sensibilities of this small, quiet, rural town.

Down at the local diner Judy and Tom were always a topic of conversation. "Did you hear their party last night? It went on to all hours.  I heard the police showed up." "Don't they have any shame?" "Did you know they have a wild raccoon and they keep it in the house?" Down at the local diner you either talked about Judy and Tom or you talked about the weather. They were always more interesting.

Then one day it happened. Judy got pregnant. Over the strong objections of her live-in boyfriend she decided she was going to carry the child to term. She would have the baby. This was all too much for Tom who wanted only to get drunk and have a good time. He split and was never seen again. Judy remained in Hadley. 

There was something about that new life growing within her that prompted new feelings.  She began to think about life in a deeper and more eternal way.  Children always make you think long term. She knew she would be responsible for this little child – a little girl as it turned out. Whether she would eat or not would be up to her. Whether this child would grow healthy and strong was up to her...and she was all alone.

But, she was not alone. Her next door neighbor was the Presbyterian pastor. Her other neighbor was also a member of the church. She never had a chance. A kind word here, a favor there and an invitation to come to church were all she really needed.

One Sunday morning she stood before God and me and the congregation and declared her faith in Jesus Christ.  I poured water over her head and said the words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  That day she became a disciple and a member of our congregation. The next morning down at the diner the word went out, "Judy was Born Again". Now, the Bible tells us that "all the angels in heaven rejoice whenever there's a soul saved." But, back on earth it was more of a mixed bag.

On the subject of Judy's baptism, the community and the Church were pretty much divided. Some were rejoicing at the "Amazing Grace that saved a wretch" like Judy. Some were rejoicing that "one who was lost now was found, one who was blind now could see". They greeted Judy after the service and offered to help her with the baby and such. They organized a baby shower. They made her one of their own.

Others were not so warm. In fact, some were downright cold to the idea that Judy should be so welcomed into the church. They were frosty to the idea that they were expected to just forgive her “hard-living” and “hard-drinking” days.  They could not forget the past.

Chief among the critics was a young mother named Karen. Karen was young and attractive and had lived in Hadley from the day she was born. She had come from a respectable family. She was married to a respectable, hard-working man. They had two beautiful little girls, and they lived in a nice house. She had been baptized in the church, had grown up in the church, and she and her husband were married in the church.

She just couldn't go along with the idea that she should be expected to forget about all the things that Judy had done just because she had asked Jesus to forgive her. It just didn't seem fair. What it meant to her was that Judy was now seen as being just as good as she was even though she had lived such a respectable life and Judy's life had been no good. Karen thought there should be a better accounting for what Judy had done.

This question of proper accounting for sins was one that was often brought to Jesus’ attention. For most had understood life in a kind of zero-sum fashion. "You get what you deserve, you reap what you sow.  You will be rewarded for good deeds and punished for bad."

Suddenly and without explanation, Karen's husband— Karen's hard-working respectable husband quit his job and ran off with a woman who hustled drinks at the local bar. He just left and moved in with her. No warning was given that anything was even wrong with their marriage; much less that he might take such desperate action.

Karen's world collapsed. There were financial difficulties and emotional dives. Everything she had counted on was pulled from beneath her feet. Everything she believed in was challenged. She had lived by the rules and expectations of others and they, or I should say, he, had let her down.

And what was worse, Karen, knowing how small Hadley was, understood that she, not Judy, was now the topic of conversation down at the local diner. "Did you hear what happened...yeah, he ran off with another woman....I wonder why....I wonder what she did to drive him away…I wonder what was really going on?" And since she was always so concerned about what other people thought of her, that small-town gossip tore her apart.

She withdrew into a shell.  She left the house only for groceries.  She built a wall around herself that neither family nor friends nor I, as her pastor, could penetrate. Her face became granite that held back the tears. Like the living dead she moved about, unfeeling. No one could touch her, could reach her again.

Family and friends and pastor were worried. Would she do something crazy? Would she do something desperate? Who could reach her?

Someone finally did. Someone reached Karen. Someone chiseled a crack in the granite so the tears could flow—someone, who understood what it felt like to have a man run out on her, someone who understood the pressures of taking care of a child all alone.

One day Judy summoned up the courage to knock on the door of her harshest critic and offered a shoulder to cry on. Amazingly, Karen opened the door and let Judy in. I have no idea what they talked about, but, they talked a lot. They cried a lot. They hugged a lot. After the granite had been chiseled away and all the tears had been released, when Karen was ready to rejoin the land of the living, she did so because Judy was at her side.

 Judy and Karen became fast friends. They were from different sides of the tracks. Their lives were as different as night from day. They had nothing in common except pain. Both had experienced the desperate lonely feeling that follows when you have been abandoned.

This hard-living, hard-drinking unwed mother had shown Karen mercy and so revealed to her the grace of God. Now, Karen knew that she needed God and that she needed God desperately. Karen knew that Judy, for all of her mistakes, was just as good as she. Karen understood for the first time that we all need a little grace.

Judy was a minister of Jesus Christ, every bit as much as I, her pastor because she could share the pain and extend the grace. She was every bit as much a minister as I because she, more than any other member of that church, knew we all need a little grace.

There is a happy ending to this story. Karen's husband did come to his senses and did come back. I don't know if Karen would have taken him back, would have shown him mercy, if it hadn't been for Judy.  Karen had learned, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.”

As for Judy, I lost track of her. I moved away. She moved away. Then one day, about ten years later, she called me up, out of the blue. She had tracked me down somehow. She said she just wanted me to know that everything was alright. A wonderful Christian man had asked her to marry him. Her baby was growing up and she had two more. She was teaching Sunday school and was part of a small group Bible Study.

She just wanted to thank me for the grace. She had not forgotten the hard-drinking, hard- living days. She had not forgotten the desperate feelings of being left alone with a child. But, she was alright now, and every day thanked God for his amazing grace in her life. She was trying to live a life of grace, because she said, "We all need a little grace."

Today is Stephen Ministry Sunday and the sum total of this ministry is to comfort, “to walk along side” someone who needs to know that someone else will be there and someone else will care. Stephen Ministers say, “Don’t quit. Just keep playing. You are doing great. Don’t stop.  Don’t stop.”

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[1] Ortberg, John:  2 Corinthians. Session Two

[2] 2 Corinthians 1:1

[3] 2 Corinthians 1:8

[4] 2 Corinthians 1:9

[5] 2 Corinthians 1:3

Deep Water

2 Corinthians 2:6-16

February 9, 2014

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A large number of Americans identify themselves as "spiritual but not religious." Some say perhaps one in every five persons (roughly half of all people who do not part of a church could describe themselves in this way. This phrase probably means different things to different people. The confusion stems from the fact that the words "spiritual" and "religious" are really synonyms. Both connote belief in a Higher Power of some kind. Both also imply a desire to connect, or enter into a more intense relationship, with this Higher Power. And, finally, both connote interest in rituals, practices, and daily moral behaviors that foster such a connection or relationship.

Before the 20th century the terms religious and spiritual were used more or less interchangeably. But a number of modern intellectual and cultural forces have accentuated differences between the "private" and "public" spheres of life. The increasing prestige of the sciences, the insights of modern biblical scholarship, and greater awareness of cultural relativism all made it more difficult for educated American to sustain unqualified loyalty to religious institutions. Many began to associate genuine faith with the "private" realm of personal experience rather than with the "public" realm of institutions, creeds, and rituals.

Although we see this as a recent phenomenon, we find it present also in first century Corinth.  Before we explore this let us pray:

Holy God,

            you are the light of our seeing,

            the wisdom of our understanding,

            the delight of our loving.

Assist your people

            so to trust you that we may begin to understand you,

            so to understand you that we may better love you,

            and so to love you that we may more eagerly worship and serve you,

Through Jesus Christ, your very Mind incarnate;

Amen!.

I believe I mentioned before that during my Penn State summers I worked for a contractor who repaired boxcars on a siding in downtown York.  I don’t believe I told you the whole story.  When I began most of the crew were college kids like me.  We’d rip out the old plywood that lined the inside walls and hang the new plywood with 12 penny nails every six inches. All of this was happening in a steel box under a hot summer sun.  It was hard work – too hard for kid from Slippery Rock College.  He quit and was replaced by an immigrant from Puerto Rico. He was not going back to college in the fall.  This was his job and he was glad to get it.

            As the summer wore on the other college kids dropped out and got jobs at the Dairy Queen where it was air conditioned and you got to eat ice cream on your break. And when they quit the immigrant from Puerto Rico told the boss he had a brother or a cousin or an uncle who would do the job.   By the beginning of August I was the only college kid left and the only one for whom English was a first language, so they spoke to each other in Spanish.

            I picked up a few words like “martillo” which means hammer, and “clavo” which means nail and “pulgar” which means thumb.  I also picked up a few words you might use if the “martillo” misses the “clavo” and hits your “pulgar”, but I can’t share them here.   I was the foreigner in their group.

            Lunch time was the hardest because they would be joking in Spanish and laughing – but I was never in on the joke, though sometimes I suspected I was the butt of the joke, because I did know what the word “gringo” meant.  When I heard it and saw them looking at me and laughing I became a tad suspicious.

            It was frustrating the prophet Isaiah said, to “have ears but not to hear, to hear but not to understand.”  I’ve seen that same expressions on the faces of recent immigrants as they try to explain some need but can’t find the words, or on the faces of those who have suffered from a stroke and can understand but not speak.

            This is the same futility the Apostle Paul described in this second chapter of his first letter to the church in Corinth.  The question he asks is this:

            “How can we as limited, finite and mortal creatures understand God who is an unlimited, infinite, and immortal creator?” 

            “How can we know God” “How can God be known?”  “How do we even begin to plumb the depths and riches of God?”

            In the seventh verse Paul says, “We impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification.”  He further said, “The rulers of this age” did not understand this secret or hidden wisdom.

            This is hard to understand.  Why the eyes of some people are open to the Word of God and the eyes of others are shut?  As Americans we believe that God has created us all equally.  It’s right there in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”  So, the thought that God would reveal his truth to some and not to others seems unfair.  But, we must be careful here, because we know that all have not been created with the same intellect, or gifts, or talents, or abilities.

            I remember speaking with a member of a church I once served who was very accomplished.  He was a seminary professor and at one time the President of the Pittsburg Theological Seminary.  He was one of the most brilliant men I ever knew, but he bemoaned his lack of musical talent.  He came from very musical stock, but this particular gift had passed him by.  Although there were members of his family who sang professionally, he said he could not carry a tune in a bucket. He envied people like Mozart who can hear the “music of the spheres”.

            He had a choice.  He could moan and groan about the unfairness of it all and so jealously resolve to never listen to a concerto of Mozart, but if he did that who would be hurt?  Or he could embrace Mozart’s gift so that he might also listen to the “music of the spheres”. He decided on the latter and learned more about Mozart than anyone I knew.

            This reflects the thoughts of the Apostle Paul.  In Ephesians 1:9 he wrote:

            For God has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

            There is a wisdom to God’s timing and the revealing of his Will.  We certainly may not see that now nor understand it now; but we ought to be very careful when we question it.

            This was the mistake that Job made when he was sitting in the ash heap of what had been his life.  After he loses his home, health, and wealth, he quite naturally asks the question, “Why?”  “Why me?”  “Why now?”  Implicit in the question is the assumption that he will be capable of understanding the answer.

            Job’s friend, Zophar questioned that assumption.  He asks:

            “Can you find out the deep things of God?  Can you find out the limit of the almighty?  It is higher than heave, what can you do?  It is deeper than Sheol – what can you know?”

            God’s response is the same and he answers Job’s “why” questions with a question:

            Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?  Tell me, if you have understanding.

            In other words, we only know God as God chooses to reveal himself to us.  In fact, that’s true about most of our deeper relationships.  You can google someone and find out a lot of facts about someone, where they were born, where they went to school, who they married, how many children they had.  But, the important things like what really matters to them, what are their deepest wounds, greatest joys, biggest questions can only be discovered if they choose to reveal them to you.  Our most intimate relationships follow these revelations.

            So, Paul wrote, “Gold has revealed these things to us through the Spirit.  For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.”

            Let’s go back to the box car.  Sometimes during those lunch ho9urs, when I wasn’t the butt of their jokes, one of the Puerto Rican kids who spoke English would translate.  I would not have know what they were saying without the translator, without that individual’s willingness to describe to me what was going on.  He revealed to me that which otherwise would have remained hidden.

            God’s hidden nature has been revealed to us in three ways.  He has shared his thoughts first through his written word.  This is revelation in black and white.  You can read it.  God has shown himself to us through his Holy Word.  But, that is only the first level of understanding.  It is people, places, dates, action.  You don’t even need to be a believer to see it.

            I remember when I was studying for my doctorate in ministry, one of our New Testament professors was a reformed Jew.  Even though it was a Presbyterian Seminary they wanted to demonstrate how inclusive they were by hiring her.  She was an adept scholar but not a believer in Jesus.  She looked at Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, in the same way I might read Shakespeare – interesting and even inspiring but certainly not a Word from the Lord.  I remember the frustration most of us in this class and all of us pastors felt when she tried to teach us something Jesus whom she clearly did not believe.

            That’s the next step.  The Bible teaches us as God revealed himself to us in a deeper way through the incarnation of Jesus Christ.  “In the fullness of time God sent forth his Son.” (Galatians 4:4)  Jesus said, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.”  He is the “word made flesh, full of grace and truth.”  Through Jesus Christ that link to god was established that leads unto salvation.  That’s why Jesus could say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

            It is possible to remain on the surface or close to the shore even in this relationship.  There are those who read the written word and acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior but go no deeper than that.  They stick to the shore.

            Faith is kind of like an iceberg. Just ask anyone who ever saw the movies Titanic and they’ll tell you the biggest part of an iceberg is what you can’t see underwater.  All some people see is what sticks up out of the water.  What they don’t see is most of the ice which lies just beneath the surface.  The Bible for them is only the tip of the iceberg.  Jesus remains a Sunday morning relationship.  They wiggle their toes in the water, but, as one preacher put it, “If you want to walk on the water you have to get out of the boat.”

            The Apostle Paul calls these folks “babes in Christ”.

            Finally there are those who are willing to yield themselves completely to the “Spirit of God”.  The moment we place our faith in the Lord, the Holy Spirit joins our lives and begins the life-long process of transforming us into Christ’s image.  He indwells in us, liberates us from the oppressive power of sin, searches the depths of God, and communicates his thoughts to us as we draw upon his resources.

            In other words, there is a difference between those who are spiritual and those who are unspiritual.

            William Barclay has described this difference as clearly as anyone:

            Paul speaks of the man who is un-spiritual.  He is the man who lives as if there in is nothing beyond physical life, and there are no other needs than material needs; whose values are all physical and material.  A man like that cannot understand spiritual things.  A man who thinks that nothing is more important than the satisfaction of a sexual urge cannot understand the meaning of chastity; a man who ranks the amassing of material things as the supreme end of life cannot understand generosity; a man who has never thought beyond this world cannot understand the things of God.  To him they look foolish.

Unspiritual Man thinks that he will be able to "figure everything out".  Give him enough time, and enough resources and he will solve every problem.  Spiritual man has the humility to know that will never happen.  Revelation demands humility.

            But, I think there is more than was we can see and taste and touch and smell and hear.  I think you do to and that’s why you are here.

            I believe there are matters eternal which extend beyond any horizon and I believe you do to and that’s why you’re here.

            I believe that day by day, decision by decision, we can come closer to the mind of Chris and I think you do to and that’s why you’re here.

            We live in two worlds and the temptation is great to hug the shore line and look out at the horizon and wonder what is beyond. Or we can wade into the waters of faith and swim into the deeper waters of the Spirit and trust God to bring us ho.  We will not reach the other shore until the end of this life, but we will never get there unless we begin the journey now. 

            Lord, there are those who say that spirituality in America is a mile wide and an inch deep.  We pray Lord you lead us by your Spirit to deeper waters.  Help us to understand the profound mysterious to be found in your Word so that we may seek the mind of Christ and better understand ourselves.  This we pray in his name.  Amen 

Fool’s Wisdom

1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5

February 2, 2014

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            It is in the nature of God to create and redeem; to form and to reform.  From the beginning it has always been so.  God spoke and out of nothing came something:  light, earth, water, wind, life.  And it was good.

            And when humanity took that which was good and turned it bad; God returned and transformed ugliness into a masterpiece.  The cross was the brush God used to paint light and life again.  And it was good.

            Let us pray:

            God of the universe, we seek wisdom, we yearn for understanding and we look for answers to our questions.  Each time we discover something new brings us closer to that wisdom and understanding.  But, there are always more questions.

            Lord, you have said that your ways are not our ways, neither are your thoughts our thoughts; and that which appears foolish to us often reflects your deepest wisdom.  Guide us Lord as we gather at the foot of the cross to seek wisdom and find answers and learn to live as you have called us.  Amen.

            In March of 1991 the Presbyterian Outlook magazine reported that Occidental College, then century of Presbyterian institution in California removed the cross from the front of its campus chapel.  They did this because the faculty was afraid it gave false signals to the community as to the nature of their commitment to the Christian faith. They were not the first nor last religiously founded school to do that.  In fact today there are a number of churches in our own community and country who have done the same thing.  You will find no cross in some very well-known and very large churches.  The reason this is so is because they believe it is bad PR. They believe the contemporary view of the cross is too violent.

            Personally, I was kind of glad that the Occidental College took down the cross. They no longer believed in it and were honest about their feelings.  They did not want to pretend to be something they were not.  I confess I become impatient when I see pictures of notorious musicians who sing the joys of sex, drugs and rock and roll while huge silver crosses dangle around their necks.  For them it is obviously only a piece of jewelry, only a decoration.  I believe it is more than that.

            This cross is a symbol of a particular person and a specific event.  If that person of Jesus or the event of his crucifixion is offensive to you then leave it along, but don’t try to co-opt it for your own purpose or use it simply as a decoration.

            That is evidently what the Apostle Paul thought.  When writing to the believers in Corinth he said, “For the word of the cross is foolish to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  There were those then and today who think the simple message of the Gospel is too simple and too unsophisticated, so the cross becomes a stumbling block.

            The objections came from two quarter:  Paul wrote, “For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom.”

            Those who had come from Jewish backgrounds came with the memory of the mighty acts of God.  So, they wanted to see “burning bushes” and the “parting of seas.”  They remembered when the walls of Jericho came tumbling down. They remembered Daniel in the lion’s den.  They wanted to see new signs, experience new miracles.  They wanted to see some action.

            Jesus encountered this attitude in his ministry as well.  (Matthew 12:38).  He resisted the temptation to put on a show every day because he understood the inverse effect this can have on faith.    We always want more, and bigger, and better.  That’s why we like the SuperBowl.  It’s bigger than an ordinary game with more hoopla and razzmatazz.  But, next Sunday real football fans will scan the TV listings for something to watch, and the golf channel just doesn’t do it.

            The endless thirst for big miracles can blind us to the small miracles that take place around us every day.  This does not strengthen faith nor help ti to mature.  Rather it weakens it and makes it more dependent on the next big thing. So, the cross becomes a stumbling block because it seems more like a defeat than a victory.

            The other group Paul identifies as Greek.  They have a different litmus test.  They seek wisdom.  On the surface this is a noble pursuit.  All of us should seek wisdom and greater understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

            What Paul had noticed on his visit to Athens (Acts 17:22) immediately before his visit to Corinth is that there are those who like to play around with ideas and notions and thoughts, but neve4r commit to act on those ideas.  They are like the guys sitting around in a bar solving all the world’s problems.  They are like students in a college dorm room who know exactly how the world should run.  They are window shoppers who never have any intention to buy.  Many saw these intellectual debates as a harmless afternoon’s diversion.  It was kind of like playing “Trivial Pursuit” - lots of facts but no practical application,

            When Paul went to Athens he played their game and joined in their fun and engaged in their debates; but when he weighed the results he realize that for all the cotton candy theology and eloquent speech, there were not many changed lives.  It hadn’t really made a difference.  His preaching was for many a pleasant afternoon’s distraction, but had no more relevance than a passing gladiatorial game or night at the theater.

            So, on his journey from Athens to Corinth, Paul re-evaluated his strategy and he made a preaching decision.  He called it KISS, Keep it Simple Stupid.  “When I came to you, I did not come with superiority of speech, or of wisdom.  I determined to know nothing among you except Christ Jesus and him crucified.”

            This was the brick wall the Greek listener had to get passed, because they couldn’t grasp the concept of God’s love being so great the he would give the life of his son on the cross.  This ultimate commitment seemed foolish.

            This characterization of the Christian faith has endured.  A while back Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spoke on this very text at a prayer breakfast in Jackson Mississippi.  He said, “We are fools for Christ’s sake.  We must pray for the courage to endure the scorn of the sophisticated world.” (Washington Post, April 10, 1996. 

            That was a wise prayer because scorn did follow in the form of columns and letters to the editor.  Many questioned the propriety of a Supreme Court Justice making his religious views known in such a public way.  Many thought he should have remained, to borrow a term from another persecuted group, “in the closet”.  Many today say our relationship with God should be a private matter.

            But, how private can it be?  To have faith in God is to center yourself and your existence on an ultimate being, an eternal reality.  It is to say, “All that I am, and all that I will be is given to you Lord and I pray I will be guided by you.” How can that be kept in the closet?  It has to impact the way in which we perceive the world and the way in which we live.  This is especially true for Christians who lift high the cross.

            The crucifixion was not a wiggle your toes in the water experience.  Jesus was not hedging his bets.  He made a complete commitment.  It was a full-fledged dive into the cesspool of sin.  It demanded full compliance to the will of god.  Anyone who holds onto that cross must do the same.

            There is an old saying that puts it this way:

            Love that reaches up is worship,

            Love that reaches out is affection,

            Love that stoops down is grace.

            And this is the point Paul is trying to make.  He used two illustrations.  First he urges the members of this church to look at themselves.  He said,  be honest now, “For consider your calling brothers and sisters, that there were among you not many who were wise in the ways of the world, not many mighty, not many of noble birth; but God has chosen he weaker things of this world to shame the wise.”

            By the yardstick used by the society in which they lived, the people in this Corinthian church barely measured up.  There was nothing special about them, nothing extraordinary.  Few of them made the “Who’s Who of Corinth”.  Not many of them made the society pages in the local newspaper.  They were nothing special.

            But, God stooped down in the form of his son Jesus Christ and lifted them up.  So, there was no reason to boast, no claim to make about their superior spirituality, nor pride is self or achievement.  It was all God all the time.  And it is the nature of God to create and redeem, to form and reform.

            Then Paul used a second illustration.  He turned to himself and said, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.”  Was Paul just being modest?  No he was being honest.

            Follow with me Paul’s self-evaluation found in 2 Corinthians 10:7-10.

            “You are looking at things outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is in Christ, let him consider this again.  For they say, “My letters are weighty and strong, but my personal presence in unimpressive, and my speech contemptible.”

            Ken Taylor summed this up, “When Paul gets here you will see there is nothing great about him, and you will have never heard a worse preacher.”  Evidently Paul was noting to look at and he didn’t have one of the deep resounding preaching voices.

            So, Paul is saying if God could use even me to reform and transform, imagine what he can do with you.

            And in the centuries since, we have seen God use ordinary everyday folks in extraordinary ways.

            Consider those who Jesus chose.  There wasn’t a professional athlete or theater star or political hotshot in the bunch.  There were no millionaires or debutants.  Who did Jesus choose?  Fishermen and tax-collectors, carpenters and nobodies.

            But, they went out and changed the world.  And why?  They had seen the nail scarred hands and that made all the difference.

            Some of you know John Gordon as the Confederate general who tried to extort a hundred thousand dollars from the city of York during the battle of Gettysburg. If the city fathers could come up with a hundred thousand dollars, he would not burn York to the ground.  They came up with 27,000 and he took an I.O.U for the rest.

            He led the last official attach against the Union forces at Appomattox in April of 1865.  After the war General Gordon late3d became a candidate for the United States Senate to represent his home state of Georgia.

            When the state convention opened, a fiery political opponent stormed down the aisle with his anti-Gordon ballot in his hand.  On the platform sat his old commander with a once handsome face, now disfigured by the scars of battle.  As he saw Gordon, memories of the old days came back and he changed his vote to support the General.

            Then turning to Gordon, fighting back his tears, he said, “Forgive me, General, I had forgotten the scars.”

            It is as we remembers the scars on the hands and side of Jesus that we realize to the depths of our souls that God has shared in our suffering and so can speak a word of hope, a word of courage, a word of comfort, and ultimately a promise of victory through Christ’s rising from the dead.”

            You see it is the nature of God to create and redeem; to form and reform.  From the beginning it has always been so.

Let us pray:

            Lord, every time we look at a cross on a church steeple or around our necks or in a National cemetery we are reminded of your full and complete commitment to us.  You have not waited for us to climb some kind of ladder to heaven, but reached down instead to pull us up and so we offer our praise and thanksgiving and our full devotion.  Amen