It's Time!
Sermon
No Post-Easter Slump
Gospel Sermons For Sundays After Pentecost (First Third)
"Okay, fellows. It's time. God has called you to your mission. God has commissioned you to your task. God has cautioned you about your status. God has encouraged you to be as I. God has consecrated you to your future. God has assured you of your reward. Now, get going! You will decide, by what you do now, if you are on my side, or not. Indeed, I am with you no matter what happens!" And, they went out, having little idea where the Christ would lead them.
I
Jesus offered no ordinary invitation. And they accepted the invitation only because he gave it. The biblical folks had waited ages for the Anointed One. They wanted to believe, yet it was a little too soon to put their whole being into that belief. John the Baptist, at Jesus' baptism, implies that Jesus is Messiah; but John still wavers. And the longer John languishes in prison, the more he wonders. "Are you he who is to come, or shall we look elsewhere?" No doubt, as the disciples travelled with Jesus, they would ask that same question a thousand times. How often have we asked that question to ourself, if not to another? In our pain, we cry out, "Where are you, Lord? Why won't you answer my prayers?"
Of course, we raise the wrong complaints, because, for some reason, we expect better treatment than that which Christ, himself, received. We often expect material rewards, power, prestige, popularity for our faithfulness. Our demands mimic those of the world around us. Even some clergy contribute to this expectation. "Send us your money, and you will be blessed. Support our ministry, and you will succeed." As a result, we have a tit-for-tat relationship with God. "You do this for me, Jesus; I'll do that for you." God abhors such games; and when we play them, we miss the essence of obedience and discipleship.
The Scripture clearly states that no one accepts the fact of Jesus' messiahship apart from repentance and acceptance of the Kingdom which the Messiah reveals. We cannot have one without the other. That Jesus is Messiah is an extraordinary fact that cannot be accepted without a change of heart, mind, and will. Our entrance into the Kingdom first begins with an act of God. God offers us grace, that is, unconditional acceptance, as a gift. Our life in Christ begins, not when I say, "I gave my life to Jesus," but when I acknowledge God's free gift to me. To reverse the process puts us back into the Protestant purgatory. "What must I do?" What we do is to receive the gift.
To repent, however, literally means to change our way of thinking and doing. The French word, repensir, means to rethink. The Greek word means to reverse our field. We've been running one direction, our direction; and now, we change directions. Only the Spirit of the Messiah makes that change possible. If left to our own devices, we will accept Frank Sinatra's theme song, "I do it my way." If left to ourselves, we will live out Sigmund Freud's Pleasure Principle, "I want what I want when I want it; and never mind the consequences." The Bible calls such behavior living in sin, living the I-centered life. Sadly, we have softened the word "sin," and thus, have diminished the need for repentance.
The softening process is subtle and seductive, especially in the institutional church. We see, on some church buildings, "Christ is the answer." Really? What's the question? Or, we hear, even use, the phrase, "The family that prays together stays together." Really? Why do we have divorces among faithful church members, as several new members of the Republican Congress discovered in 1995? Or, come and hear our pastor preach, our choir sing; enjoy our fellowship. They don't like the sermon.The choir sings off key. No one speaks to them. Carlyle Marney, in his book Structures of Prejudice, insists that the "church's point of contact with the world must be a point of conflict with the world. That point of contact is sin." Our approach is to talk about everything but repentance, hoping that the pastor will deal with the subject in the prospective member class. Not likely. Unfortunately, we give the impression that the Messiah has come to solve our problems, as we see those problems. If so presented, the Messiah, then, is not one who defines our salvation, but simply provides the salvation that we define, and for which we long. In effect, then, we humans offer a new life without death to the old ways, resurrection without crucifixion, Easter without Good Friday. The gospel makes no such offer. Repentance is required for entrance into the Messiah's Kingdom. And, if we are not offended by the claim of God's Kingdom upon us, we are indeed blessed, fulfilled.
II
Again, only the Presence and Power of the Christ reveal that life-changing truth to us. No amount of positive or possibility thinking will make it happen. In no way do we achieve, attain, the knowledge of God by our own devices. It comes only and always as God's gift to us through Holy Spirit. Only the Son reveals the Father. Therefore, it is not the world's wise ones, wise guys and gals, who know God. It is those who have seen God in the work and ministry of the Son. And those who see God at work in Jesus, those whom Jesus chooses to reveal God, are not the wise or self-righteous, but the repentant, the lowly, the world's "nobodies," those who recognize their real need, namely, a true relationship with the living God.
For the repenters, Jesus now comes with hope for our living as responsibly free and freely responsible persons, rather than merely existing as slaves to the details and distractions of human laws. "Come to me, all of you who are exhausted and weighed down beneath your burdens, self-imposed or other-imposed, and I will give you rest (zest) ... My yoke is easy; my burden is light" (author's translation).
Jesus speaks here to people desperately trying to find God, as if God were lost; desperately trying to enter the Kingdom by obedience to human laws; and thus, driven to weariness and despair. "Come to me, my yoke is easy." The Greek word means "well-fitting," that is, "tailor made to fit the ox." A legend tells that Jesus made the best ox-yoke in all of Galilee. People from everywhere came to his dad's carpenter shop to buy them. In those days, as today, shops had their signs above the door. Some suggested that the sign above the door in Jesus' shop read, "My yoke fits well."
Jesus is telling us this about yokes and burdens: "The life I give you is meant, not as a burden to gall you; but as a measure to fit you, my burden is light. If you try to do it all yourself, you'll come to the end puzzled, angry, exhausted, unfulfilled." A four-year-old kindergartner caught the essence of Jesus' truth, "My yoke is easy...." Turning to the children, the teacher asked, "Who can tell me what a yoke is?" The little girl replied, "Something they put on the necks of animals, as we have on our models in the barnyard." "What's the meaning of God's yoke?" inquired the teacher. All were quiet, and then the hand of the four-year-old shot up. "That's when God puts His arms around our neck."1
Nowhere does God promise that the burden is easy to carry. God does lay it on us in love, knowing what's better for us than we know for ourselves. God does invite us to carry it in love, for love makes the heaviest burden light. Boys' Town of Nebraska has adopted this story as its theme: A man came upon a little boy carrying on his back a still smaller boy who was lame. "That's a heavy burden for you to carry," said the man. The boy replied, "He's no burden for me; he's my brother."
____________
1. A. P. Bailey, Indianapolis Star.
I
Jesus offered no ordinary invitation. And they accepted the invitation only because he gave it. The biblical folks had waited ages for the Anointed One. They wanted to believe, yet it was a little too soon to put their whole being into that belief. John the Baptist, at Jesus' baptism, implies that Jesus is Messiah; but John still wavers. And the longer John languishes in prison, the more he wonders. "Are you he who is to come, or shall we look elsewhere?" No doubt, as the disciples travelled with Jesus, they would ask that same question a thousand times. How often have we asked that question to ourself, if not to another? In our pain, we cry out, "Where are you, Lord? Why won't you answer my prayers?"
Of course, we raise the wrong complaints, because, for some reason, we expect better treatment than that which Christ, himself, received. We often expect material rewards, power, prestige, popularity for our faithfulness. Our demands mimic those of the world around us. Even some clergy contribute to this expectation. "Send us your money, and you will be blessed. Support our ministry, and you will succeed." As a result, we have a tit-for-tat relationship with God. "You do this for me, Jesus; I'll do that for you." God abhors such games; and when we play them, we miss the essence of obedience and discipleship.
The Scripture clearly states that no one accepts the fact of Jesus' messiahship apart from repentance and acceptance of the Kingdom which the Messiah reveals. We cannot have one without the other. That Jesus is Messiah is an extraordinary fact that cannot be accepted without a change of heart, mind, and will. Our entrance into the Kingdom first begins with an act of God. God offers us grace, that is, unconditional acceptance, as a gift. Our life in Christ begins, not when I say, "I gave my life to Jesus," but when I acknowledge God's free gift to me. To reverse the process puts us back into the Protestant purgatory. "What must I do?" What we do is to receive the gift.
To repent, however, literally means to change our way of thinking and doing. The French word, repensir, means to rethink. The Greek word means to reverse our field. We've been running one direction, our direction; and now, we change directions. Only the Spirit of the Messiah makes that change possible. If left to our own devices, we will accept Frank Sinatra's theme song, "I do it my way." If left to ourselves, we will live out Sigmund Freud's Pleasure Principle, "I want what I want when I want it; and never mind the consequences." The Bible calls such behavior living in sin, living the I-centered life. Sadly, we have softened the word "sin," and thus, have diminished the need for repentance.
The softening process is subtle and seductive, especially in the institutional church. We see, on some church buildings, "Christ is the answer." Really? What's the question? Or, we hear, even use, the phrase, "The family that prays together stays together." Really? Why do we have divorces among faithful church members, as several new members of the Republican Congress discovered in 1995? Or, come and hear our pastor preach, our choir sing; enjoy our fellowship. They don't like the sermon.The choir sings off key. No one speaks to them. Carlyle Marney, in his book Structures of Prejudice, insists that the "church's point of contact with the world must be a point of conflict with the world. That point of contact is sin." Our approach is to talk about everything but repentance, hoping that the pastor will deal with the subject in the prospective member class. Not likely. Unfortunately, we give the impression that the Messiah has come to solve our problems, as we see those problems. If so presented, the Messiah, then, is not one who defines our salvation, but simply provides the salvation that we define, and for which we long. In effect, then, we humans offer a new life without death to the old ways, resurrection without crucifixion, Easter without Good Friday. The gospel makes no such offer. Repentance is required for entrance into the Messiah's Kingdom. And, if we are not offended by the claim of God's Kingdom upon us, we are indeed blessed, fulfilled.
II
Again, only the Presence and Power of the Christ reveal that life-changing truth to us. No amount of positive or possibility thinking will make it happen. In no way do we achieve, attain, the knowledge of God by our own devices. It comes only and always as God's gift to us through Holy Spirit. Only the Son reveals the Father. Therefore, it is not the world's wise ones, wise guys and gals, who know God. It is those who have seen God in the work and ministry of the Son. And those who see God at work in Jesus, those whom Jesus chooses to reveal God, are not the wise or self-righteous, but the repentant, the lowly, the world's "nobodies," those who recognize their real need, namely, a true relationship with the living God.
For the repenters, Jesus now comes with hope for our living as responsibly free and freely responsible persons, rather than merely existing as slaves to the details and distractions of human laws. "Come to me, all of you who are exhausted and weighed down beneath your burdens, self-imposed or other-imposed, and I will give you rest (zest) ... My yoke is easy; my burden is light" (author's translation).
Jesus speaks here to people desperately trying to find God, as if God were lost; desperately trying to enter the Kingdom by obedience to human laws; and thus, driven to weariness and despair. "Come to me, my yoke is easy." The Greek word means "well-fitting," that is, "tailor made to fit the ox." A legend tells that Jesus made the best ox-yoke in all of Galilee. People from everywhere came to his dad's carpenter shop to buy them. In those days, as today, shops had their signs above the door. Some suggested that the sign above the door in Jesus' shop read, "My yoke fits well."
Jesus is telling us this about yokes and burdens: "The life I give you is meant, not as a burden to gall you; but as a measure to fit you, my burden is light. If you try to do it all yourself, you'll come to the end puzzled, angry, exhausted, unfulfilled." A four-year-old kindergartner caught the essence of Jesus' truth, "My yoke is easy...." Turning to the children, the teacher asked, "Who can tell me what a yoke is?" The little girl replied, "Something they put on the necks of animals, as we have on our models in the barnyard." "What's the meaning of God's yoke?" inquired the teacher. All were quiet, and then the hand of the four-year-old shot up. "That's when God puts His arms around our neck."1
Nowhere does God promise that the burden is easy to carry. God does lay it on us in love, knowing what's better for us than we know for ourselves. God does invite us to carry it in love, for love makes the heaviest burden light. Boys' Town of Nebraska has adopted this story as its theme: A man came upon a little boy carrying on his back a still smaller boy who was lame. "That's a heavy burden for you to carry," said the man. The boy replied, "He's no burden for me; he's my brother."
____________
1. A. P. Bailey, Indianapolis Star.
