Proper 28
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VI, Cycle C
Object:
COMMENTARY ON THE LESSONS
Lesson 1: Isaiah 65:17-25 (C)
Trito-Isaiah declares God's promise of a new heaven and a new earth, a re-creation of Jerusalem (read the world), one in which the wolf and the lamb shall lie down together. The wolf and the lamb symbolize all the opposing forces of the world, all the voracious predators, and all the innocents, all will at last find peace between them. No longer will people strive, only to be robbed of the fruits of their efforts. They will live to a good old age, derive the benefits of a useful productive life, and always find that God answers when they call out.
It's hard to envision this re-creation in the material world in which we currently exist. As I write, Woodstock 99 has just drawn to an end, one which culminated in tragic vandalism and criminality. I suppose the organizers have some idealized concept of the original Woodstock, one which sought peace and mutual acceptance. Whatever the original, this one was peopled by many thugs and hoodlums. I realize there were some 225,000 people there and an estimated 70,000 had already departed, with many thousands who remained appalled at the devastation. But how could hundreds, perhaps thousands, of hateful young people ravage what was devoted to harmony and peace? No, there are still too many people in this world whose hearts are wrong. I find that the good part of me hopes for their redemption. But there's a part of me that would prefer they just be locked up. Good thing God is more understanding than that.
What, then? Of course we pray for this promise to be fulfilled, and that prayer leads us all to make some small contribution to its fulfillment. Maybe it's as Robert Browning wrote: "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?" Or perhaps, while this idyllic scene must wait for a later life for complete fulfillment, it may be somewhat possible in microcosm in the mind of the individual. Peace of mind. Peace, which includes a sense of responsibility for the welfare of those around us. Peace, which accepts life's hardships as opportunities to grow and draw nearer to God. Peace, which is willing to live this life as it is with all of its problems, because one trusts that something better is possible, is even now being born.
Lesson 1: Malachi 3:19-20 (RC); Malachi 3:13--4:2a (E)
Did you ever have a driver pass you on the highway while driving way over the speed limit, have him swerve in front of you with utter disregard for your safety, then pass him pulled over by a state trooper a few miles farther down the road? How would you feel? I know how I would feel. I would feel "Yes!" Isn't that human? Don't we all have a sense of right and wrong which is outraged when someone arrogantly defies such rules? Isn't there some understandable pleasure when we see such people get their comeuppance? Our local newspaper told of a 25-year-old woman who has been running a house of prostitution in a poor but decent neighborhood. For more than a year, the local residents have requested the police to put a stop to this establishment. Then the woman was arrested and her house closed down. It was reported that dozens of local residents stood and cheered as the woman was escorted to the police cruiser.
You sense something of that sentiment in the words of Malachi. We can never be certain to what extent some of these prophets were accurately recording God's word and to what extent their own feelings and beliefs were inserted. Malachi speaks for all those honest, decent, God-believing people when he says, by golly, one of these days the users, the thieves, the crooked politicians, the unethical professional and business people, are going to get what they deserve. And it can't happen any too soon.
Lesson 2: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 (C, E); 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12 (RC)
This flies in the face of political correctness these days. Paul is actually -- perish the thought -- incensed that some people are lazy and don't want to work. Paul would have made allowances for people who are handicapped and unable to work. But this certainly calls for a clarion announcement that in the eyes of the New Testament, people who are not willing to pitch in and do their share and a bit more are falling short of the gospel's standards. We are counseled to speak a word of correction to such people.
Gospel: Luke 21:5-19 (C, RC, E)
This is a sobering warning indeed. After a passing reference to the destruction of the temple, Jesus warns his listeners that two things will happen. One, there will be many terrifying events in nature and in humanity's hateful warring ways. Two, many of the individual listeners will be subjected to torture and even death for no other reason than their commitment to Jesus and his teachings.
The first of Jesus' warning have taken place and continue to do so. The second also took place for the listeners of Jesus' time. Many would die in the arenas of the Roman emperors. This all raises the question: what does this say to us today? Obviously, the natural disasters are a regular staple of human life. In some countries today, mistreatment, even death, is a consequences of one's Christian faith. But for the great majority of those to whom you and I will speak, these things no longer happen.
This raises the larger issue of mistreatment of anyone because of his or her religious convictions. Or his or her color. Or economic status. Or physical appearance. It's easy to point to Bosnia, and Northern Ireland, and Kosovo, and Israel, and to cluck our tongues. But the issue of prejudice is one we all must face -- in our country, in our cities and towns, and in our own hearts. It would be rare for a member of one of our congregations to commit an overt act of aggression toward someone for that reason, but in subtle ways we do just that. The outrageous mistreatment of gay people by certain Christian congregations I find reprehensible. I don't argue that everyone must accept gayness as normal, nor that there is no room for disagreement on the issue. But our gay friends are deserving of the same kindness and love which you and I expect from Christian people.
I have already commented on my fellow pastor's report of a prostitute who attended his church because she was trying to reform her life and had been encouraged by a psychologist to start attending church. Except that when people realized she had been a prostitute, most of them avoided her. And of course they were confirming every cynical opinion she had already formed of "churchy people."
We all have prejudices of one kind or another. Research shows that pretty women get better jobs than plain ones, tall people fare better than short, slim than fat, young than middle-aged, and so it goes. It's hard not to hold some prejudice.
Or, we could focus on the promise that "not a single hair from your heads will be lost." Jesus is here promising God's final action on behalf of those who are faithful. This surely implies life after death, since many of the people hearing those words were to die untimely deaths. The promise is this: no matter what happens in this life, God has the last word. And that word is "love."
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "A New Earth"
Text: Isaiah 65:17-25
Theme: Granted, there is little evidence of this prophesy's fulfillment on the human scene. Still, there is no cause for discouragement. God is still at work, still wishing such a new creation, still encouraging each of us to play a part in this. Saint Paul would later advise us that "we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us." Clearly, if any semblance of newness is to come to pass, it will be through people like us.
1. We are God's ambassadors. God can only accomplish what we are willing to enable. Because each of us is free, we can, if we choose, disregard our charge to serve the divine Kingdom. But God has promised that those who are willing to work for a new earth in this life, will experience what may feel like a new heaven within their hearts.
2. This requires unfailing integrity. Life among people who are dishonest is intolerable. A column in my newspaper today spoke of the current age in which no one in government accepts responsibility for wrongdoing. One example was the recent admission by a scientist that he had won for his laboratory a government grant of more than three million dollars by publishing a false report of studies which reputedly showed that the use of a cellular phone over a long period of time may cause cancer. The man admitted his deception and resigned. The government agency said, in effect, "naughty, naughty," and allowed the lab to keep the money. It seems the government person or persons responsible were reluctant to admit their own culpability and thus did not demand the money's return. That's just one of countless examples of people in public life who accept no responsibility for wrongdoing.
3. Only love can accomplish this. Jesus used the word "love" to refer to something we do, not merely something we feel. C. S. Lewis wrote: "I may repeat, 'Do as you would be done by' till I am black in the face, but I cannot really carry it out till I love my neighbor as myself, and I cannot learn to love my neighbor as myself till I learn to love God ..."
4. This all begins with prayer, worship, and study. That last is important. If I may again quote Lewis, "God is no fonder of intellectual slackers than of any other slackers. If you are thinking of becoming a Christian, I warn you, you are embarking on something which is going to take the whole of you, brains and all." So much for people who think to start reading the Bible but are unwilling to do the study which helps one understand the Bible.
Title: "Responsible Christianity"
Text: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Theme: Clearly, Paul had no use for slackers. Probably some of the early Christians assumed Jesus' return was imminent and there was no use to break their backs for nothing. Paul disabused them of this kind of thinking, and quickly. A person has the obligation to pitch in, to share the burdens of the common life. He himself did common labor in order that he need not be a burden to his hosts. He expected the rest of us to do likewise. Paul would have made allowances for the handicapped, and for those people, especially women, who had children to raise and who were pretty much shut out of the work force. But for most of us, we are to give a day's work for a day's pay. Paul would say we are to do this cheerfully and with a sense of mission.
This might be an opportunity to say a word to those folks, whoever they may be, who are sour on life and take it out on the people with whom they work. I had a church member a few years ago who worked in a factory. He boasted to me that he was on the night shift and spent most of his time either reading novels or sleeping. For one thing, he was admitting to some poor Christianity. For another, he must have been a very miserable man deep down. People who cop out of their responsibilities, who always look for the easy way in life, are often found complaining that they are never properly recognized, or that they should receive more remuneration for their work, or that someone else got the promotion they should have received. Well, Paul would have set them straight in short order. A Christian leads the way. A Christian is never too good to do the dirty work, is never guilty of letting someone else do more so he can do less, is always cheerful and uncomplaining. If we don't like the work, do something else, but quit complaining.
1. We are to accept responsibility for our own welfare. One well-known preacher recently told of a young man he had known in high school. He was bright, attractive, athletic. But he coasted through school. He managed to wangle his way into college where he settled for minimum accomplishments. Then this man went on to lead a life of constant complaining because he was never successful. People expected too much, he felt. People didn't appreciate his talent, he thought. Life wasn't fair. The poor man never did find any happiness. He never accepted responsibility for the fact that he had wasted his opportunities. Everything was someone else's fault.
2. We are to accomplish things in this life. Each of us has an assortment of abilities, native talents which we are to discover, exercise, and use. We are to contribute and do everything we can to make this a better world. Of course we wish to earn a good living. But the happy person, and the faithful Christian, makes sure to use those abilities for the common good.
3. We are to do all of this in good spirit. Sadly, I even know a couple clergy who always complain. One man comes to mind who gripes constantly about the unfairness of the Methodist system, how he should, by rights, be serving a large successful church. He is well-known for this litany of complaints, and the truth is, the poor fellow wastes all his energy that way and does the absolute minimum to keep his job. He isn't failing because of an unfair system. He's failing because he's the very thing Paul disliked: a slacker. If he'd just put a smile on his face, speak a positive word, get going and work at his profession he'd be well-respected and a lot happier.
4. We are to facilitate the success and well-being of those with whom we work. I had the privilege of working with many other clergy on the staff of the church I served. We had a grand time together. A major reason for that was the fact that each of us was able to rejoice in the achievements of the others. We felt that anyone's success was everyone's success. A person never regrets giving the other person a boost. If it's done for the right reasons, it always comes back to bless us.
Title: "Jesus, And The Kindly Heart"
Text: Luke 21:5-19
Theme: We must search our hearts. The worst a person can be is to harbor prejudices and glory in them. The Klan comes to mind. Perhaps only slightly better is the person who harbors prejudice and does not see it in him or herself. I'll always remember having dinner in a southern state a few years ago, and the subject of sightseeing came up. The lady across from me was an elegant, handsome, older woman with a wonderful southern accent. But someone mentioned the slave market in the nearby historic old city, still preserved as a tourist site. I remarked that it is inconceivable today that such a terrible practice as slavery could have been tolerated by decent people. That sweet lady suddenly became angry and quickly informed me that it was part of southern culture of the time and I had no business coming down there and making judgments. The subject was dropped, but I saw in her the naked prejudice which so many people have and do not see in themselves. Perhaps we all harbor prejudice somewhere. But Jesus would have us search our hearts, pray to see what is there, and through prayer and love, root it out as much as we can.
1. We can work on prejudice by learning more about people. One of my early prejudices was toward welfare recipients. All lazy, I was sure. I came from a family who believed in an exalted work ethic. One day I had occasion to interview three welfare mothers on a television show. As I questioned those women I was amazed to find them all articulate, thoughtful, understanding of the attitudes of society -- and extremely convincing that at least in their situations, welfare was humane and right. I came away having learned that while many welfare recipients are, indeed, lazy, many are decent people facing overwhelming problems, deserving of the help they were receiving. I had been wrong.
2. We can work on prejudice by honest self-appraisal. Start with all the benefits you may have. My parents took good care of me when small, showered me with love, gave me constant encouragement, made me feel good about myself. I had a great start. I also have some glaring faults. I'll spare you the list, but the more I find the courage to admit those faults, and the more I accept the blessings with which I began my adult life, the more I discover that I'm not qualified to judge other people. As Jesus said, when we stop to take the logs out of our own eyes, we begin to be much more generous in our judgments of others.
3. We can work on prejudice through prayer. God loves everyone, and that includes all those folks whom we may be inclined to disapprove. He wants us to act toward them with love. When we do, a strange thing happens. We begin to change. The more I pray for someone, and the more I try to be loving toward someone, the more I tend to like that person. Of course, we're all human. We have our likes and dislikes, our preferences and our irritabilities. We're not going to be perfect in this life. But we can control our words and our conduct. Even in the case of the occasional person I may not approve or like, I can act in love. God asks nothing less.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
The following was printed in the student newspaper at Purdue University. It seems that a large group of people had gathered to be judged by God, but they protested that it was simply not fair that some August Being who was divine, who had complete power over all things, who could see all things, know all things, do all things, should presume to judge people who had suffered as all of them had done. How could God know what it was like to live in a ghetto, to be hungry, to fail at one's life's work, to experience rejection and failure? There were Jews in the group who had died in the Holocaust. There were Black people from the violent streets of the major cities. There were minorities, and the uneducated, and the cast-offs of creation. They demanded that before God judge them, He should have to experience something of the real world. They chose leaders from among them and had them gather and decide what punishment would be fair if God were to justify His right to make judgments. This was their judgment on God:
Let Him have to experience life as a human being.
Let Him be born a member of a minority subjected to constant prejudice: a Jew.
Let the legitimacy of His birth be questioned, so that there would always be doubt as to who His father really was.
Let Him champion a cause which, while just, is so controversial it brings down hatred and condemnation.
Let Him try to explain God to someone.
Let Him be betrayed by his closest friends.
Let him be indicted on false charges, tried before a prejudiced jury, convicted by a cowardly judge who secretly knows He is innocent.
Let Him see what it's like to be alone, to be abandoned by everyone around him.
Let Him suffer torture, then death. Let it be a humiliating death, suffered in the company of criminals.
As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the great throng of people. When the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered another word. No one moved. For suddenly, all knew ... God had already served His sentence.
____________
Helen Keller was born blind and deaf. Thus shut off from all human sources of understanding, a devoted nurse found a way to communicate with her by touch. Eventually, Helen Keller became a heroine to an entire generation of people who stood in awe of her profound intellect developed without the senses we all take for granted. One day she was the main speaker at a commencement ceremony. Speaking in her halting manner, she said this: "Once I knew the depth where no hope was and a darkness lay upon the face of all things. Then love came and set my soul free. Once I fretted and beat myself against the wall that shut me in. My life was without a past or a future, and death seemed a consummation devoutly to be wished. But a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hands that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped up with a rapture of living. I do not know the meaning of the darkness, but I have learned the overcoming of it."
____________
A close friend of mine pastored a church in a large northern city while he was in seminary. In the youth program at his church was a high school boy who was a constant problem. Although my friend tried to involve him, tried to get the other young people to accept the boy, the truth was they only tolerated his disruptive habits. Finally, my friend graduated from seminary and moved to a full-time charge in another city. Some years passed. One day he met the man who was currently pastor of that church. During the conversation he inquired about that boy who had been such a problem. The current pastor replied: "Oh, he committed suicide several years ago."
___________
Ann Landers included a sad little story about a spoiled young man who, upon graduation from high school, expected to receive a car like all his friends. On the day of his graduation, his father gave his son a gift -- a Bible. The boy was so angry at this that he threw the Bible down, dashed out of the house and never came back. He never spoke to his father again. But upon his father's death, he realized he had been wrong, and he returned home. As he was going through his father's effects, he found the Bible he had disdained many years before. When he opened it, a piece of paper fell out. It was a cashier's check for the amount of the car he had wanted, and it was dated the day of his high school graduation.
____________
The day before the 1978 Super Bowl, Craig Morton, quarterback of the Denver Broncos, was interviewed on national television. He'd had a spectacular year, his best ever, and had taken his team to the most important game of their lives. He was asked how he accounted for the fact that he had played better this year than in past years. He replied that he had accepted Christ as his Lord last year, and Christ had released in him the capacities which heretofore he had not learned to use. He felt empowered now by Jesus Christ.
That was a moving testimony to be sure. However, when the Broncos took the field the next afternoon, they faced the Dallas Cowboys whose quarterback, Roger Staubach, was also an outspoken Christian. And Dallas beat Denver badly. Morton had an awful day and finally was replaced in the lineup, ostensibly because of a hip injury. Afterward, when Morton was interviewed, he was asked if his hip injury had caused his poor performance. His reply was a splendid example of Christian integrity. He said, "My hip didn't affect my play. We lost because Staubach was a better quarterback and Dallas was a better team." That's true manhood of the finest kind.
____________
Cal Thomas, writing on "The New Standard Of Goodness," stated in June of 1998: "Boomers seem to be emerging from a protracted adolescence, spanning more than 30 years. News reports tell us they are tired of the values they once embraced, and are searching for the faith, ethics and virtues that mostly characterized their parents' and grandparents' generations. Just as boomers harmed culture with their largely bad behavior, their new subtle switch is producing a beneficial jolt.
"This shift is not only observable as many boomers search for the God who 'died' in the '60s, it is also being noticed in the corporate world. A recent issue of Sales And Marketing Management began a cover story: 'There's strange talk being spoken in the hallways of Corporate America today. It's about inner peace and a desire to gain more from business than a hefty paycheck ... Spirituality, folks, is taking hold of the workplace.' "
____________
Psalm Of The Day
Isaiah 12 -- "You will say in that day."
Prayer Of The Day
Eternal God, open our hearts to the people around us, to those whose lot in life is hard, to those who suffer under the heel of prejudice, to the homeless, the handicapped, the lost. Free us from severe judgments. Bring to life the higher love which comes from you, that we may be found accepting and good spirited toward those whom we may not understand, but are called to love. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Lesson 1: Isaiah 65:17-25 (C)
Trito-Isaiah declares God's promise of a new heaven and a new earth, a re-creation of Jerusalem (read the world), one in which the wolf and the lamb shall lie down together. The wolf and the lamb symbolize all the opposing forces of the world, all the voracious predators, and all the innocents, all will at last find peace between them. No longer will people strive, only to be robbed of the fruits of their efforts. They will live to a good old age, derive the benefits of a useful productive life, and always find that God answers when they call out.
It's hard to envision this re-creation in the material world in which we currently exist. As I write, Woodstock 99 has just drawn to an end, one which culminated in tragic vandalism and criminality. I suppose the organizers have some idealized concept of the original Woodstock, one which sought peace and mutual acceptance. Whatever the original, this one was peopled by many thugs and hoodlums. I realize there were some 225,000 people there and an estimated 70,000 had already departed, with many thousands who remained appalled at the devastation. But how could hundreds, perhaps thousands, of hateful young people ravage what was devoted to harmony and peace? No, there are still too many people in this world whose hearts are wrong. I find that the good part of me hopes for their redemption. But there's a part of me that would prefer they just be locked up. Good thing God is more understanding than that.
What, then? Of course we pray for this promise to be fulfilled, and that prayer leads us all to make some small contribution to its fulfillment. Maybe it's as Robert Browning wrote: "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?" Or perhaps, while this idyllic scene must wait for a later life for complete fulfillment, it may be somewhat possible in microcosm in the mind of the individual. Peace of mind. Peace, which includes a sense of responsibility for the welfare of those around us. Peace, which accepts life's hardships as opportunities to grow and draw nearer to God. Peace, which is willing to live this life as it is with all of its problems, because one trusts that something better is possible, is even now being born.
Lesson 1: Malachi 3:19-20 (RC); Malachi 3:13--4:2a (E)
Did you ever have a driver pass you on the highway while driving way over the speed limit, have him swerve in front of you with utter disregard for your safety, then pass him pulled over by a state trooper a few miles farther down the road? How would you feel? I know how I would feel. I would feel "Yes!" Isn't that human? Don't we all have a sense of right and wrong which is outraged when someone arrogantly defies such rules? Isn't there some understandable pleasure when we see such people get their comeuppance? Our local newspaper told of a 25-year-old woman who has been running a house of prostitution in a poor but decent neighborhood. For more than a year, the local residents have requested the police to put a stop to this establishment. Then the woman was arrested and her house closed down. It was reported that dozens of local residents stood and cheered as the woman was escorted to the police cruiser.
You sense something of that sentiment in the words of Malachi. We can never be certain to what extent some of these prophets were accurately recording God's word and to what extent their own feelings and beliefs were inserted. Malachi speaks for all those honest, decent, God-believing people when he says, by golly, one of these days the users, the thieves, the crooked politicians, the unethical professional and business people, are going to get what they deserve. And it can't happen any too soon.
Lesson 2: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 (C, E); 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12 (RC)
This flies in the face of political correctness these days. Paul is actually -- perish the thought -- incensed that some people are lazy and don't want to work. Paul would have made allowances for people who are handicapped and unable to work. But this certainly calls for a clarion announcement that in the eyes of the New Testament, people who are not willing to pitch in and do their share and a bit more are falling short of the gospel's standards. We are counseled to speak a word of correction to such people.
Gospel: Luke 21:5-19 (C, RC, E)
This is a sobering warning indeed. After a passing reference to the destruction of the temple, Jesus warns his listeners that two things will happen. One, there will be many terrifying events in nature and in humanity's hateful warring ways. Two, many of the individual listeners will be subjected to torture and even death for no other reason than their commitment to Jesus and his teachings.
The first of Jesus' warning have taken place and continue to do so. The second also took place for the listeners of Jesus' time. Many would die in the arenas of the Roman emperors. This all raises the question: what does this say to us today? Obviously, the natural disasters are a regular staple of human life. In some countries today, mistreatment, even death, is a consequences of one's Christian faith. But for the great majority of those to whom you and I will speak, these things no longer happen.
This raises the larger issue of mistreatment of anyone because of his or her religious convictions. Or his or her color. Or economic status. Or physical appearance. It's easy to point to Bosnia, and Northern Ireland, and Kosovo, and Israel, and to cluck our tongues. But the issue of prejudice is one we all must face -- in our country, in our cities and towns, and in our own hearts. It would be rare for a member of one of our congregations to commit an overt act of aggression toward someone for that reason, but in subtle ways we do just that. The outrageous mistreatment of gay people by certain Christian congregations I find reprehensible. I don't argue that everyone must accept gayness as normal, nor that there is no room for disagreement on the issue. But our gay friends are deserving of the same kindness and love which you and I expect from Christian people.
I have already commented on my fellow pastor's report of a prostitute who attended his church because she was trying to reform her life and had been encouraged by a psychologist to start attending church. Except that when people realized she had been a prostitute, most of them avoided her. And of course they were confirming every cynical opinion she had already formed of "churchy people."
We all have prejudices of one kind or another. Research shows that pretty women get better jobs than plain ones, tall people fare better than short, slim than fat, young than middle-aged, and so it goes. It's hard not to hold some prejudice.
Or, we could focus on the promise that "not a single hair from your heads will be lost." Jesus is here promising God's final action on behalf of those who are faithful. This surely implies life after death, since many of the people hearing those words were to die untimely deaths. The promise is this: no matter what happens in this life, God has the last word. And that word is "love."
SERMON SUGGESTIONS
Title: "A New Earth"
Text: Isaiah 65:17-25
Theme: Granted, there is little evidence of this prophesy's fulfillment on the human scene. Still, there is no cause for discouragement. God is still at work, still wishing such a new creation, still encouraging each of us to play a part in this. Saint Paul would later advise us that "we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us." Clearly, if any semblance of newness is to come to pass, it will be through people like us.
1. We are God's ambassadors. God can only accomplish what we are willing to enable. Because each of us is free, we can, if we choose, disregard our charge to serve the divine Kingdom. But God has promised that those who are willing to work for a new earth in this life, will experience what may feel like a new heaven within their hearts.
2. This requires unfailing integrity. Life among people who are dishonest is intolerable. A column in my newspaper today spoke of the current age in which no one in government accepts responsibility for wrongdoing. One example was the recent admission by a scientist that he had won for his laboratory a government grant of more than three million dollars by publishing a false report of studies which reputedly showed that the use of a cellular phone over a long period of time may cause cancer. The man admitted his deception and resigned. The government agency said, in effect, "naughty, naughty," and allowed the lab to keep the money. It seems the government person or persons responsible were reluctant to admit their own culpability and thus did not demand the money's return. That's just one of countless examples of people in public life who accept no responsibility for wrongdoing.
3. Only love can accomplish this. Jesus used the word "love" to refer to something we do, not merely something we feel. C. S. Lewis wrote: "I may repeat, 'Do as you would be done by' till I am black in the face, but I cannot really carry it out till I love my neighbor as myself, and I cannot learn to love my neighbor as myself till I learn to love God ..."
4. This all begins with prayer, worship, and study. That last is important. If I may again quote Lewis, "God is no fonder of intellectual slackers than of any other slackers. If you are thinking of becoming a Christian, I warn you, you are embarking on something which is going to take the whole of you, brains and all." So much for people who think to start reading the Bible but are unwilling to do the study which helps one understand the Bible.
Title: "Responsible Christianity"
Text: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Theme: Clearly, Paul had no use for slackers. Probably some of the early Christians assumed Jesus' return was imminent and there was no use to break their backs for nothing. Paul disabused them of this kind of thinking, and quickly. A person has the obligation to pitch in, to share the burdens of the common life. He himself did common labor in order that he need not be a burden to his hosts. He expected the rest of us to do likewise. Paul would have made allowances for the handicapped, and for those people, especially women, who had children to raise and who were pretty much shut out of the work force. But for most of us, we are to give a day's work for a day's pay. Paul would say we are to do this cheerfully and with a sense of mission.
This might be an opportunity to say a word to those folks, whoever they may be, who are sour on life and take it out on the people with whom they work. I had a church member a few years ago who worked in a factory. He boasted to me that he was on the night shift and spent most of his time either reading novels or sleeping. For one thing, he was admitting to some poor Christianity. For another, he must have been a very miserable man deep down. People who cop out of their responsibilities, who always look for the easy way in life, are often found complaining that they are never properly recognized, or that they should receive more remuneration for their work, or that someone else got the promotion they should have received. Well, Paul would have set them straight in short order. A Christian leads the way. A Christian is never too good to do the dirty work, is never guilty of letting someone else do more so he can do less, is always cheerful and uncomplaining. If we don't like the work, do something else, but quit complaining.
1. We are to accept responsibility for our own welfare. One well-known preacher recently told of a young man he had known in high school. He was bright, attractive, athletic. But he coasted through school. He managed to wangle his way into college where he settled for minimum accomplishments. Then this man went on to lead a life of constant complaining because he was never successful. People expected too much, he felt. People didn't appreciate his talent, he thought. Life wasn't fair. The poor man never did find any happiness. He never accepted responsibility for the fact that he had wasted his opportunities. Everything was someone else's fault.
2. We are to accomplish things in this life. Each of us has an assortment of abilities, native talents which we are to discover, exercise, and use. We are to contribute and do everything we can to make this a better world. Of course we wish to earn a good living. But the happy person, and the faithful Christian, makes sure to use those abilities for the common good.
3. We are to do all of this in good spirit. Sadly, I even know a couple clergy who always complain. One man comes to mind who gripes constantly about the unfairness of the Methodist system, how he should, by rights, be serving a large successful church. He is well-known for this litany of complaints, and the truth is, the poor fellow wastes all his energy that way and does the absolute minimum to keep his job. He isn't failing because of an unfair system. He's failing because he's the very thing Paul disliked: a slacker. If he'd just put a smile on his face, speak a positive word, get going and work at his profession he'd be well-respected and a lot happier.
4. We are to facilitate the success and well-being of those with whom we work. I had the privilege of working with many other clergy on the staff of the church I served. We had a grand time together. A major reason for that was the fact that each of us was able to rejoice in the achievements of the others. We felt that anyone's success was everyone's success. A person never regrets giving the other person a boost. If it's done for the right reasons, it always comes back to bless us.
Title: "Jesus, And The Kindly Heart"
Text: Luke 21:5-19
Theme: We must search our hearts. The worst a person can be is to harbor prejudices and glory in them. The Klan comes to mind. Perhaps only slightly better is the person who harbors prejudice and does not see it in him or herself. I'll always remember having dinner in a southern state a few years ago, and the subject of sightseeing came up. The lady across from me was an elegant, handsome, older woman with a wonderful southern accent. But someone mentioned the slave market in the nearby historic old city, still preserved as a tourist site. I remarked that it is inconceivable today that such a terrible practice as slavery could have been tolerated by decent people. That sweet lady suddenly became angry and quickly informed me that it was part of southern culture of the time and I had no business coming down there and making judgments. The subject was dropped, but I saw in her the naked prejudice which so many people have and do not see in themselves. Perhaps we all harbor prejudice somewhere. But Jesus would have us search our hearts, pray to see what is there, and through prayer and love, root it out as much as we can.
1. We can work on prejudice by learning more about people. One of my early prejudices was toward welfare recipients. All lazy, I was sure. I came from a family who believed in an exalted work ethic. One day I had occasion to interview three welfare mothers on a television show. As I questioned those women I was amazed to find them all articulate, thoughtful, understanding of the attitudes of society -- and extremely convincing that at least in their situations, welfare was humane and right. I came away having learned that while many welfare recipients are, indeed, lazy, many are decent people facing overwhelming problems, deserving of the help they were receiving. I had been wrong.
2. We can work on prejudice by honest self-appraisal. Start with all the benefits you may have. My parents took good care of me when small, showered me with love, gave me constant encouragement, made me feel good about myself. I had a great start. I also have some glaring faults. I'll spare you the list, but the more I find the courage to admit those faults, and the more I accept the blessings with which I began my adult life, the more I discover that I'm not qualified to judge other people. As Jesus said, when we stop to take the logs out of our own eyes, we begin to be much more generous in our judgments of others.
3. We can work on prejudice through prayer. God loves everyone, and that includes all those folks whom we may be inclined to disapprove. He wants us to act toward them with love. When we do, a strange thing happens. We begin to change. The more I pray for someone, and the more I try to be loving toward someone, the more I tend to like that person. Of course, we're all human. We have our likes and dislikes, our preferences and our irritabilities. We're not going to be perfect in this life. But we can control our words and our conduct. Even in the case of the occasional person I may not approve or like, I can act in love. God asks nothing less.
ADDITIONAL ILLUSTRATIONS
The following was printed in the student newspaper at Purdue University. It seems that a large group of people had gathered to be judged by God, but they protested that it was simply not fair that some August Being who was divine, who had complete power over all things, who could see all things, know all things, do all things, should presume to judge people who had suffered as all of them had done. How could God know what it was like to live in a ghetto, to be hungry, to fail at one's life's work, to experience rejection and failure? There were Jews in the group who had died in the Holocaust. There were Black people from the violent streets of the major cities. There were minorities, and the uneducated, and the cast-offs of creation. They demanded that before God judge them, He should have to experience something of the real world. They chose leaders from among them and had them gather and decide what punishment would be fair if God were to justify His right to make judgments. This was their judgment on God:
Let Him have to experience life as a human being.
Let Him be born a member of a minority subjected to constant prejudice: a Jew.
Let the legitimacy of His birth be questioned, so that there would always be doubt as to who His father really was.
Let Him champion a cause which, while just, is so controversial it brings down hatred and condemnation.
Let Him try to explain God to someone.
Let Him be betrayed by his closest friends.
Let him be indicted on false charges, tried before a prejudiced jury, convicted by a cowardly judge who secretly knows He is innocent.
Let Him see what it's like to be alone, to be abandoned by everyone around him.
Let Him suffer torture, then death. Let it be a humiliating death, suffered in the company of criminals.
As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the great throng of people. When the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered another word. No one moved. For suddenly, all knew ... God had already served His sentence.
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Helen Keller was born blind and deaf. Thus shut off from all human sources of understanding, a devoted nurse found a way to communicate with her by touch. Eventually, Helen Keller became a heroine to an entire generation of people who stood in awe of her profound intellect developed without the senses we all take for granted. One day she was the main speaker at a commencement ceremony. Speaking in her halting manner, she said this: "Once I knew the depth where no hope was and a darkness lay upon the face of all things. Then love came and set my soul free. Once I fretted and beat myself against the wall that shut me in. My life was without a past or a future, and death seemed a consummation devoutly to be wished. But a little word from the fingers of another fell into my hands that clutched at emptiness, and my heart leaped up with a rapture of living. I do not know the meaning of the darkness, but I have learned the overcoming of it."
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A close friend of mine pastored a church in a large northern city while he was in seminary. In the youth program at his church was a high school boy who was a constant problem. Although my friend tried to involve him, tried to get the other young people to accept the boy, the truth was they only tolerated his disruptive habits. Finally, my friend graduated from seminary and moved to a full-time charge in another city. Some years passed. One day he met the man who was currently pastor of that church. During the conversation he inquired about that boy who had been such a problem. The current pastor replied: "Oh, he committed suicide several years ago."
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Ann Landers included a sad little story about a spoiled young man who, upon graduation from high school, expected to receive a car like all his friends. On the day of his graduation, his father gave his son a gift -- a Bible. The boy was so angry at this that he threw the Bible down, dashed out of the house and never came back. He never spoke to his father again. But upon his father's death, he realized he had been wrong, and he returned home. As he was going through his father's effects, he found the Bible he had disdained many years before. When he opened it, a piece of paper fell out. It was a cashier's check for the amount of the car he had wanted, and it was dated the day of his high school graduation.
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The day before the 1978 Super Bowl, Craig Morton, quarterback of the Denver Broncos, was interviewed on national television. He'd had a spectacular year, his best ever, and had taken his team to the most important game of their lives. He was asked how he accounted for the fact that he had played better this year than in past years. He replied that he had accepted Christ as his Lord last year, and Christ had released in him the capacities which heretofore he had not learned to use. He felt empowered now by Jesus Christ.
That was a moving testimony to be sure. However, when the Broncos took the field the next afternoon, they faced the Dallas Cowboys whose quarterback, Roger Staubach, was also an outspoken Christian. And Dallas beat Denver badly. Morton had an awful day and finally was replaced in the lineup, ostensibly because of a hip injury. Afterward, when Morton was interviewed, he was asked if his hip injury had caused his poor performance. His reply was a splendid example of Christian integrity. He said, "My hip didn't affect my play. We lost because Staubach was a better quarterback and Dallas was a better team." That's true manhood of the finest kind.
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Cal Thomas, writing on "The New Standard Of Goodness," stated in June of 1998: "Boomers seem to be emerging from a protracted adolescence, spanning more than 30 years. News reports tell us they are tired of the values they once embraced, and are searching for the faith, ethics and virtues that mostly characterized their parents' and grandparents' generations. Just as boomers harmed culture with their largely bad behavior, their new subtle switch is producing a beneficial jolt.
"This shift is not only observable as many boomers search for the God who 'died' in the '60s, it is also being noticed in the corporate world. A recent issue of Sales And Marketing Management began a cover story: 'There's strange talk being spoken in the hallways of Corporate America today. It's about inner peace and a desire to gain more from business than a hefty paycheck ... Spirituality, folks, is taking hold of the workplace.' "
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Psalm Of The Day
Isaiah 12 -- "You will say in that day."
Prayer Of The Day
Eternal God, open our hearts to the people around us, to those whose lot in life is hard, to those who suffer under the heel of prejudice, to the homeless, the handicapped, the lost. Free us from severe judgments. Bring to life the higher love which comes from you, that we may be found accepting and good spirited toward those whom we may not understand, but are called to love. In Jesus' name. Amen.
