Proper
8 + Year A + 2014 The
Reverend Robert R.M. Bagwell+
29,
June
Genesis
22:1-14
Psalm 891-4
Romans 6:12-23 Matthew
10:40-42
I read a quote
from an observer who once said that there are many basic and lasting truths
about life that children learn on their own.
She listed four: no matter how hard you try, you can’t baptize cats; when
your mother is mad at your father, don’t let her brush your hair; you can’t
trust dogs to watch your food and the best place to be when you’re sad is in
your grandmother’s lap.
We just
prayed: "Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity
of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to
you; through Jesus Christ our Lord…"
"Oh,
is that all!! We all know that! Let's all just go home!" But to mimic the commercial from Geico: well
did you know that no one of us has ever accomplished that feat even with the Holy Spirit's help.
In our
understanding, the new birth is an act from Almighty God through Christ Jesus,
but conversion, that is a daily
task. Did you ever wonder why Puritan,
John Bunyan penned Pilgrim's
Progress? The title is the answer. As an athlete grows through the exercise of
his or her individual gifts, so the Christian life, the life in Christ grows
stronger through exercise.
Jesus is a
sinner's Savior. That's the good
news. Jesus loves SINNERS! Imagine that! Some of us don't even do that! I mean average sinners we can stomach, but
really sinful sinners, (from which we are always excluded, at least in our own
minds). Remember High School: we liked
the "bad boys" and "cool girls" who were always in
trouble. We admired "cool sinners!
at least many did.. Today we might say: " I mean I'm not too keen on
thieves and murderers, sexual predators and spouse abusers! Can I tell you a dirty little Christian
secret, we are far too willing to excuse our own 'sins' (little 's') and to
judge the (BIG 'S') sins of others.
Why would
that be? I want you to listen VERY
CLOSELY. We tend to judge others by
their actions--we judge ourselves by our 'intentions'. We hope that others will
do the same with us. How many of you know that every day of the Christian walk
is a series of decisions, trials, moments of doubt and faith and choices: thought word and deed? It is a decision to follow the Holy Spirit or
to give into the world, the flesh and the Devil. No the Christian walk is not
for the faint of heart. St Paul tells us
we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against entities purposed on
taking glory away from God and the only way Satan can do that is by hurting US!
Paul again
speaking of his own struggles says: " We know that the law is spiritual; but I am
unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For
what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I
do what I do not want to do… As it is,
it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war
against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work
within me. What a wretched man I am!
Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death Thanks
be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to
God’s law, but in my sinful nature] a slave to the law of sin. (Romans 7)
Slaves to sin. I thought slavery was abolished? Not in the human heart, even now the human
heart is in a battle against enslavement by the world system and it's would be
controllers, the comforts of things, position and power and the Spiritual
forces of wickedness that touch us.
How many of you know controlling
people and controlled people? Those who charge themselves into oblivion on
credit, those who have chosen other gods in this world who are not gods at all?
Have you noticed how many of our historic hymns are "militaristic?"
Why? Because we are in a war: . Stand Up Stand Up for Jesus, Soldiers of
Christ Arise, God of Grace and God of
Glory, and Onward Christian Soldier
marching off to war--with the cross of Jesus going on before…"
May I suggest to you that if you can't relate to
both that outer and inner struggle you are not fighting the right battle. No we are not striving with material weapons,
but even those who use material weapons know that the battle starts with the
outer and inner struggles of the human heart. As the old prayer of confession
states: "in our thoughts…words…and
deeds." What does God expect us to do? Turn to God, each day of our lives.
Live in the
reality of Jesus Christ. Paul wrote " God did this so that
they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is
not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in
him we live and move and have our being…(Acts 17)
We can't escape God we are in
him. What we can do is ignore him! Ever done that? Ignored God? Some Christians seem to forget
about God until Sunday morning, then they're all about "God"? One of my mentors said: "going to church doesn't
make you a Christian anymore than going to McDonalds makes you a
hamburger!"
If God is Father and Jesus is
Brother, and Spirit inhabits us, we have an arsenal of support at our heart's
beckoning. In other words to win at least most of the time we need Divine
power, not our own "will-power". Jesus said to his disciples after
his encounter with the "rich young ruler":“ …, “Children, how hard it is to
enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples were even more amazed, and said to
each other, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and
said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God;
all things are possible with God" (Mark 10)
OK: we now are to presuppose that living this new
life is not impossible and indeed is very possible. It is my firm conviction that Christ is about
human dignity, freedom and elevation into God's sphere of being. Paul wrote these encouraging words: " It is for freedom
that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened
again by a yoke of slavery." .On the
other hand, it is also my firm conviction that the Evil One is all about human bondage,
read 'slavery.'. We live the new life in
faith and confidence. The world without Christ
is under the control of the world, the flesh and the Devil.
We did not save ourselves and we cannot keep
ourselves. We are marked with the sign
of Christ in baptism and in the Spirit.
Where we go, Christ goes. It
would behoove us to understand that when people see us, they surmise that they
see Christ and his effect on a human soul.
This is where the unity of spirit comes for Christians. Not only are we
soldiers we are Ambassadors from the King of Heaven. It's a lot to carry, but as we run this race
we begin to win this race and we fall in Love with the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit all over again." Why the fight?
We must learn the ways of Christ ourselves, battle by battle, victory by
victory, prayer by prayer. We do not learn
or grow in the easy times, like nature, we grow in times of adversity. When we are
persecuted, we return to Our Father. Our
gospel tells us that God has our backs.
God just asks for our willingness to go and do as we are led by the
Spirit. It was said to me in school:
"no one has yet seen what can be accomplished by a heart surrender
completely to God." Welcome to the
war. There's good news, I've read to the
end of the story and we win if we surrender to the empowerment of
the Holy Spirit of God.! As you leave this morning: remember freedom. Remember your Father God and Brother Jesus and
finally, go forth in peace in the Spirit's power and in the Name of Christ AMEN
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