Readings: Psalm 52, Colossians 1:15-28, Luke 10:38-42, Amos 8:1-12
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY July 21st, 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
How Long, Oh Lord, How Long? How long is this mans sermon going to be? How long do I have to sit here and endure his blah, blah, blah, God this and God that. How long before I get out of here?
How long before I can back into the real world and do the important stuff. There’s money to make, golf balls that need putting in holes, fish to catch, TV programs I need to watch, home decorating tasks to complete, relatives to visit, food to eat. How long oh Lord?
And into the church walks Amos carrying a basket of fruit. “We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land”. Come and taste the fruit of the harvest! So we bite into the fruit. And Amos asks, “Enjoying it”. ‘Uh-huh’ we reply.
“Well you better enjoy it, because it’s the last bit of good fruit you are going to taste. The harvest is over and the time is ripe for getting your life sorted out. I’ve got news for you. You are the people of God and that means God is on your case. God has been watching you. Not from a distance, but up close and personal.
God has witnessed the true intentions of your heart and noticed that you keep shutting Him out. God has seen the dodgy deals, heard the unkind words, watched over your compromises, heard loud and clear your secret thoughts, witnessed your sins, walked through your world and God’s verdict is; ‘What a mess!’.
And even as you take your last bite the tidal wave of God’s judgment is poised and about to come crashing down on you. Splash! But this time it’s not a few ‘Plip plip plop little April Showers’, but a raging flood that is descending, and it will wash away all that is not of God. It’s going to the bad day of bad days, the fat lady is going to be shedding so many tears she won’t be able to sing a note and not a single hair of your head that isn’t rooted in the love of God will survive.” Such is the uncomfortable message that Amos offers!
Amos 8:11-12 “The time is surely coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from North to East, they shall run to and fro, seeking the Word of the Lord, but they shall not find it”.
Always seeking. Never finding, Wanting God so much, but still failing to make the connection. Moving from this philosophy to that religion, from this way of life to that way of thinking, Dropping in, dropping out, dropping off the edge. Amos sees this kind of behavior as a sign of God’s judgment. And it is something that we see replicated time and time again all around the world.
In this land a variety of voices tell us that there is a huge thirst for spirituality. There is a whole smorgasboard of options to choose from. People try a bit of this and a bit of that and never really make a lasting, long-term commitment to anything, always keeping their options open.
That was how it had become in the nation of Israel under the influence of King Jeroboam and the prophet Amaziah. They had set up altars to other gods than the God of Israel, the One who had told them. “I the Lord your God am a jealous God”, and “I shall be Your God and you shall be my people”. They were a covenant people, established in a covenant that had the force of marriage. A covenant that lifted up faithfulness. ‘No other gods but me”. A covenant of love and life long commitment.
“If you want to be someone,
And you want to go somewhere,
You better wake up and pay attention.”
How does God wake us up and call us to be His people? The scriptures point us to a number of ways. Not everybody has that Apostle Paul experience of heading totally the wrong way and then God breaking in and sending them immediately in the right direction. Some do. But for most it seems a more gradual process.
It seems for many that as we journey through our lives God offers windows of opportunity where we sense a call to commitment. These can be whilst we are or on a retreat or on a mission trip or at a Conference, or they can come at times when we’re just reading a novel, or taking a hike or working out.
Sometimes these moments strike during a crisis, a pregnancy or a birth, an illness or the death of a loved one, the loss of work or the taking on of a new task. Sometimes they just come out of nowhere, unanticipated, unsuspected, even unwelcome. A word of warning. Sometimes these moments even happen in Presbyterian churches on a Sunday morning.
Windows of opportunity, what the Irish would call ‘thin places’ where heaven seems for a moment to make contact with the earth. Moments when we catch a glimpse, or sense a word outside of ourselves, or there is just a quiet understanding that is saying “Commit Your way to the Lord Your God and He will guide your path”.
These moments can be fleeting and transitory and if our mind is so much caught up with the things of this world they so easily pass us by. I know I’m not alone in having that experience where we have a mind to do something, or call somebody, or express concern, and then something else comes along, something usually of much less significance, and the moment is lost, that window of opportunity is gone forever.
“If you want to be someone,
And you want to go somewhere,
You better wake up and pay attention.”
Be attentive because it is peculiarly in those moments that God is calling us to commitment. Not calling us to join the club, or sign up to attend a class for a week, or change our long distance provider. Calling us to make a life-long commitment.
Calling us to then and there to say, “Lord God, I will be Yours forever”. “As for me and my house we shall serve the Lord from this point on and for evermore”. A commitment not to a course of action or even a particular place, but to Jesus Christ, who died upon a Cross to free us from our sins, whom God raised from the dead, and whose Holy Spirit can reconstruct our lives.
If we miss that opportunity, if we don’t take that moment, do you know what happens? It’s back to the Smorgasboard. It’s back to running after this and running after that. Remember the story of the prodigal son? The one who went after this and went after the other, who thought he was doing so well and even at his lowest point thought he could still make a deal. “I’ll go and offer to be a slave and work on the family farm”.
The running only stopped when he felt the embrace of the Fathers arms. Then came the security. Then the hope flooded in. Then everything turned around. Then he knew he could stop running, because he was home.
Amos tells Israel that God knew how things really were between Himself and those He had chosen. They may physically be present on the Sabbath, but their heart was somewhere else. And their hearts weren’t even in a good place. They were just out for themselves and were prepared to take whatever measures they could get away with to get their own way. But a day of reckoning was coming. A day when whatever was not of God in their lives would be put to the test.
None of us lives forever. Scripture teaches us that there will come a day when the curtain closes on our earthly existence and our lives will be up for their evaluation before God. How much of what we now invest our time and our effort in and are orientating our lives towards will stand? What is there that we are doing in our lives that has eternal worth?
This is the challenge that the prophet Amos lays before us. That there comes a day, for all of us, when the opportunity for harvest is over, when the fruit is consumed, when there is no more time left to decide. He points us to the consequences of not making a whole-hearted commitment to God.
That though we may outwardly be living a reasonable life, may even go to church and do and say the right things, if whilst doing all of that whilst our real ambitions have little to do with serving God, then God is not mocked and somewhere down the line, as surely as the harvest produces good fruit, whatever we sow in our lives, will come to fruition.
He pictures for us a world in which people just keep running from one thing to the next until they find their home and their Center in God. How if they avoid commitment the only option open to them is to keep seeking, but never find, to hear a thousand words, but never acknowledge the one Word that matters, the Word that became flesh and dwelt amongst us, the Word that is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Such a message as this calls us to respond in a number of ways. It calls us to repentance. To say to God, “That person who sits in church but their mind is somewhere else, Lord that’s me. I’m the one who’s holding back. I’m the one who keeps looking rather than wholeheartedly committing. I’m the one who needs to come home.”
This message calls us to belief. Belief in the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins. Belief that only by Grace can we be saved. Belief that God raised Christ from death. Belief that through the Holy Spirit God’s resurrection love can work in and through our lives to transform both ourselves and the world we live in.
Most of all it’s a wake up call. To see the bigger picture. To see where our lives are headed if we choose not to walk God’s way. To make a commitment that the number one priority in our life will be acting and living and loving in a Christ-like way in the midst of an ungodly world.
“If you want to be someone,
And you want to go somewhere,
You better wake up and pay attention.”
May God help us to wake up to our need to commit our lives into His hands. Because until we take that decisive step, we are destined to be seekers who never find, and wanderers who never reach home. And then, at the end of the road, when we stand before God, all we will have to offer is that which will not stand. Our empty promises, our compromises and our failings.
What is offered to us in Jesus Christ is a home in God, hope in the security of His love, forgiveness for our sins and the chance to live every day in the freshness and vitality of the Holy Spirit. Let us make such things our own. Amen.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Monday, July 15, 2013
Amos and the Plumbline
Readings: Psalm 82, Colossians 1:1-14, Luke 10:25-37, Amos 7:7-17
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, July 14th 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
In the late nineteen sixties Bob Dylan looked around at some of the perceived injustices of the day and out of his artistry produced the classic folk protest song, “Blowin’ in the Wind”. Let me remind you of some of the pictures he paints with his words.
'How many years must some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free,
How many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see’
Such phrases form a fitting introduction to the message of the prophet Amos. Amos doesn’t write a song but delivers a series of prophetic indictments relating to injustices that lay at the heart of the nation of Israel. One of those indictments formed our bible passage this morning.
In a vision Amos sees a plumb line being held up against a wall. The wall is straight. He hears the voice of God telling him that a plumb line was also being held up to the life of Israel, and the wall that represented Israel was way out of shape. So out of shape that the best thing to do would be to demolish the wall and start all over again.
His message is “There’s something wrong here. And if it is not put right there will be serious trouble heading your way” Trouble in the form of defeat and exile and fear and death. Horrors almost unthinkable would descend upon Israel.
Now Amos wasn’t a local boy. He was an outsider from Israel’s southern neighbors Judah. Israel already had their own prophets, the top man being Amaziah, the head honcho at King Jereboam’s shrine. Amaziah addressed the court with messages of peace and prosperity. The people liked what Amaziah had to say. So did the King. Amaziah spoke about blessing. Then along comes Amos with his visions of doom and gloom and judgment and the people don’t want to know.
But isn’t that the way it is? We want to hear that everything is getting better. We want to know that God will prosper and bless our lives. We want to know that, although we’ve made mistakes, there’s still time to put things right. Amos brings a message that says, “Game over. Get it sorted now or face the consequences”. That’s not a message we want to hear.
A particular concern that Amos has is that of the economic injustice that existed in the land of Israel. The rich were becoming richer at the expense of the poor. The poor were experiencing increasing oppression and burdens being placed upon their lives. And nobody was listening to their complaint, people were turning the other way. The people with power weren’t listening, but God was. And God was going to act if the people with power refused to do so. Act in judgment. Righteousness in the land lifted up the nation in Gods eyes. Injustice bred problems.
If you put that picture into a global perspective, it’s not a comforting one, at least not from where we sit as living in the richest country on the face of the globe. It suggests that if we do not hear the voices of those under oppression and suffering from hunger and abject poverty and who are denied basic human rights, then we place ourselves under the shadow of the judgment of God, because God sides not with those who refuse to hear the poor, but on the side of the poor themselves.
Our temptation is the same as that of the wealthy in Israel. That because we enjoy prosperity, because we enjoy many blessings, because we are free and richly graced with opportunities and possibilities, we make the presumption that God is with us. And if God is with us, then the plight of the poor is not our problem. It must be something that they have caused. They must be reaping the fruits of bad seeds that they themselves have sown. It’s unfortunate, but they are only getting what they deserve. Why should we make it our concern?
Amos suggests that if we are not part of the solution we are part of the problem. That unless we show concern for those less fortunate than ourselves, then the plumb-line is held up against our lives, and no matter how straight we may appear, how materially blessed we may feel, however graced and free we are, in reality it is only a matter of time before what goes around comes around.
One of the failures in the response to the terrorism that occasionally rears its ugly head in our land, is that few want to dig deeper into the causes of why small groups of extremists feel that their actions are necessary and justifiable. The response is often to increase security, to show them who they are messing with, to take them out before they try anything like that again. I’m not saying that such steps are not necessary, simply that they do not dig deep enough into questioning the causes of the problems.
And one of the causes is the tremendous inequality that exists in the world. Whilst we will go home and eat a good meal, countless numbers will today die of starvation. Whilst we will watch nervously to see how the gas prices are fluctuating, others will forage for a bite to eat on garbage dumps they call home.
Because these are not things that are constantly bought to our attention in our daily news, because they go on every day and take place far away, we make the assumption that we have no responsibility, that it is not our problem, that these tragic situations have no immediate consequence or bearing or connection with the lives we lead. Now here’s Amos saying “You are the people of God. Let’s hold up the plumb-line and see how you are living up to your call’.
What is the good, saying what you want to hear, prophet Amaziah’s reaction? He says “Amos, go back to where you came from. We don’t want to hear this. It’s upsetting. It’s disturbing. It doesn’t make us feel good. The kings not going to like it”. Amaziah sends a message to King Jeroboam, in verse 10 “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is unable to endure all his words”
This is a tough passage for anybody to preach. Because even as you prepare it you are aware that it is getting under your skin. That the plumb-line is being held up against your own life. Worse still you see how the message bought problems upon the messenger. The people didn’t just dislike the message, they turned on the messenger. Who wants to bring a message like that? The best a preacher can say is, “Hey, I’m just the message bringer. I don’t find this message an easy one either.”
“How many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?”
Bob Dylan suggests the answer is blowing in the wind. One of the words that the Old Testament uses for the Holy Spirit is ‘Ruach’ indicating the breath or the wind of God. John 3:8 tells us “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
Our need is to ask ourselves “What is it that the Spirit of God is telling us through these words from Amos?” For myself this passage challenges me. Saying “We didn’t know” or “We didn’t hear”, just doesn’t cut it. That as the people of God we have a responsibility to be listening for and looking out for those to whom we can restore hope.
That injustice in the world is our problem. A problem that if we do not become involved with and respond to and deal with will have terrible consequences for our lives further down the road. That protecting ourselves and shielding ourselves from all the bad stuff out there is not enough. That we need to dig deeper. Prevention is a better option to pursue than dealing with the outcome.
It’s our problem, not because we are the fortunate ones, or the rich ones, or the free ones, but because we are the people of God. Being the people of God means involvement in the reconciliation and love and grace of God that is seeking the best for every man, woman and child in creation.
That’s a tall order isn’t it? Rather like all that “If somebody asks for your coat, give him your shirt as well”, “Walk the extra mile”, “Turn the other cheek” “Love your enemies”
“The answer my friend is blowing in the wind.”
The wind of God’s Holy Spirit. Who challenges us. Who convicts us. The Holy Spirit who empowers us with a resurrection message that conquers death, brings hope and healing and renewal and revival. Our calling is to follow Jesus Christ, who in the words of Philippians 2: “Though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave... He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death”
Let us allow God to hold up the plumb-line to our own lives. We might not like what we see. But hopefully it will move us forward into being the people God wants us to be and attempting the tasks that God wants us to fulfill.
To God’s name be the glory.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, July 14th 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
In the late nineteen sixties Bob Dylan looked around at some of the perceived injustices of the day and out of his artistry produced the classic folk protest song, “Blowin’ in the Wind”. Let me remind you of some of the pictures he paints with his words.
'How many years must some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free,
How many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see’
Such phrases form a fitting introduction to the message of the prophet Amos. Amos doesn’t write a song but delivers a series of prophetic indictments relating to injustices that lay at the heart of the nation of Israel. One of those indictments formed our bible passage this morning.
In a vision Amos sees a plumb line being held up against a wall. The wall is straight. He hears the voice of God telling him that a plumb line was also being held up to the life of Israel, and the wall that represented Israel was way out of shape. So out of shape that the best thing to do would be to demolish the wall and start all over again.
His message is “There’s something wrong here. And if it is not put right there will be serious trouble heading your way” Trouble in the form of defeat and exile and fear and death. Horrors almost unthinkable would descend upon Israel.
Now Amos wasn’t a local boy. He was an outsider from Israel’s southern neighbors Judah. Israel already had their own prophets, the top man being Amaziah, the head honcho at King Jereboam’s shrine. Amaziah addressed the court with messages of peace and prosperity. The people liked what Amaziah had to say. So did the King. Amaziah spoke about blessing. Then along comes Amos with his visions of doom and gloom and judgment and the people don’t want to know.
But isn’t that the way it is? We want to hear that everything is getting better. We want to know that God will prosper and bless our lives. We want to know that, although we’ve made mistakes, there’s still time to put things right. Amos brings a message that says, “Game over. Get it sorted now or face the consequences”. That’s not a message we want to hear.
A particular concern that Amos has is that of the economic injustice that existed in the land of Israel. The rich were becoming richer at the expense of the poor. The poor were experiencing increasing oppression and burdens being placed upon their lives. And nobody was listening to their complaint, people were turning the other way. The people with power weren’t listening, but God was. And God was going to act if the people with power refused to do so. Act in judgment. Righteousness in the land lifted up the nation in Gods eyes. Injustice bred problems.
If you put that picture into a global perspective, it’s not a comforting one, at least not from where we sit as living in the richest country on the face of the globe. It suggests that if we do not hear the voices of those under oppression and suffering from hunger and abject poverty and who are denied basic human rights, then we place ourselves under the shadow of the judgment of God, because God sides not with those who refuse to hear the poor, but on the side of the poor themselves.
Our temptation is the same as that of the wealthy in Israel. That because we enjoy prosperity, because we enjoy many blessings, because we are free and richly graced with opportunities and possibilities, we make the presumption that God is with us. And if God is with us, then the plight of the poor is not our problem. It must be something that they have caused. They must be reaping the fruits of bad seeds that they themselves have sown. It’s unfortunate, but they are only getting what they deserve. Why should we make it our concern?
Amos suggests that if we are not part of the solution we are part of the problem. That unless we show concern for those less fortunate than ourselves, then the plumb-line is held up against our lives, and no matter how straight we may appear, how materially blessed we may feel, however graced and free we are, in reality it is only a matter of time before what goes around comes around.
One of the failures in the response to the terrorism that occasionally rears its ugly head in our land, is that few want to dig deeper into the causes of why small groups of extremists feel that their actions are necessary and justifiable. The response is often to increase security, to show them who they are messing with, to take them out before they try anything like that again. I’m not saying that such steps are not necessary, simply that they do not dig deep enough into questioning the causes of the problems.
And one of the causes is the tremendous inequality that exists in the world. Whilst we will go home and eat a good meal, countless numbers will today die of starvation. Whilst we will watch nervously to see how the gas prices are fluctuating, others will forage for a bite to eat on garbage dumps they call home.
Because these are not things that are constantly bought to our attention in our daily news, because they go on every day and take place far away, we make the assumption that we have no responsibility, that it is not our problem, that these tragic situations have no immediate consequence or bearing or connection with the lives we lead. Now here’s Amos saying “You are the people of God. Let’s hold up the plumb-line and see how you are living up to your call’.
What is the good, saying what you want to hear, prophet Amaziah’s reaction? He says “Amos, go back to where you came from. We don’t want to hear this. It’s upsetting. It’s disturbing. It doesn’t make us feel good. The kings not going to like it”. Amaziah sends a message to King Jeroboam, in verse 10 “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is unable to endure all his words”
This is a tough passage for anybody to preach. Because even as you prepare it you are aware that it is getting under your skin. That the plumb-line is being held up against your own life. Worse still you see how the message bought problems upon the messenger. The people didn’t just dislike the message, they turned on the messenger. Who wants to bring a message like that? The best a preacher can say is, “Hey, I’m just the message bringer. I don’t find this message an easy one either.”
“How many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?”
Bob Dylan suggests the answer is blowing in the wind. One of the words that the Old Testament uses for the Holy Spirit is ‘Ruach’ indicating the breath or the wind of God. John 3:8 tells us “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
Our need is to ask ourselves “What is it that the Spirit of God is telling us through these words from Amos?” For myself this passage challenges me. Saying “We didn’t know” or “We didn’t hear”, just doesn’t cut it. That as the people of God we have a responsibility to be listening for and looking out for those to whom we can restore hope.
That injustice in the world is our problem. A problem that if we do not become involved with and respond to and deal with will have terrible consequences for our lives further down the road. That protecting ourselves and shielding ourselves from all the bad stuff out there is not enough. That we need to dig deeper. Prevention is a better option to pursue than dealing with the outcome.
It’s our problem, not because we are the fortunate ones, or the rich ones, or the free ones, but because we are the people of God. Being the people of God means involvement in the reconciliation and love and grace of God that is seeking the best for every man, woman and child in creation.
That’s a tall order isn’t it? Rather like all that “If somebody asks for your coat, give him your shirt as well”, “Walk the extra mile”, “Turn the other cheek” “Love your enemies”
“The answer my friend is blowing in the wind.”
The wind of God’s Holy Spirit. Who challenges us. Who convicts us. The Holy Spirit who empowers us with a resurrection message that conquers death, brings hope and healing and renewal and revival. Our calling is to follow Jesus Christ, who in the words of Philippians 2: “Though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave... He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death”
Let us allow God to hold up the plumb-line to our own lives. We might not like what we see. But hopefully it will move us forward into being the people God wants us to be and attempting the tasks that God wants us to fulfill.
To God’s name be the glory.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Monday, July 8, 2013
Backyard Mission
Readings: Psalm 30, 2 Kings 5:1-14, Galatians 6:1-16, Luke 10:1-11+16-20
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY on July 7th, 2013
A printable PDF can be found here
A friend of mine was a pastor of a number of small Welsh language chapels on the Island of Angelsey in North Wales. He recounted one day a problem he had. There was a lady, 80 years or so in age, whom he had volunteered to take to the hospital for some minor surgery. The trouble was, this lady had never been off the island. In fact she'd rarely gone outside the village.
She hardly spoke a word of English. She shopped, spoke, dreamt and did everything else in her native tongue of Welsh. She'd heard all sorts of things over the years about those people over on the mainland and had no desire to be anywhere else than her village; everything she needed was there on the Island. But now for health reasons she had to go. My friend had a hard time to convince her that everything would be all right!
Now that lady is probably an extreme case, but many folk are happy with what they know and comfortable with their surroundings and wouldn't dream of being anywhere else. A significant number of people grow up, live and die in the same geographical area and only venture outside when it is absolutely necessary. If you are such a person then you'll echo Dorothy's sentiments in the Wizard of Oz, "There's no place like home".
When I looked at this mornings passage, about Jesus sending out the disciples, with nothing but the clothes on their back, my first thought was "What a great text to use at a Missions Conference, but what a strange one to use in the setting of a local church!”
What should I do? Suggest you give up your homes and settled lives and abandon all to go on a mission to who knows where? And all this business of 'shaking the dust off your feet', how does that apply when you live in a community where you are going to meet the same people time and time again? What does this passage about "Sending People Out" have to say to people who feel called to "Stay where they are"?
Then I realized that the point of contact is simply this; the things that the disciples are sent out to do in the world are the same things that God calls us to aspire to as a church within our own community. We are called to mission in our own backyard.
The disciples are sent out to do a number of different things.
· They are to be people who proclaim the peace and wholeness of life that is possible through Jesus Christ.
· They are to expect that not everybody will accept or understand their message.
· They are to trust in God to provide them what they need to fulfill God's purpose.
· They are to pray that God will prompt others to join them in this mission, for "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few"
1. We are called to proclaim the peace and wholeness of life that is available in Jesus Christ.
'The Kingdom of God is near' and it remains near. God is not far off, but at the circumference of our lives, with the desire to be at the center. It is not uncommon for people to feel that God is distant, unconcerned and unrelated to the way they are living. When trouble comes, when disaster strikes, when hardships and misfortunes attack, when loneliness, anxiety or depression set in, then it can feel like God has left town and won't be coming back.
The challenge for us as a Church is that we live as a community of people amongst whom the presence of God can be known as a tangible reality. Our calling is to 'model' for the world what being a part of the Kingdom of God can be like. Through caring for each other and being open to needs in our community, we bear witness to there being a God who cares and can supply what we need.
In our worship services the Word of God is proclaimed. Yes, that is very important. But unless the Word becomes embodied in our lives, then the Word becomes just words, with no function, power or purpose. No-ones going to get to heaven by listening to sermons, or singing hymns or saying prayers alone, it's not just the words, it's who we really are that determines our standing with God. If our relationship with God is a reality then people will notice.
Of course, they might not always like it or even acknowledge it!
2. We should not expect everybody to accept our message.
Jesus speaks of sending His disciples out 'like lambs into the midst of wolves'. The wolf really doesn't care about the lamb, except as a source to satisfy it's appetite. It cares not about the lamb’s morality, about the lamb’s beliefs, about whether or not the lamb is having a good day or bad day. All the wolf is saying is "Feed Me!” If the lamb gets swallowed up in process, then that's just tough.
There are those within all communities, and even within churches themselves, whose primary aim is simply to satisfy their appetite. The politician who mysteriously appears when votes are needed. The down and out who comes asking for money, mouth brimming with promises, "I promise I'll pay it back when I get myself back on my feet". The couple who want to get married and promise that once they are settled they'll be in church every Sunday. The youngster who is confirmed only never to be seen in church again.
I confess to have developed a 'Yeh, Right!' attitude to some of these situations. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't support our leaders, or minister to those going through hard times or wishing to make commitments to each other or the church. It’s just that the wolf will do anything as long it gets what it needs.
The gospel is not good news to those who are busy building their own little empires at the expense of others. It’s not good news for the self-satisfied or self-seeking. It’s not good news to somebody trying to evade responsibility or seeking to get the most for as little as possible. Inherent in the notion of discipleship is the unpopular idea of discipline.
To minister within any situation, be it an unknown frontier or a mission in our own backyard, be it in a time of need or a time of plenty, there has to be an acceptance that no body can reach everybody. Some won’t be reached. Some just don’t want what we have to offer. Some will take advantage. It is fruitless to beat ourselves over the heads worrying about it. Jesus said it would be that way.
God does not call us to do everything for everybody. Yet God does call us to particular tasks. And the things to which God calls us are also the things for which God supplies our need.
3.We are called to trust in God to provide us with what we need to fulfill God's purpose.
No genuine work of God ever failed because of a lack of God's support. The trouble is that God works through people. And people can be fickle. People can get the wrong end of the stick. People can misinterpret God's desires or take action on their own behalf rather than seeking God's will.
That is why I believe the Church has to be a praying community. That’s why this time we spend in worship together is so important. We can waste a lot of time doing things we think we should be doing instead of getting involved with what God is doing. The only way to discern God's will is through prayer and knowledge of God's ways, a great deal of which can be obtained through regular worship, bible reading and study.
As we apply ourselves to such disciplines, our faith and trust increase. We dare to attempt greater things because we have an enlarged vision of God. It is not an easy task to discern the will of God. Not easy - yet not impossible. Small churches can accomplish big things when they are in harmony with God's will.
4. We are to pray that God will prompt others to join us in our mission, for "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few"
It is a sad fact that in most churches the majority of the Churches day-to-day business is taken care of by a minority of a churches membership. Every church member should review their involvement.
If our church were a ship, are we a passenger or a crew-member?
If our church were a corner shop, are we a consumer or an assistant?
If our church were a bank, are we a teller or a customer?
If our church were a factory, would we be a worker or a visitor?
If our church were a football game, would we be on the field or in the stands?
If our church were a fast food restaurant would we be tending at the drive thru window or just be driving through?
Don't get me wrong. I know some of you are giving a tremendous amount of time and effort to this churches work. Yet Jesus tells us that we are to pray that God will prompt others to join us in our mission, for "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few".
As we come to the table, may God help us to find strength for mission in our own backyard. Let us think again on some of the things this passage teaches us.
1. We are to be people who proclaim the peace and wholeness of life that is possible through Jesus Christ.
2. We are to expect that not everybody will accept or understand our message.
3. We are to trust in God to provide us what we need to fulfill God's purpose.
4. We are to pray that God will prompt others to join us in our mission, for "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few."
Around this table let us prayerfully seek for God to lead us and guide us. AMEN.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY on July 7th, 2013
A printable PDF can be found here
A friend of mine was a pastor of a number of small Welsh language chapels on the Island of Angelsey in North Wales. He recounted one day a problem he had. There was a lady, 80 years or so in age, whom he had volunteered to take to the hospital for some minor surgery. The trouble was, this lady had never been off the island. In fact she'd rarely gone outside the village.
She hardly spoke a word of English. She shopped, spoke, dreamt and did everything else in her native tongue of Welsh. She'd heard all sorts of things over the years about those people over on the mainland and had no desire to be anywhere else than her village; everything she needed was there on the Island. But now for health reasons she had to go. My friend had a hard time to convince her that everything would be all right!
Now that lady is probably an extreme case, but many folk are happy with what they know and comfortable with their surroundings and wouldn't dream of being anywhere else. A significant number of people grow up, live and die in the same geographical area and only venture outside when it is absolutely necessary. If you are such a person then you'll echo Dorothy's sentiments in the Wizard of Oz, "There's no place like home".
When I looked at this mornings passage, about Jesus sending out the disciples, with nothing but the clothes on their back, my first thought was "What a great text to use at a Missions Conference, but what a strange one to use in the setting of a local church!”
What should I do? Suggest you give up your homes and settled lives and abandon all to go on a mission to who knows where? And all this business of 'shaking the dust off your feet', how does that apply when you live in a community where you are going to meet the same people time and time again? What does this passage about "Sending People Out" have to say to people who feel called to "Stay where they are"?
Then I realized that the point of contact is simply this; the things that the disciples are sent out to do in the world are the same things that God calls us to aspire to as a church within our own community. We are called to mission in our own backyard.
The disciples are sent out to do a number of different things.
· They are to be people who proclaim the peace and wholeness of life that is possible through Jesus Christ.
· They are to expect that not everybody will accept or understand their message.
· They are to trust in God to provide them what they need to fulfill God's purpose.
· They are to pray that God will prompt others to join them in this mission, for "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few"
1. We are called to proclaim the peace and wholeness of life that is available in Jesus Christ.
'The Kingdom of God is near' and it remains near. God is not far off, but at the circumference of our lives, with the desire to be at the center. It is not uncommon for people to feel that God is distant, unconcerned and unrelated to the way they are living. When trouble comes, when disaster strikes, when hardships and misfortunes attack, when loneliness, anxiety or depression set in, then it can feel like God has left town and won't be coming back.
The challenge for us as a Church is that we live as a community of people amongst whom the presence of God can be known as a tangible reality. Our calling is to 'model' for the world what being a part of the Kingdom of God can be like. Through caring for each other and being open to needs in our community, we bear witness to there being a God who cares and can supply what we need.
In our worship services the Word of God is proclaimed. Yes, that is very important. But unless the Word becomes embodied in our lives, then the Word becomes just words, with no function, power or purpose. No-ones going to get to heaven by listening to sermons, or singing hymns or saying prayers alone, it's not just the words, it's who we really are that determines our standing with God. If our relationship with God is a reality then people will notice.
Of course, they might not always like it or even acknowledge it!
2. We should not expect everybody to accept our message.
Jesus speaks of sending His disciples out 'like lambs into the midst of wolves'. The wolf really doesn't care about the lamb, except as a source to satisfy it's appetite. It cares not about the lamb’s morality, about the lamb’s beliefs, about whether or not the lamb is having a good day or bad day. All the wolf is saying is "Feed Me!” If the lamb gets swallowed up in process, then that's just tough.
There are those within all communities, and even within churches themselves, whose primary aim is simply to satisfy their appetite. The politician who mysteriously appears when votes are needed. The down and out who comes asking for money, mouth brimming with promises, "I promise I'll pay it back when I get myself back on my feet". The couple who want to get married and promise that once they are settled they'll be in church every Sunday. The youngster who is confirmed only never to be seen in church again.
I confess to have developed a 'Yeh, Right!' attitude to some of these situations. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't support our leaders, or minister to those going through hard times or wishing to make commitments to each other or the church. It’s just that the wolf will do anything as long it gets what it needs.
The gospel is not good news to those who are busy building their own little empires at the expense of others. It’s not good news for the self-satisfied or self-seeking. It’s not good news to somebody trying to evade responsibility or seeking to get the most for as little as possible. Inherent in the notion of discipleship is the unpopular idea of discipline.
To minister within any situation, be it an unknown frontier or a mission in our own backyard, be it in a time of need or a time of plenty, there has to be an acceptance that no body can reach everybody. Some won’t be reached. Some just don’t want what we have to offer. Some will take advantage. It is fruitless to beat ourselves over the heads worrying about it. Jesus said it would be that way.
God does not call us to do everything for everybody. Yet God does call us to particular tasks. And the things to which God calls us are also the things for which God supplies our need.
3.We are called to trust in God to provide us with what we need to fulfill God's purpose.
No genuine work of God ever failed because of a lack of God's support. The trouble is that God works through people. And people can be fickle. People can get the wrong end of the stick. People can misinterpret God's desires or take action on their own behalf rather than seeking God's will.
That is why I believe the Church has to be a praying community. That’s why this time we spend in worship together is so important. We can waste a lot of time doing things we think we should be doing instead of getting involved with what God is doing. The only way to discern God's will is through prayer and knowledge of God's ways, a great deal of which can be obtained through regular worship, bible reading and study.
As we apply ourselves to such disciplines, our faith and trust increase. We dare to attempt greater things because we have an enlarged vision of God. It is not an easy task to discern the will of God. Not easy - yet not impossible. Small churches can accomplish big things when they are in harmony with God's will.
4. We are to pray that God will prompt others to join us in our mission, for "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few"
It is a sad fact that in most churches the majority of the Churches day-to-day business is taken care of by a minority of a churches membership. Every church member should review their involvement.
If our church were a ship, are we a passenger or a crew-member?
If our church were a corner shop, are we a consumer or an assistant?
If our church were a bank, are we a teller or a customer?
If our church were a factory, would we be a worker or a visitor?
If our church were a football game, would we be on the field or in the stands?
If our church were a fast food restaurant would we be tending at the drive thru window or just be driving through?
Don't get me wrong. I know some of you are giving a tremendous amount of time and effort to this churches work. Yet Jesus tells us that we are to pray that God will prompt others to join us in our mission, for "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few".
As we come to the table, may God help us to find strength for mission in our own backyard. Let us think again on some of the things this passage teaches us.
1. We are to be people who proclaim the peace and wholeness of life that is possible through Jesus Christ.
2. We are to expect that not everybody will accept or understand our message.
3. We are to trust in God to provide us what we need to fulfill God's purpose.
4. We are to pray that God will prompt others to join us in our mission, for "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few."
Around this table let us prayerfully seek for God to lead us and guide us. AMEN.
Rev. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.
Monday, July 1, 2013
GALATIANS : THE GOSPEL OF GRACE 5.”Faith and Freedom”
Readings: Psalm 77:1-20, 2 Kings 2:1-14, Luke 9:51-62, Galatians 5:1, 13-25
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 30th 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
As we approach July 4th the notion of freedom looms large. The Declaration of Independence declares; “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights – that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Throughout the book of Galatians Paul speaks of how it is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that truly sets people free. Teachers had come into the midst of the Galatian Church and attempted to introduce legalistic practices into their lives. They suggested that if they didn't observe certain rituals, then they weren't really true Christians. Paul combats their teaching by speaking of how in Jesus Christ a new age had dawned, the old religion of 'Do's and Don'ts' had been superseded by a relationship with God; characterized by acts of service in response to the love God revealed through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
In the Message Bible the first verse of our passage reads, “Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.” When Paul writes of 'Freedom', he has a particular notion of freedom in mind.
1. Freedom is not doing whatever we want to do.
2. Freedom is an invitation to service.
3. Freedom is found through following the leading of God's Holy Spirit.
1. Freedom is not doing whatever we want to do.
The spirit of our age could be described as “Do whatever suits you”. Tired clichés such as “It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere” and “It doesn't matter what you do as long as you don't hurt anybody” continue to color peoples views of freedom.
In the United States, some people even see freedom as being related to the ownership of weapons that daily inflict tremendous tragedy. How do we create boundaries around the notion of freedom, without actually imposing restrictions upon what people are freely allowed to do? Paul warns us (again from the Message Bible) “If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then? ”
For Paul it is as simple as the second commandment. The determining principle he suggests is “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. He allows no room for behavior that is either self-destructive or community destroying. Staying with the Message Bible; verses 19 – 21.
“It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.”
Paul was well aware that his theology could be dangerous. By putting such a strong emphasis on grace it could be possible for somebody to say, “I can do what I like, all restraints are lifted, I can follow my inclinations wherever they lead me. Law is gone, and if I mess up, forgiveness is freely given.' Paul would say 'No way'. Your freedom came at a price. Do not treat so lightly the death of Christ. He did not die so you can do as you please. He died to make it possible for you to live in a way that pleases God, a way that flows from gratitude and responds from a heart overwhelmed by love.
2. Freedom is an invitation to service.
Verse 13 “It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows.”
When we respond to the Grace of God through mission and service of others then our lives begin to be changed. Christ sets us free, but not free to do we as we please, but free to serve. I’ve had people say to me, not only here, but in other churches, “You know, I don’t know what it is, but I just don’t feel as connected to the church as I used to be .” If I were given the opportunity, the question I would like to ask them would be; 'How is your serve?'
Not, 'What have you been getting out of services', or 'How much have you been putting in the offering plate', or 'How many services or meetings have you been to lately', but 'How’s Your Serve?' Are you about serving God and serving those you share membership in your church with, or... what’s going on?
Yes we are Free! Praise God, Jesus Christ died upon the Cross of Calvary to set us free. By His blood we are forgiven, by His stripes we are healed! But unless we allow that freedom we are given to be translated into service and mission, than that freedom soon becomes taken for granted and we become disconnected and worship becomes less than it could be and our commitment a lot less than it should be.
The 20th century religious thinker Reinhold Niebuhr put it this way: "Basically love means … being responsible, responsible to our family, (and it is fair to say the word family applies to both our physical relations and our church family), responsible toward our civilization, and now by the pressures of history, responsible toward the universe of humankind."
Paul's definition of freedom implies liberation from the prison of 'me, myself, and I'. To be truly free is to be able to move beyond the self and to take the risk of love and give oneself to the demand of service. To be free is to be free for responsibility, not from responsibility. As Paul wrote to the Philippians church, Jesus had everything in the world going for Himself, power, status and safety, yet He freely chose to empty Himself and take on the form of a servant for the sake of the world.
Freedom grows, not through individual pursuit, but through our efforts to create loving community. Only as we acknowledge that each person has a place in the Kingdom of God, and work towards offering to others the freedoms we ourselves enjoy, does Paul's great vision of there being in Christ neither 'Jew nor Greek, nor slave or free, nor male or female', approach reality. (Galatians 3:28).
But, of course, humanly speaking that's hard. Some days it feels impossible! Where do we find the strength to live that sort of way? Even though we know it's right, even though we recognize servant-hood as permeating the life of Jesus, how do we make those sort of changes in our own lives?
3. Freedom is found through following the leading of God's Holy Spirit.
By speaking so much about the danger of law-dominated religion, Paul has created a dilemma for the Galatians. If religion wasn't about staying within the guidelines and not about 'doing this and not doing that', then how on earth were they supposed to live? If religion was about being free, yet as they looked at their own lives they realized they were not free, but driven by all sorts of compulsions and desires and prone to sin as broadly and freely as their neighbors, then where were they to turn?
There are those who view religion as being a balancing act. If you chalk up enough good points, enough merits, if you achieve enough positives in your life, then maybe they will outweigh the bad points, the de-merits and the negative actions of our lives. At the end of the day, God will add them up and say, 'Hey, you didn't do so bad, c'mon and enjoy everlasting bliss!'
That, Paul would claim, is the religion of the law, and it will never set anybody free. What sets us free is accepting Jesus Christ as the One who died for our sins, putting our trust, not in what we can do, but on what He did for us on the Cross, putting our hope, not in our own capacity to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, but in the glory of His Resurrection and Ascension.
The way that becomes actualized in our lives is the work of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised He would send to His disciples, the Holy Spirit that on the Day of Pentecost changed a room full of terrified disciples into a dynamic band of gospel proclaimers who literally were prepared to face anything for the glory of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Three times in this section Paul counsels the Galatians 'Walk by the Spirit' (16) be 'led by the Spirit' (18) 'Live by the Spirit' (25). “I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”
The Message Bible comments this way on a life lived, not under the law, but under the direction of the Spirit (22-23) “But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.”
Maybe we are more familiar with the translation that speaks of nine fruits of the Spirit as being 'Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control'. Now... please notice that Paul does not describe these characteristics as 'virtues' but 'fruits'. These are not qualities we are invited to work towards making a feature of our life, but gifts that emerge within a deepening relationship with Jesus Christ, a relationship nurtured, directed and guided by the Holy Spirit.
God does not call us to impossible living but to experience a life that is filled with possibility because it is open to God's love, a life of gratitude that recognizes the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as being central to God's purposes, a life that is empowered, not by human striving alone, but that is being recreated, remoulded and renewed by the inner presence and working of God's Holy Spirit.
“Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives.” (Verse 25: The Message)
July 4th sees the nation celebrating it's freedoms. Paul suggests to the Galatians that Christian freedom is not found through independence from God, but through nurturing a relationship dependent on the love of Jesus Christ and the empowering of God's Holy Spirit. He challenges us. "Since the power of the Holy Spirit has set you free, then why not trust the power of the Holy Spirit to direct you to a life of genuine freedom?"
Galatians chapter 5 offers a particular view of Faith and Freedom.
May God help us to allow the freedom of Jesus Christ free reign in our lives. May we understand that law-dominated religion leads us away from grace, and may we experience gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit that enable us to be faithful servants living, moving and having their being in the Kingdom of God. And to God's name be all honor, praise and glory. Amen!
Rev. Adrian J Pratt B.D.
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, June 30th 2013
A printable PDF file can be found here
As we approach July 4th the notion of freedom looms large. The Declaration of Independence declares; “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights – that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Throughout the book of Galatians Paul speaks of how it is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that truly sets people free. Teachers had come into the midst of the Galatian Church and attempted to introduce legalistic practices into their lives. They suggested that if they didn't observe certain rituals, then they weren't really true Christians. Paul combats their teaching by speaking of how in Jesus Christ a new age had dawned, the old religion of 'Do's and Don'ts' had been superseded by a relationship with God; characterized by acts of service in response to the love God revealed through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
In the Message Bible the first verse of our passage reads, “Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.” When Paul writes of 'Freedom', he has a particular notion of freedom in mind.
1. Freedom is not doing whatever we want to do.
2. Freedom is an invitation to service.
3. Freedom is found through following the leading of God's Holy Spirit.
1. Freedom is not doing whatever we want to do.
The spirit of our age could be described as “Do whatever suits you”. Tired clichés such as “It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere” and “It doesn't matter what you do as long as you don't hurt anybody” continue to color peoples views of freedom.
In the United States, some people even see freedom as being related to the ownership of weapons that daily inflict tremendous tragedy. How do we create boundaries around the notion of freedom, without actually imposing restrictions upon what people are freely allowed to do? Paul warns us (again from the Message Bible) “If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then? ”
For Paul it is as simple as the second commandment. The determining principle he suggests is “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. He allows no room for behavior that is either self-destructive or community destroying. Staying with the Message Bible; verses 19 – 21.
“It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.”
Paul was well aware that his theology could be dangerous. By putting such a strong emphasis on grace it could be possible for somebody to say, “I can do what I like, all restraints are lifted, I can follow my inclinations wherever they lead me. Law is gone, and if I mess up, forgiveness is freely given.' Paul would say 'No way'. Your freedom came at a price. Do not treat so lightly the death of Christ. He did not die so you can do as you please. He died to make it possible for you to live in a way that pleases God, a way that flows from gratitude and responds from a heart overwhelmed by love.
2. Freedom is an invitation to service.
Verse 13 “It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows.”
When we respond to the Grace of God through mission and service of others then our lives begin to be changed. Christ sets us free, but not free to do we as we please, but free to serve. I’ve had people say to me, not only here, but in other churches, “You know, I don’t know what it is, but I just don’t feel as connected to the church as I used to be .” If I were given the opportunity, the question I would like to ask them would be; 'How is your serve?'
Not, 'What have you been getting out of services', or 'How much have you been putting in the offering plate', or 'How many services or meetings have you been to lately', but 'How’s Your Serve?' Are you about serving God and serving those you share membership in your church with, or... what’s going on?
Yes we are Free! Praise God, Jesus Christ died upon the Cross of Calvary to set us free. By His blood we are forgiven, by His stripes we are healed! But unless we allow that freedom we are given to be translated into service and mission, than that freedom soon becomes taken for granted and we become disconnected and worship becomes less than it could be and our commitment a lot less than it should be.
The 20th century religious thinker Reinhold Niebuhr put it this way: "Basically love means … being responsible, responsible to our family, (and it is fair to say the word family applies to both our physical relations and our church family), responsible toward our civilization, and now by the pressures of history, responsible toward the universe of humankind."
Paul's definition of freedom implies liberation from the prison of 'me, myself, and I'. To be truly free is to be able to move beyond the self and to take the risk of love and give oneself to the demand of service. To be free is to be free for responsibility, not from responsibility. As Paul wrote to the Philippians church, Jesus had everything in the world going for Himself, power, status and safety, yet He freely chose to empty Himself and take on the form of a servant for the sake of the world.
Freedom grows, not through individual pursuit, but through our efforts to create loving community. Only as we acknowledge that each person has a place in the Kingdom of God, and work towards offering to others the freedoms we ourselves enjoy, does Paul's great vision of there being in Christ neither 'Jew nor Greek, nor slave or free, nor male or female', approach reality. (Galatians 3:28).
But, of course, humanly speaking that's hard. Some days it feels impossible! Where do we find the strength to live that sort of way? Even though we know it's right, even though we recognize servant-hood as permeating the life of Jesus, how do we make those sort of changes in our own lives?
3. Freedom is found through following the leading of God's Holy Spirit.
By speaking so much about the danger of law-dominated religion, Paul has created a dilemma for the Galatians. If religion wasn't about staying within the guidelines and not about 'doing this and not doing that', then how on earth were they supposed to live? If religion was about being free, yet as they looked at their own lives they realized they were not free, but driven by all sorts of compulsions and desires and prone to sin as broadly and freely as their neighbors, then where were they to turn?
There are those who view religion as being a balancing act. If you chalk up enough good points, enough merits, if you achieve enough positives in your life, then maybe they will outweigh the bad points, the de-merits and the negative actions of our lives. At the end of the day, God will add them up and say, 'Hey, you didn't do so bad, c'mon and enjoy everlasting bliss!'
That, Paul would claim, is the religion of the law, and it will never set anybody free. What sets us free is accepting Jesus Christ as the One who died for our sins, putting our trust, not in what we can do, but on what He did for us on the Cross, putting our hope, not in our own capacity to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, but in the glory of His Resurrection and Ascension.
The way that becomes actualized in our lives is the work of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised He would send to His disciples, the Holy Spirit that on the Day of Pentecost changed a room full of terrified disciples into a dynamic band of gospel proclaimers who literally were prepared to face anything for the glory of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Three times in this section Paul counsels the Galatians 'Walk by the Spirit' (16) be 'led by the Spirit' (18) 'Live by the Spirit' (25). “I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”
The Message Bible comments this way on a life lived, not under the law, but under the direction of the Spirit (22-23) “But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.”
Maybe we are more familiar with the translation that speaks of nine fruits of the Spirit as being 'Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control'. Now... please notice that Paul does not describe these characteristics as 'virtues' but 'fruits'. These are not qualities we are invited to work towards making a feature of our life, but gifts that emerge within a deepening relationship with Jesus Christ, a relationship nurtured, directed and guided by the Holy Spirit.
God does not call us to impossible living but to experience a life that is filled with possibility because it is open to God's love, a life of gratitude that recognizes the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as being central to God's purposes, a life that is empowered, not by human striving alone, but that is being recreated, remoulded and renewed by the inner presence and working of God's Holy Spirit.
“Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives.” (Verse 25: The Message)
July 4th sees the nation celebrating it's freedoms. Paul suggests to the Galatians that Christian freedom is not found through independence from God, but through nurturing a relationship dependent on the love of Jesus Christ and the empowering of God's Holy Spirit. He challenges us. "Since the power of the Holy Spirit has set you free, then why not trust the power of the Holy Spirit to direct you to a life of genuine freedom?"
Galatians chapter 5 offers a particular view of Faith and Freedom.
- Freedom is not doing whatever we want to do.
- Freedom is an invitation to service.
- Freedom is found through following the leading of God's Holy Spirit.
May God help us to allow the freedom of Jesus Christ free reign in our lives. May we understand that law-dominated religion leads us away from grace, and may we experience gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit that enable us to be faithful servants living, moving and having their being in the Kingdom of God. And to God's name be all honor, praise and glory. Amen!
Rev. Adrian J Pratt B.D.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)