There is no Longer

Sunday, June 24th 2007
Fourth after Pentecost
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Galatians 3:23-29 (Theme: Our ‘Oneness’ in Christ)

23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. 24Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. 25But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

This past week, ours wasn’t the only Vacation Bible School. The Family Development Center was holding its Vacation Bible School each morning, for the children who attend day care there. Nancy Taliaferro had asked me several weeks ago, as she has each year since we’ve come, to take part in their program and bring a “Missions Moment” each day – a short devotional thought on what it means to be a missionary.

On Thursday morning I asked the children if they could imagine what the world would be like if those first twelve disciples HADN’T begun to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ around the world. What would our world look like if they had simply faded into the lost pages of history as a tiny footnote to the Roman Empire?

We talked about how there wouldn’t be any churches – Christian churches, at least – and about how people might not be as kind to each other. There are other things that came to mind that the children didn’t bring up. Universities – do you realize that most of the institutions of higher learning that got started before the mid 19th century were started as church-related institutions? The same could be said for hospitals and orphanages, schools and museums.

We can ask ourselves if these institutions would have come into existence had the influence of faith not been present, and there is a pretty good likelihood that they would have. But the puzzle would be what form would they have taken had that influence NOT been present?

I do not want to present a revisionist view of history this morning. Yes, there were – and are – excesses and abuses, and terrible, terrible things that came about because of the power struggles within the church as well as from the simple fact that the church – in whatever denomination you would care to name – obtained worldly power. You’ve heard me say it before; there is a terrible track record that we as the current body of Christ in our local community have to face up to, OWN up to, and work to undo when we claim to be representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. In some ways, the deck is already stacked against us before we even start.

Those who would rather keep their preconceptions as just that – preconceptions – and not open that prejudice to what might actually BE a vastly different reality – will be our harshest critics – that is, AFTER we ourselves are done. Or at least I HOPE that is the way it would be. We DO, as people of faith, live in a state of grace, but even in that existence, we must be open-eyed when it comes to admitting fault, or wrongdoing, or shortcomings. Whether outside our family of faith or inside, we must always be prepared to ask for and extend forgiveness when we DON’T do as Christ would have done.

But it is precisely FOR those who HAVE their mind made up about us that we are even MORE compelled to show them the radical – the ROOT DIFFERENCE – which the Gospel confronts this world with.

You see, what we see and hear and observe every day is a world based on a binary system – that is, a system made up of two parts – THEM, and US. And it is EVERYWHERE. Do you rent or own? Do you eat in or dine out? Do you shop for name brands or go to the thrift store? Do you drive a foreign or domestic car?

Or let’s think in a slightly different way; do you sing hymns or praise songs in worship? Do you read from the King James or the NIV, NRSV, TEV, The Message … THAT list can go on for some time… do you wear jeans or suits to church? Do you sit quietly or stand and yell ‘amen’ during the preaching? Do you pray long or short? Do you use big words or plain speech? Do you …?

Well, you get the picture, I think.

It’s funny. As a people who are who we are based on the understanding that it isn’t through anything we’ve done or brought to the table except for faith – and even THAT did not come from us, but was drawn out through the Holy Spirit’s presence – we sure do like to set up walls.

The first century world understood all too well what this binary system involved – maybe even better than WE do – here’s the list:

Circumcised / Uncircumcised
Jew / Gentile
Free / Slave
Male / Female

The radicalness of what Paul is saying here and what Jesus was preaching is this: Jesus wasn’t in the business of moving us from one side of that list to the other – it wasn’t about putting us in the more favored slot. It was about doing away with the distinctions altogether. It was about realizing that the true measure of our worth is ONLY to be found in the light of Christ.

And if in that light of Christ we are ALL made Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise, then there IS NO OTHER VALID DISTINCTION that we can, should, or NEED to stand on in order to distinguish ourselves one from another.

What does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

Sometimes we make statements that, though stated as fact, have within them more than a little wishful thinking.

“He’s going to get better,” “I think they are going to pull this one off,” or “Jerusalem will end with a winning season this year.” There is one statement in the passage this morning that at first struck me as though it might be something like that. It is found in verse 28 – the very last phrase:

“For all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
It comes at the end of that list of opposites; Jew/Gentile, slave/free, male/female; and serves to UNDO that opposition between each side.

Or at least that is what it is SUPPOSED to do. The question for us here today is: are we TRULY living as though we are one in Christ?

As I mentioned at the beginning of the message, we had our Vacation Bible School this week. It was a smaller group than it has been in the past, but it was a precious time. And speaking totally objectively … nah … can’t do it. Not with this: the folks from Jerusalem really outdid themselves this time. It wasn’t just the labor and the time involved, it was the willingness to do it all outdoors each evening. It was rough those first two nights, when the temperatures were in the 90’s, but we caught a break the last three nights, with cooling breezes and then cooler temperatures.

What I have always enjoyed about VBS here on the neck is that it ends up being a joint effort between churches. It’s always been the case to see KIDS from one church go to another church’s VBS, but there were folks from at least two if not three other congregations who pitched in and helped in some way with the organizing and carrying out of the VBS.

It seemed to be the case, for this week at least, that we really WERE living as though we are one in Christ, and for that we can give thanks.

But the question is – and will always be a challenge as well as a question – can we live like that EVERY DAY?

Let’s pray.

Scandalous Behavior

Sunday, June 17th, 2007
Third after Pentecost
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton
Luke 7:36-8:3
Rev. Leslie Park, preaching

How many of us would consider ourselves to be a good judge of people? Within a few minutes of meeting someone, we have them “figured out” and can sum up who they are, what they are about, and what they might want from us. Many times this takes place without any exchange of conversation. We size them up, we look at how they are dressed, how their body is shaped, how they come across, how they move. We construct narratives in our mind about the person based on shockingly inadequate information. And this information is collected as much from our preconceptions of them as from what is actually said in a conversation. Yeah, I am a pretty good judge of people. And sometimes I think that is a good thing.

But you know what I cannot stand? I cannot stand when people think they know all about me without getting to know me. They have preconceptions about who and what I am because I am a woman, because I am an ordained woman, because I am in my forties, because I am a preacher’s wife, because I am Southern Baptist. So, basically what I am saying is that I can’t stand to be treated the way I treat other people…

In today’s passage that Lindsey read, we have three main characters: a Pharisee named Simon, Jesus, and “a woman in the city, who was a sinner.” Before we even begin, we have some preconceptions about at least two of the people in this passage.

Simon, being a Pharisee, was a lay leader in the church who was constantly concerned with upholding the letter of the law. Pharisees do not have a positive track record throughout the Gospel narrative. More often than not, they are involved in proving Jesus inept in the keeping of Mosaic law, inadequate in teaching people how to follow God, and inconvenient in the context of their religious obsession with keeping the status quo. I mean, he eats with tax collectors and sinners, for goodness sake! Look in the passage just before our text today. In v. 34 “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” My goodness, he insists on eating with all the wrong people… and here we find him at the home of Simon the Pharisee.

The next person that enters the story is the woman. She is described as “a woman in the city, who was a sinner.” Well, that can only mean one thing. She was a prostitute. And everybody at Simon’s house that night new exactly what she did for a living. She was disgusting to those who found their salvation in keeping the law. They might not have known her name, but that didn’t matter. They knew what she did. They knew her complete disregard for propriety. They knew how she lived her life everyday. Now, here she was, in Simon’s house, blatantly crossing that line of propriety by exposing them all to her uncleanliness. Isn’t that just like a woman in the city who is a sinner.

We have our perceptions about Simon the Pharisee. We have our perceptions about the sinful woman. But let’s get into the story and see how each of these then perceive Jesus. Look at verse 39.

“Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him – that she is a sinner.”

Before even a word is spoken in this passage, we have Simon making the claim that Jesus must be clueless. If he really knew what was going on, he would have nothing to do with this woman. If he really was a prophet, he would know who and what she was and he would never have allowed this to happen.

The question then occurs to me, “Why did Simon invite Jesus to his house for supper?” Was it to scope him out? Had he heard him teach? Did he see him heal the widow’s son at Nain? Was he looking for proof that Jesus was a fraud? Maybe at some point, deep down inside he had hoped that this was the one promised to God’s people in Isaiah. But now, after this incident, he realizes that if Jesus cannot even perceive what is directly before him, how can he possibly understand things of God? Basically, Simon writes Jesus off. Notice that Simon is speaking to himself here. There has been no verbal exchange between the three of them yet. This by itself is a powerful lesson indeed. People write each other off; they dismiss each other even before a word is said. External appearances matter so much for us, and many of us are so quick to rush to judgment, that we will cut off a person even before the person has uttered one word. That is what the Pharisee has done here, to both Jesus and the woman.

There is an alternative perception of Jesus that comes out of the story, and that is how the woman perceives him. Her actions, though incredibly intimate, are not driven by erotic desire. She is not looking to get another “customer.” She genuinely pours out her heart to Jesus, perceiving in him someone who can make her life whole. Do you think she was naive about who and what she had become? Don’t you think she knew how she would be treated in the home of Simon the Pharisee? In this Gospel she joins the ranks of those outsiders who experience Jesus’ healing power like the centurion, the paralytic, the leper, and the Gerasene demoniac. Did Jesus have her in mind when he said in Luke 5:31-32, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call no the righteous but sinners to repentance”? Ironically, Jesus was answering a question posed by the Pharisees and scribes about why he and the disciples eat and drink with… you guessed it… tax collectors and sinners!

What truth is Luke suggesting here? Those who think that they are secure, those who have arrived, those who have perceived the world in ways that lead to their superiority and comfort… Those are the ones that are least able to be open to the word of Jesus to them. By acting on my own preconceptions, have I placed myself in a position of not being open to the word of Jesus for me? Hmm… not a very comfortable place to be.

As we keep reading in the passage, we see a delicious irony unfold. The more that Simon thinks that Jesus is clueless to what is going on, the more Jesus not only sees the woman for who she is, he sees Simon for what he is. When the passage was read, did you wonder why Simon did not extend the traditional practices of hospitality toward Jesus? Why didn’t he offer water for Jesus to wash with? Why didn’t he greet Jesus with warmth when Jesus entered his home? Was he more concerned with treading a fine line? Maybe he wants to make sure all of his bases are covered. If it is true that Jesus is a fraud, then Simon can safely say that he never "really" accepted Jesus, despite having him over to dinner. If it is true that Jesus is the "real deal," from Simon's perspective, he can claim that he was the first to have Jesus over to dinner. Simon is trying to have it both ways, but Jesus nicely slices and dices him to show that he has it neither way. He simply is a bad host. And, as the parable shows, he is a bad host who doesn't know the value of forgiveness.

But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He does something rather incredible. After he tells the story of two debtors, which Simon seemed to understand, in one of the most striking features of the passage, Jesus speaks to Simon but turns toward the woman. When addressing Simon about the woman's behavior, Jesus faces the woman. He says to Simon, "Do you see this woman?" (v. 44). But stop and think for a second. He is facing her, seeing her, looking into her, as he speaks to Simon. It is almost as if he is saying, "I am looking at her. Do you really see her, Simon?" She is one whom Jesus will say has loved much (v. 47). Jesus knew that beneath her seemingly vulgar display resided a heart of faith and love. She is the one who has shown great love, because she realized how much she had been forgiven. It is as if Jesus is saying to Simon, "Can't you see that, Simon? Are you, the one who thinks he is so perceptive about the world; are you really that blind to reality?"

All these contrasting perceptions ought to make us ask the question of what we perceive as we look at people. Are we ones who jump to conclusions? Do we judge primarily or simply by the externals? Will we be smart enough to know how to undermine those who think they perceive a lot without dishonoring them? Jesus has a remarkable way of dealing with the woman and Simon. This passage challenges us to rethink how we perceive the world and people.

But what about the parable? Jesus sees Simon's rush to judgment and wants to point out to Simon how this rush to judgment actually damages his own soul. But how do you do that? How do you tell someone that what they are doing is hurtful? Do you just tell the person, "Simon, you are such a jerk! Can’t you realize what is happening!" Well, Jesus doesn't do this. What Jesus actually does takes lots of insight, patience, and love. To tell a story to illustrate your point reflects a higher order of intelligence than merely to criticize a person for his conduct. To tell a story means that you respect the other person and that you let him interpret it in his own way. So, Jesus will honor Simon's independence of mind while, at the same time, telling a story which allows him "space" to repent and change his life, or not. Could that be another lesson for us?

The story Jesus tells relates to debtors and creditors. Jesus doesn't just pull this story "out of the hat." The theme of release of debtors is central to his message in Luke’s gospel. What anchors Jesus' message in Luke is the image of the Jubilee year of release of debts in the Old Testament. Indeed, Jesus has the disciples pray: "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive those indebted to us." Certainly there is a "spiritual" interpretation of that passage, but Luke has a grittier Jesus in mind.--he will actually challenge the system of ethics in his day by calling for the total forgiveness of debts. So, when Jesus tells the parable of the debtor and the creditor in this passage he is infusing it with language and concepts derived from his whole orientation to ministry. His ministry is about liberation of the oppressed, about the canceling of debts, about the acceptance of unacceptable people into the central places in the Kingdom of God.

Jesus' parable is straightforward enough. The debtor who is forgiven more will love the creditor more. Simon has easily gotten the right answer. But does he see the point? We never really know if he does. But the open-endedness of the text is no problem for us, because it means that Jesus' question to Simon still rings in our ears today.

So whose behavior is scandalous? Is it the woman’s behavior that is scandalous? Is it how she makes her living? Is it scandalous daring to enter the home of a Pharisee and risk contaminating all that are gathered around the table? Not to mention letting her hair down in the presence of men and offering hospitality that was seemingly overlooked by the host in such an intimate and familiar way?

Or is it Simon whose behavior is scandalous, only concerned with his preconceptions and how other people keep the rules that he failed to see himself for the sinner that he really was?

What about our behavior? Do our preconceptions of people stand in the way of us entering into relationship with them? Do we place ourselves in the position of missing out on God’s amazing grace by focusing only on the color of someone’s skin, their inability to speak the English language, their faith tradition, what they wear to church? Do we discount relationships that can show us how true forgiveness and great love have the power to transform even the most narrow of minds and the hardest of hearts?

If we truly pray the way that Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors…” then there is only one question left for us to answer:

“What kind of debtor am I?”

Let us pray.

As Often As

Sunday, June 10th 2007
Second after Pentecost
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
1 Corinthians 11:23-32

23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves. 30 For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

In case you’re wondering, it isn’t a communion Sunday. We didn’t accidentally forget to prepare the elements and lay them out on the table. The flowers are supposed to be there.

What I’d like to speak to you about this morning is the nature of sacrifice.

I had an idea yesterday on my way back from Richmond; an idea of how to bring this message to life in a different way – a very CONCRETE way. It was going to involve some heavy lifting. I was going to have a couple of you help me move the communion table up and put it over here covering these steps up to the platform, and then ask someone else to help me move this little pew back here and move it across these OTHER steps over HERE. Then I was going to move these two platform chairs and the two larger ones that are down there and line them up across the edge of the platform here… effectively setting up a sort of barricade, in case someone wanted to try to … say … come up and get close to, oh, I don’t know … Jesus, here in the baptistery painting – he IS extending his hand out in a gesture of invitation, after all.

So I ran the idea by my … editor, and, though at first it seemed to be a pretty good thing, the more we thought about it, the more it had the potential for becoming too distracting, to have people leave the service wondering why all that furniture was being moved around, to say nothing of running the risk of having someone pull a muscle, or worse. So we decided to keep it in the realm of the imagination for the time being and spare my back and theirs.

But I DO want you to imagine it, and hold that image in your minds – of all this furniture up here being lined up like an obstacle course across the front here, with no real easy way to get UP to the painting on the baptistery wall – to reach Jesus, as it were.

A couple of weeks ago our nation celebrated Memorial Day, and we held our Worship Service here incorporating the program of the VFW’s Local Chapter. We were reminded then of the sacrifice – or rather, the sacrifices – plural – that Memorial Day is dedicated to: those of the men and women who gave their lives for their country. We have that fresh in our memories. But what other forms of sacrifice can we envision? What other sacrifices have we benefited from, either personally or as a congregation, and what PROMPTED those sacrifices to begin with?

We would probably do well to further narrow the scope of our thinking. We are, after all, speaking in relation to the church, and our part in the life of the church.

I want us to do some memory exercises. Think back, as far back as you can, to the first person outside your immediate family – if you were raised GOING to church, if not, the question still stands – the first person you remember by name KNOWING in church. Was he or she a Sunday School teacher? A preschool or nursery worker? A youth or children’s worker or leader?

Now in thinking about that person – was their impact on you positive or negative? Did knowing them – or knowing that you would probably be seeing them again the next time you went to church something you looked forward to or something you dreaded?

Now think, if the person you thought of initially was a positive influence, can you think of anyone who was not that positive an influence on your choice to return or not to church? And if the first person that came to mind WAS a negative influence, can you think of someone with whom you came in contact LATER in life that influenced you in the other direction?

It may seem a little strange to ask you to think of people who dissuaded you from coming to church. As well as those who encouraged you TO come to church, but there’s a reason for that.

First, I bring it up because it needs to be addressed. We do as much harm to ourselves by the attitudes that escape us that are not in the spirit of love as any outside influence or temptation or outright antagonist. We need to hold ourselves accountable and not give in to the temptation of finding fault everywhere but … here. (point to self)

Second, to name that person or perhaps that event that turned us OFF to church and YET to be sitting here today HEARING this is to grant that in spite of that, we are STILL here, or we are BACK here. We still have a longing and a desire to be in community with a family of faith.

Third, I think it is safe to say that we have all – MOSTLY all – lived through situations that in and of themselves would easily have been enough to make us stop going to church altogether. You’ve heard me tell of a couple of those times in my own life. And yet, here I am, and here YOU are.

So let’s examine what it is that brought us back.

I’d like for us to think of what it was. Was it in the form of a person? Was it some prompting in another form? I can tell you almost the precise instance when it happened for me – in a service during a message about the prodigal son – I’ve shared it with you before – to have the image of a loving God who is running towards ME to welcome me back home was probably one of the most transformative moments – in the long run – in my life. But it wasn’t an isolated event – THAT in itself WAS a single event, but it took place in the context of a surrounding community of faith in which that message was received. The acceptance I felt from that church family reinforced for me what I had heard that February morning in 1988. I saw and felt their love and acceptance as an extension of that love and acceptance that the Pastor had spoken of.

Is there anyone who would like to share briefly either simply the name of a person, or in a few short sentences an event that drew you into or back into a family of faith?

‘The Painted Veil’ is the story of a young couple, a British Doctor and his new, spoiled and selfish wife trying to move on with their lives after the discovery of infidelity on her part. They arrive in the middle of an outbreak of Cholera in a small town in the interior of China and are barely on speaking terms. He becomes engrossed in the work of trying to identify the source of the outbreak and how to stop it. She ends up finding work in the local orphanage, run by French nuns to occupy her time, since she literally has nothing else to do.

In one of the most poignant scenes in the movie, she and the Abbess – the Mother Superior – are in a conversation about love and duty, and the Abbess speaks longingly of the time when she was young and in love with God – that was why she took her vows – but in the ensuing years and decades, she says, she and God have had their arguments, he has disappointed her, she has failed him, they have come to a place in their relationship where they exist in a state of studied indifference. It is a terribly sad statement. But she goes on to speak of that being the difference between doing something out of love versus doing something out of duty. Her concluding comment is something like this:

“To do something you love out of passion burns bright, but only for a short time. To do something out of duty can last, but easily becomes drudgery. But when love and duty are one, ah, then grace is within you.”

Thinking back on those people we mentioned or who came to mind a few minutes ago, do you think their influence was born out of a sense of duty, or love, or that grace-filled blending of both?

Today’s question is not what does this MEAN, but what does this have to DO with Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

In your worship bulletins this morning there was an additional sheet. It is the Church and Sunday School Service Sheet. It heralds the beginning of the process whereby the nominating committee begins its work. Over the next couple of months the committee will meet, and meet again, and in between the meetings will be contacting different members of the congregation to see if they would like to participate in the life of the church in a more hands-on way. What that sheet has on it is a list of those roles and responsibilities that are available within the church and help this body of believers function and fulfill its duties day in and day out throughout the year.

And recognizing that we are frail children of dust and fallible human beings, there are also blanks to be filled in if you have seen a need that is unfulfilled, or have an idea for something new and different that we haven’t thought of already, or would like to volunteer to do something that might spark a new fire in others in this family of faith. New ideas are welcomed and encouraged.

So let’s get back to that imagined blockade up here. The question is first going to be a discomforting one: do we find that at some point we became more of a blockade to someone’s getting to Jesus? Did we at some point say something – or NOT say something – that resulted in the distance between that person and Christ GROWING – not SHRINKING?

The second question is the question that brings grace with it: are we willing to join hands – together and with Christ, to break down the barrier, remove the barricade, and open a way for someone to get closer to Christ?

That is what serving the community of faith means – opening a way to Christ. Sometimes this whole business of figuring out what it means to believe in Jesus, to accept him as Savior, to follow him as Lord, to love your neighbor, to pray for your enemies, to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s, to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength can get pretty involved, pretty complicated, pretty disheartening, pretty isolating even.

Serving in any of these capacities – however seemingly trivial, opens you up to an opportunity to have a positive or a negative impact on the life of someone who is looking for God and might only be exposed to that possibility through that one, brief contact with US.
So the question now becomes, as it often does; how will we respond?

The invitation right NOW is to do something very concrete, very exact: pick up a pencil or a pen and go over the list, fill in your name and phone number, and check off or fill in something that you feel God leading you to do. I use those words, “God leading you to do”, in the assumption that we all know what they mean – and I think we do, for the most part, but it can sometimes be frightening to PUT it in those terms – so let me say it this way: if there is something on those lists that catches your eye, that stirs your heart, that peaks your interest … that for some unexplained reason draws your attention more than the rest of the stuff … please be open to the possibility that that is God’s Spirit moving you to step out in faith to do something you might not ever have considered doing before – believe me, sometimes doing something completely out of your comfort zone is the best thing to prove to you that it isn’t YOU that is doing it, but CHRIST in you!

The invitation, beyond, beneath and before that is first and foremost to follow Christ. If it manifests itself through serving in one of these capacities, all the better, but we don’t expect that at first. We DO invite you to JOIN us if you are ALREADY in relationship with Christ to deepen and strengthen that relationship, to walk alongside us as fellow pilgrims on the way.

And now, if you are already ‘all of the above’ – if you HAVE that relationship with God in Christ, if you ARE a member of THIS family of faith, the invitation is a little more of a challenge. You already understand that in a small congregation, members sometimes wear multiple hats, sometimes as members of multiple committees, sometimes as CHAIRS of multiple committees. The challenge and invitation is to, THROUGH that dynamic – THROUGH that wearing of multiple hats, BEING here as often as you are asked to come – two or three nights a week for meetings, SERVING in multiple capacities – the invitation is to find the confluence of love and duty that speaks to what it means to follow Christ and serve his body, all at the same time.

Let’s pray.

Much More Surely

Sunday, June 3rd 2007
Trinity Sunday
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Romans 5: 1-11

1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. 6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

It’s the word ‘Therefore’ that we need to stop on for just a moment. It clues us into the fact that what is to follow is tied to what has been said earlier. It’s no different here with Paul. In broad strokes, the overriding theme of his letter to the Christians in Rome was regarding justification and salvation of a fallen people in the face of a God who is Holy. So we’re jumping into the middle of an argument here. Just wanted to remind you of that up front.

This is one of those passages that begs to be broken down into its component phrases and sentences and thoughts and ideas. Some Biblical scholars and theologians will argue that Paul was primarily a ‘systematic’ theologian – who sat down and, through the study of scripture and by the leading of the Holy Spirit, sort of ‘mapped out’ the ideas of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They will point primarily to the epistle to the Romans because it, more than any of the other epistles lays out in a clear, rational, one-thought-leads-to-another way what Paul’s understanding of the Gospel was. This approach is seen as a ‘Top-down’ theology, where an abstract issue is presented, discussed, argued and the conclusion drawn seemingly apart from what might or might not be happening in the life of that community of faith. Especially since Paul had never been to Rome at the time he wrote the letter.

Other Scholars and theologians will argue that Paul was primarily a ‘task theologian’, evidenced by most if not all of his other epistles – notably the letters to the church in Corinth, Galatia, Thessalonica and Ephesus. In each of THOSE epistles Paul addresses specific issues that have come up in the lives of each of those congregations, and so is engaged in theological reflection prompted by the situations and circumstances being faced by those Christians in those churches. It could almost be called a ‘grass roots’ theology, originating in the concrete, everyday lives of the congregations rather than from what you might call an ivory tower of pure thought – even though that ivory tower may well have been a prison cell in Ephesus.

I would suggest to you that Paul and for that matter, any other Christian who finds him or herself pondering issues of faith, whether independently or not of what they are living through in their life at that moment is BOTH a systematic theologian AND a task theologian. The determining factor is time – how much time do we have available to us to dedicate to reflection on a particular theme or idea? If we have a lot of time, we become systematic theologians. If we don’t have a lot of time before the next thing comes up, we tend to be task theologians.

We are rational beings – for the most part – after all, and we almost instinctively try to find a pattern if there is one present in things. We look for patterns in rocks and call them strata; we look for patterns in the stars and call them orbits; we look for patterns in sounds and call it speech. We look for patterns in fabric and call it plaid (just kidding!). There is something to the predictability of a pattern that gives us reassurance. It is in the knowing what comes next that we find some strength and security.

So is it any wonder that we would WANT to find and understand the rational sequence of meaning within the Gospel in order to be able to understand and expect what comes next? There is more than enough on this planet, much less this universe, that we DON’T understand to make us shudder and fall back onto that which we DO grasp and DO understand and ARE able to predict.

But, lets step back a minute and recap what the Gospel’s central claim is: God in Christ died on the Cross and rose from the dead, and through that – the paying of the price – death – for OUR sins, offered US a way to salvation – in other words – made a way for us – and anyone who would claim that offer – to eternally remain in communion with God God’s self, what Paul calls “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”

So, while there IS an internal – and Eternal cohesion to the gospel, we need to acknowledge that from the get-go there is a break with what the world would consider a predictable order. As we’ve said before, the concept of resurrection, while integral to our understanding of faith as well as some other faiths, is not something that fits into the everyday existence we would observe with our physical eyes.

So here we are, in the middle of Paul’s argument about being justified by faith – and he’s getting to the bit about suffering. And he goes through this striking litany

… suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

We’ve talked about suffering before. While it is not something we WISH for ourselves or anyone else, we recognize that it is part of what defines our existence. We are not exempt from it by virtue of having faith in Christ, and we are no more or less likely to avoid it BY holding that faith, yet it is THROUGH this suffering – whatever form it takes – that Paul is speaking of. Notice that he doesn’t specify the suffering. Although in HIS particular case there is a fair level of certainty that he was speaking of the suffering and persecution he had experienced on his missionary journeys – don’t forget, he was probably writing this letter from prison, awaiting transport to Rome for an audience with Caesar himself.

The way Paul constructs his argument is beautiful and powerful at the same time. He goes on to say,

6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die.

I think I’ve shared this with you before; in college, Joe Trafton, my professor of New Testament, spoke of the single most compelling reason to believe the Gospel – and that was the witness of the Apostles. They were the ones who would be in a position to confirm or deny the reports of Jesus’ resurrection, and they all went to their deaths proclaiming a risen Lord. This statement ties in with that this way: people will die for something they believe in, but they WON’T die for something they KNOW to be a lie. The Apostles would have KNOWN if the resurrection accounts had been lies. And none of them recanted. None of them said ‘stop the bus, I’m getting off. It was all a spoof. We wanted to see how far it would go.’ They all lived the rest of their TRANFORMED lives proclaiming that Christ had risen indeed.

Paul then goes into the final stage of THIS part of his argument:

8But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

It’s a foundational statement. A definitive statement – in other words – a statement that ends up defining something. In this case, the nature of God and how God feels toward humanity. It sets a precedent in terms of what we can expect from God.

So he sets that groundwork and comes to this point:

9Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.

It’s an interesting phrase, isn’t it, “Much more surely”? We would probably say ‘Even more so’ in today’s language – Paul is trying to make a clear point even more emphatic – not only in using the phrase, but in using it twice in as many sentences.

He’s building on the argument he’s presented so far – BECAUSE we’ve been justified – saved – by his (Christ’s) blood – we will NOT bear God’s wrath (or separation from God), because if God gave God’s self for us and reconciled our relationship while we were APART, how much MORE will God’s salvation be effective if we are living in GOD GOD’S self (Through Christ)!

And we come to the conclusion of the passage:

11But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

What does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?

Paul is saying that the only ground we have to stand on is the offering and the gift and the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Period.

It comes with suffering, it comes with endurance, it builds character, and yes, it infuses us with hope. And that is central to the Gospel, because hope speaks of the promise we have in Christ Jesus. It speaks of the assurance of presence with us, regardless. It speaks of the power of the Holy Spirit to guide and comfort, strengthen and uphold us in our times of sorrow and our times of laughter. It speaks of communion and fellowship, found in many different ways in many different places, but always with the same spirit.

Salvation doesn’t depend on what we have done or left undone. It doesn’t depend on how we are feeling on a given day. It doesn’t depend on whether or not we followed the letter of the law or the spirit of the law. It depends on God in Christ, and understanding THAT is what frees us up to proclaim a risen Lord in the face of a world that would try to deny a reality that goes against ‘the system’, that goes to the heart of what ‘the task’ God was about the business of completing in reconciling the world to God’s self.

Let’s pray.