The Mind of Christ

 

16 Sunday after Pentecost

Philippians 2:1-13                                                              

28 September 2014 

Elizabeth M. Deibert                                                                   

Someone once said, “Every thought is a seed.   If you plant crab apple seeds in your mind, don’t expect to harvest golden delicious apples.”  Our minds are full of thoughts.   The question is how much control do we and can we exercise over what thoughts we give most attention.  Here’s a little experiment: right now, try to quiet your mind for 60 seconds. Just close your eyes and try not to think about anything.

Well, how did it go? How many thoughts did you have in that minute? If you’re like most people, there may have been a few moments of complete quiet in your mind, but unless you’ve had a lot of practice at this, you probably weren’t able to completely silence your thoughts.  

In the movie Eat, Pray, Love, Julia Roberts’s character tries to quiet her mind to meditate - only to have a variety of random thoughts fly through her mind. Instead of finding peace in her meditation, she starts planning to build a meditation room in her mind. Frustrated, she drops her head to her pillow, exasperated by how hard it is to calm her mind for even one minute.

It’s called “monkey mind” — when our mind jumps from thought to thought like a monkey jumps from tree to tree. Our brains come up with all sorts of things to think about. It’s estimated that the average person has around 70,000 thoughts per day.    That’s about 50 per minute, almost one per second.

How many of those thoughts have anything to do with our seeking to be more Christ-like?   More Christ-like you say, “Oh, I’m just trying to stop thinking so many negative thoughts about that family member who makes me so angry!   Another says, “I’m just trying to stop thinking about the chocolate in the kitchen cabinet, or about all the things I need to do this afternoon. 

Paul says we should have the mind of Christ, thoughts that are focused on doing God’s will, that we are willing to humbly sacrifice as he did, for the sake of others.  I don’t know about you, but my mind is so full of my own thoughts, needs, aspirations, I don’t have enough room for God in my head.   Christ, our God, is too all-encompassing to fit into the cracks.   I have to do some mind-clearing, quite literally, to gain the mind of Christ.   If my mind is full of worry, full of pride, full of negativity about myself or others, there is no room for God’s grace, peace, mercy, and love to fill me up and make me the person I am meant to be.   Hear now Paul’s challenge to have the mind of Christ.

Philippians 2:1-11 

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, ² make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. ⁵ Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, ⁷ but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, ⁸ he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (NRSV)

Paul begins with a ridiculous set of four conditional clauses.  If there is any encouragement in Christ, if there any consolation from love, if there’s any sharing in the Spirit, if there any compassion and sympathy…Of course Paul knew that all of these do exist in abundance, so writing from prison, with his own life hanging in the balance, he is pushing his readers to fulfill that encouragement, that consolation, that sharing, and compassion and sympathy by being in full accord, by loving one another.   Again, he speaks in four’s.   Have the same mind, the same love, the same unity, the same purpose.

Then he goes on to explain what it means to love:  not being motivated by selfish ambition but in humility, putting others ahead of yourself, looking to what matters to them before concerning yourself with what matters to you.   Paul could have been worrying over his predicament imprisoned as he was, but instead he is concerned about them.   He is living out this key verse by his joy-filled letter to them from prison, when he says, ³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.

Here’s the best quote I know on this verse: “Paul is not asking to think less of yourself, but to think of yourself less.”  So this is not an invitation to criticize yourself, to be self-deprecating, but to become a fuller self in Christ. 

People who are always putting themselves down are actually totally focused on themselves, waiting for someone else to give them an affirmation.  “Paul is not asking you to think less of yourself, but to think of yourself less.”  We actually need to think highly of ourselves, in that we need to see that we are treasures of God, beloved by God, belonging to God, having great meaning and purpose.  Only when you appreciate yourself fully as a child of God, like Jesus did, can you be the empty vessel filled with God’s grace, peace, love, hope, and joy. 

“Paul is not asking you to think less of yourself, but to think of yourself less.”   It is our needy self that needs to keep frequently thinking of self.   Do I feel secure?  Do I feel loved?   Do I have enough?   With Christ in you, yes, you are secure, you are loved, and you do have enough.  

So you can empty yourself of all that striving.   You can empty yourself of all that worrying.   You can empty yourself of self-oriented behaviors – seeking too much the attention of others either by your neediness or your strength.   You can stop all the striving for self-oriented goals because you are secured and completely full of the love of God.   It is yours.   You have nothing to prove to anyone.   You are accepted and loved.  So your self can be set aside.   Your self is fine.   So stop thinking of self.   Don’t think less of yourself, but think of yourself less, less frequently.    That’s where real love begins.   That’s where real unity of one human to another is possible.   It begins with humans knowing themselves to be loved and secure, so they begin to think more of the other.   Then love can transcend the divide between us.

When we stop worrying so much about self, we can actually care for another.   When we stop fearing that the other will take advantage of us, not listen to us, terrorize us, put us at risk, take our stuff, belittle us, disrespect us, then we can get on with loving the other, which ironically, makes our healing, wholeness, peace, salvation come sooner, nearer.   The text says, Christ emptied himself.   We fear being emptied, because we think there will be nothing-ness or worse, someone will dominate us or criticize us for being a nothing.   Christ emptied himself to make room for more of God, to be the channel the God and human connection.   Christ makes it clear that when we empty ourselves to make room for God, there is nothing others can do to take that power and strength and grace away from us.   They can argue with us, mock us, or even kill us, but we are not gone.    We are alive in God – more alive than we would be, trying to protect ourselves and fill our lives with self-oriented passions.

Think of the transformation of families, communities, and churches if each person is seeking to meet the needs of others.   It is not what you get out of worship, but what you give to someone else in worship.  It is not whether you feel welcome and comfortable during fellowship time but whether you make someone else feel cared for.   It is not whether you come to Wonderful Wednesdays or Sunday school because you enjoy it, but whether you are encouraging others to grow.   It’s not about you.   It is about people voluntarily putting others first.   This is a radical notion of being mindful of others over self.   Jesus modeled that mindfulness.   As Christ-God, he was fully God and fully able to avoid all suffering, but he chose to take the form of a slave.  He chose to limit himself, limit his own power, in his humanity, to be just like us.   He could have rescued himself from the suffering and become the overpowering Messiah the disciples imagined him to be, but he humbled himself and became true to his identity and calling.  That’s obedience – to be true to who you really are.  

And who is Christ truly?   He is love, a love that cannot let us go.   God is love, and for God to demonstrate love means to suffer for and with us, to walk alongside us, to feel our pain and loss, our loneliness and isolation, our fears and hopes and dreams so that he can redeem us, save us, give us new life, having lived our life.    Notice that every act of sacrifice is an active verb – emptied himself, took the form of a slave, humbled himself, became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, the lowliest form of death.   And having actively given himself up, Christ is restored as he becomes the object of God’s uplifting actions.  Therefore, God highly exalted him, gave him the name above every name.   In Jesus Christ, God is humbled and humanity is exalted.   In that leveling is our unity, our oneness in God’s love.

And this earliest Christian hymn ends with all of humanity getting on board with Christ’s love – every knee bending, every tongue confessing – Jesus Christ is Lord.   In both his majesty and his lowliness, the greatness of Christ is made known.    And Paul goes on then to challenge us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

To be saved in a Biblical sense is to be healed, to be whole, to be at peace.   But how?   By knowing, by actively filling our minds with the thought, and our heart with the trusting faith that it is God at work in us, giving us both the desire and the energeo (that’s the Greek word) the power or energy to be saved.   So salvation is a free gift of God, yes it is, but not a passive gift.  

We are to actively put on the mind of Christ, knowing that God is working in us to give us the desire or will to be like Christ, and God giving us the power and the energy to be like Christ.  If the desire and the will, the power and the energy are there, there’s nothing needed but my active cooperation with that.   Active cooperation means full submission to God.   Serving God faithfully will always involve both suffering and being lifting up or exaltation.  Suffering is simply an opportunity to draw near to Christ, to develop the mind of Christ, to take on some of the pain of the world to become more like Christ.  Successes are simply opportunities to draw near to Christ – to not think more highly of yourself than you should think.  

 If only we could see that our eternal destiny is this one-ness with Christ, and that the sooner we get on with uniting our heart, mind, and soul with his, the more content, the more healthy, the more saved we will be.   1 Corinthians 2:16 says we have the mind of Christ.  Christ was able to withstand being ignored, misunderstood, criticized, betrayed, challenged, mocked, and killed without losing his sense of purpose.  That kind of mindful strength is ours too as we continually put our complete trust in God, filling our minds with the courageous thoughts of Christ and all the Saints, whom we follow in life and in death, in suffering and in success.

 

Not Fair but Gracious

15^th Sunday after Pentecost

Matthew 20:1-16                                                              
21 September 2014

Elizabeth M. Deibert                                                         

Did you grow up thinking life was fair or unfair?   Growing up with siblings who were 8, 10, and 12 years older, I did not have normal sibling rivalry.  But I do remember feeling that it was most unfair that I always had to go to bed early.   I assumed all the fun stuff was happening after I went to bed, and I was missing out.  

Looking around my small town, I knew life was not fair.  I lived in the big civil war era house.  I can remember well how often I felt guilty that I had so much, while the maid who came to clean our house could not read or write.   She accepted every gift of clothing, toys, and home goods we ever offered no matter how worn it was.   I remember girls on my high school basketball team who wanted to take a shower in the gym because they had no shower at home, while I preferred the privacy and comfort of home. 

I remember in 5^th grade feeling sorry for Sadie (not her real name), who came from very poor family, that she never had a current event from the news as our teacher required because I figured her family did not have a television or a newspaper, and that was not Sadie’s fault, though Sadie bore the brunt of the teacher’s frustration.  I have that same feeling when I read about refugees in war-torn countries – that life is not fair, that I am being paid too well.

But on the other hand, I grumble sometimes.  When I go to presbytery meetings and they list all the salaries of ministers, as they are part of the public presbytery record, I sometimes am tempted to compare myself to other ministers.   I then start thinking that I must surely be working harder than the minister at a large church with lots of support staff.  But then I remember how much I love Peace Church and the joy of developing this congregation with you, and I rebound from that crazy moment of coveting. 

I see people who have suffered through the death of children and painful divorces or other family estrangement, and I cannot help but think life has not been fair.   It seems that life has been too easy for me, at least so far.  But the trouble with all this speculation about life being fair or unfair is that it is founded in comparisons with a marketplace mentality.   God operates differently, Jesus teaches us in the parables.   Let’s hear how:  

Matthew 20:1-16

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; ⁴ and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. ⁵ When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. ⁶ And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ ⁷ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’

⁸ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ ⁹ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage ¹⁰ Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. ¹¹ And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, ¹² saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ ¹³ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? ¹⁴ Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. ¹⁵ Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ ¹⁶ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

The traditional way of viewing this passage is to think in terms of salvation in life after death.   11^th hour conversions.   So it does not matter when you accept the invitation to be a worker for God, you will get the same reward.   We cannot earn God’s love.   God will not give us what we deserve but what we need – life everlasting.   This is great news for those who have ignored God.   It’s never too late.

Another view into this passage is to realize that Matthew’s audience was mostly Jewish.   So the message to the Jews is that while you were selected for God’s vineyard generations before the Gentiles, the Gentiles will receive the same reward as you.   They are just as beloved and appreciated as you, even though you were the chosen first.  The last shall be first.

Yet another way to read this parable is to say that this vision of the kingdom here and now means that God thinks people should get paid enough to live on, no matter how much labor they have put in.  Some of us saw the PBS special on the Roosevelts this week.  Is that the fundamental principle underlying FDR’s new deal which provided unemployment and social security?   The point is not reward for work, but sustenance for life.  The landowner knew that each worker needed enough to feed his or her family that night – whether they had worked one hour or ten.

But this parable is a lot like the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which could be re-named the Parable of the Forgiving Father.  This Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard is really the Parable of the Generous Landowner.  One of the primary lessons of the parable is how the generosity of the landowner upsets people.   Isn’t it interesting how dis-gruntled we get when we compare ourselves to others, and when we think we have by our hard work, earned more than other people.  When we are the ones who have worked hard, when we are the ones who did no wrong, when we are able to rightly claim, “This is not fair.”   Because it’s not fair, but gracious. 

Remember the anger of the elder brother when his prodigal brother came home and dad threw a party.   The brother resented the brother, and sad, “Look, I have been a good son.   What did you do for me?   The father said, “Son, everything I have is yours, but I have to rejoice because your brother was lost and now and found.   The father was so happy to have his son back that he did not care how. 

The vineyard owner is so pleased to have workers, at any hour, he does not want to give them less than they need to live.  The vineyard owner has not been unfair to those who worked all day.  They were paid fairly.  But they resent the fact that those who started later received more than they deserved.

The bottom line is that each of us has received and/or will receive more than we deserve.   The generous gifts of God in Christ our Savior are always more than we deserve, and so we are called to be grateful for what we have and to share it generously, rather than begrudge those who have more or look down on those who have less.

I kept thinking this week about my little classmate Sadie.   Who worked harder in school – Sadie or me?   Well, I walked into school knowing how to read, having had three siblings and two parents who read to me.  Sadie probably never had a book in her house.   I came from several generations of college-educated parents, who had the extra benefit of living securely in this USA.  Sadie’s family was brought over on a slave ship and was mis-treated for generations.   Who worked longer and harder?   I’m the one who was rewarded with teacher and peer approval and A’s for all my hard work.   But was Sadie, in her context, actually working hard than I just to put on her dirty little dress and get there to endure the hostility she faced?    I stayed in education longer and in the eyes of the world am more successful.  Why?  Because I worked harder?  No, the cards were stacked in my favor.   But I know Sadie’s getting a big party with God and I hope I’ll be mature enough to enjoy it.

Who is working harder in God’s vineyard today?  Is it a growing community of faith like Peace Church in the USA or is it a Chaldean Christian Church in Syria?  We likely look more successful and definitely more comfortable, but they are very likely closer to the kingdom of God, as they suffer with Christ.

God's grace is given to each one of us - whether we have served God faithfully our whole lives or we come to know God in that great transition into the eternal.   God’s grace is given to each of us -- whether we have given sacrificially of our time and finances or if we have struggled to share what we have with God and others. Whether we spent a lifetime doing what was right or if we screwed up every day of our life. God's gifts are for each of us and God is generous. You see, God does not give based on who we are, but rather because of who God is.  God does not parcel grace out according to what we deserve.   No, the definition of grace is unmerited favor.  When you understand that, it is easier to become generous, because you see that God will take care of you.   You don’t have to make it happen.   It already is.

It’s interesting that the Old Testament lesson today is of the Israelites complaining in the wilderness about being hungry and thirsty and tired.    Why, Moses, did you bring us out of Egypt?   How quickly they forgot the brutality of their slavery and begin to resent freedom!   How quickly we forget all the blessings we have been given and begin to complain.   How could we possibly complain about the life we have been given – all the creature comforts we have, the freedom of religion, the freedom of speech, the opportunities that abound!  How could any of us with so much begrudge a little extra going to someone who didn’t work as long as we?  

Have you ever noticed that sometimes the people working the hardest are the most unhappy?   Oh, they are pressing on, getting so much done, but they begin to resent other people, who are not as busy as they are.   God is going to love you and bless you, even when you fail to get everything done.   It is impossible to get it all done.  God wants you working out of pure gratitude and joy, not an onerous sense of obligation.   So slow down.   Go to God’s vineyard late, if you are tired.   You cannot achieve grace by getting there early.  Grace is a gift, freely, freely, FREELY given.

 

Community over Conviction

14^th Sunday after Pentecost
Romans 14:7-23
14 September 2014

Elizabeth M. Deibert                                                                   

Last week we considered Moses, the Burning Bush, and Jesus’ question:  Who do you say that I Am?   Today we return to the book of Romans, where we were in August.   Remember that Paul has expounded on the glorious good news of the love of God that can never, ever be taken away from you or anyone else.   Then he challenges us in chapter 12 to be transformed, changed into people who live for God, who love like Jesus did, with the gifts you’ve been given, and even in the challenges of persecution, hatred, evil, that we followers of Christ are called to live peaceably.  As much as is possible (and a lot is possible in the power of the Holy Spirit at work in you!) we are to overcome evil with good.  

So we skipped chapter 13, but chapter 14 of Romans is all about community.   In order to have true community, we must avoid judging and being stumbling blocks to others.   In other words, we value community over the exercise of personal conviction.  

The two disputable matters in the opening of chapter 14 are these: Whether or not Christians should eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols, and whether or not Christians should worship God on certain required Jewish holy days.  Because I know these two issues have been burning in your minds all week, I thought we should address them.   (just kidding)   But really, we can learn something from how Paul handles these conflicted issues for the conflicted issues of our day.   Now before I read this, I want to reassure our newcomers at Peace that there is no serious conflict dividing this church.   But I do stand by my strong words of caution today, because I see too many churches that are leaving themselves vulnerable by tackling too much strong debate without care for community, thinking that that’s the path to consensus.   It is not.  Hear why:

Romans 14:7-23

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. ⁸ If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. ⁹ For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

¹⁰ Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. ¹¹ For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God." ¹² So then, each of us will be accountable to God.

¹³ Let us therefore no longer pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another. ¹⁴ I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. ¹⁵ If your brother or sister is being injured by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. Do not let what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ So do not let your good be spoken of as evil. ¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not food and drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ The one who thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and has human approval. ¹⁹ Let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual up-building. ²⁰ Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for you to make others fall by what you eat; ²¹ it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother or sister stumble. ²² The faith that you have, have as your own conviction before God. Blessed are those who have no reason to condemn themselves because of what they approve. ²³ But those who have doubts are condemned if they eat, because they do not act from faith; for whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. 

Your life and your death is not about you.  It is about God, whom we have come to know in Jesus Christ.   This concept is difficult for modern Americans, who for generations have lived into this notion of personal independence.  I was chatting with a friend, someone I know to be a Christian (not someone in the Peace community) and I was shocked by fierce language she used to describe a family conflict that had endured for 14 years.  She celebrated her freedom to assert herself in cutting this step-daughter out of her life.   Now I know it is healthy for us all to express our angry feelings, but I was concerned about her attitude.  She had convictions I could see, but her understanding of community (within her family) was severely wounded.  Where does my concern turn to judging her?

I see this problem in churches too, though not so often in this church.   Folks have a personal conviction and they bump into someone else who does not share that conviction, and rather than giving room for the other person, they write them off.   Often times they leave the church, looking for another church, where everyone shares the same personal convictions about everything – faith, family life, politics.   Good luck with finding that church where everyone agrees!!

Have you noticed that I am very reluctant to bring up controversial issues in worship?   I mention them, but I try to refrain from telling you how you should think about them, which could become an abuse of the pulpit.   Our Adult education team is very reluctant to present a class that is going to divide people by inviting them to assert their personal convictions in ways that destroys community.   Is this just conflict avoidance behavior?   No, it is a Romans 14 community concern.  Community is more valuable than personal conviction.   Richard and I don’t agree on everything.  If you’ve been around us long, you will have noticed this.   But community in our marriage trumps personal conviction – most of the time.  ;  )   My sister, a Southern Baptist, and I really don’t agree on everything.   She and her husband and Richard & I used to argue, but we gave that up.  We just do not engage the subjects that we know will divide us.  No point in picking a fight.  

There are many personal convictions that could divide this church Peace, if we let them: 

Our perspectives on immigration, military involvement abroad, gay marriage, Israel and Palestine, abortion, gun control, Muslim-Christian relationships are among the most divisive issues.   We could set up classes or debates on these issues, and we might have some fruitful and informative discussions.   But we must do so with great care and concern for preserving community.  We can have these discussions, but we always do so at the risk of someone (and all it takes it one – to the left OR to the right) setting off another person in the group, disrupting community for the sake of personal conviction.   And peace is diminished, and if it gets bad enough, Peace Church is diminished by it.   

For Paul and the early church, the problem was the same, the issues were different.   Nobody here cares about whether you eat meat or not.   We probably should care where your meat has been, if you eat it, but we don’t.   We do not care whether you worship on Saturday or Sunday.   We do assert with conviction that adultery is wrong, that abusive relationships of any kind are wrong.   We can agree that stealing, lying, cheating, murdering are wrong, and that disrespecting God or any human being is very wrong.   We will agree that loving God and neighbor is the key, but how that gets defined in specific ways, we will disagree.  

According to Romans, the problem is we judge one another.  The problem is we make others stumble.   The problem is we care more about expressing what we think/how we feel than preserving community with another human being, and especially a brother or sister in the church.   And Paul uses harsh language – we ruin one for whom Christ died.   We destroy the work of God!

We can summarize the lesson of Romans 14 in the following four points:

• God is the Lord of the conscience.   That is one of our guiding principles as Presbyterians.  Your convictions are yours.  Be secure in them – such that you do not need force others to share them.   Your convictions may be wise and sensible but they are not necessarily authoritative for all people, places, and time. Some of the most confident assertions of the Church have later been cast off by the church 50 or 100 years later.  Some of the most confident assertions of the church in the Southern Hemisphere are quite different from those of the Northern Hemisphere.  

Let God be the Lord of your conscience as you interpret scripture for today.   Listen carefully to the Spirit speaking through a variety of voices.  You will stand face-to-face with God.  We all will.

• Don't pass judgment on your brother or sister if they have a freedom or liberality in an area of faith and life that you don't have.   As the saying goes, when you point a finger at someone else, there are three fingers pointing back at you.   Jesus said, “Do not judge, that you may not be judge.  Stop examining so closely for the speck in someone else’s eye.  Get on with removing the log in your own.”   Oh, but it is so tempting to look for specks.   Let me see if I can see some specks in you all now….
• If you experience a certain freedom in Christ in an area that is conflicted, never let your exercise of freedom cause a weaker sister or brother in the faith to stumble.  (The Greek word for stumble in verses 13 and 21 is skandalon, from which comes our word, scandal and scandalize) Be sensitive to their perspective; don’t scandalize them with your behavior.   Don’t express your freedom as if to say any intelligent Christian or any truly faithful Christian must certainly agree with you on that point.   It is not necessarily true.   Be humble in posturing yourself, that you may not make another person fall.  

• Pursue what makes for peace and building up the others.   This quote connects well with the verse from Ephesians 4 that will be our call to discipleship which I will paraphrase here.  “Speak the truth in love, grow up into Christ, and promote the growth and the connectivity of the body of Christ.”

We simply cannot allow the kind of fierce debate that the world loves to passionately engage, with its destructive forces, invade our church and destroy the beautiful community that God has given us.   We have to live according to our God-ordained unity, building one another up in love.  With the Moravians, a 15^th century movement started in Prague by Christian martyr, Jan Hus (a reformer who came along before Luther or Calvin), we can affirm "In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; and in all things, love" *

Our name is Peace and peaceful and deeply respectful is what we will be in all our dealings with one another – always.

*Often attributed to St. Augustine, this quote seems to originate with Marco Antonio de Dominis, (1560-1624), a Catholic bishop in Italy.   It has been unofficially adopted by the Moravians and much appreciated by other Christians.                

 

 

Mysterious Yet Revealed

Kick-Off Sunday

Exodus 3:1-15 & Matt. 16:13-18 

7 September 2014

Elizabeth M. Deibert                                                                   

To truly understand God, we must hold in tension the fact that God is wholly other than us, as we see so very clearly in the story of Moses and the Burning Bush.   And God is entirely one of us as we see in the stories of Jesus, the Messiah.   This is the unique character of our Christian faith – that God and humanity came together in the person of Jesus Christ.   The mysterious unknown, unseen God who speaks out of burning bushes, whose presence is too holy to approach, did in fact become a very approachable human being.   No other faith group makes such a claim.  This mysterious yet revealed God in Jesus Christ does not give us as much room for misunderstanding as we might have otherwise.   If you want to know who God is, look at Christ.   The same Holy One whose name is unspeakable became a human being.   When we look at Christ, we see a God who does does not use power against people but for them.  When the religious leaders of his day, who were disturbed by his claims to be the Son of God, he did not fear them.  He challenged them, though he did not rise up to fight against them, to defeat them, as he could have done.    Jesus never used his power against others but for them.  

As we struggle with appropriate actions to the atrocities committed by ISIS, our concern should always be humanitarian.   We want to preserve the dignity and life of all human beings.   That’s what Jesus did.   Hatred for hatred is not the answer, though awfully tempting.   Those who commit grave sins against humanity should be stopped, but in ways that do not perpetuate violence, if possible.  Those who brutalize others are dehumanizing themselves, as well as those they kill.   God wants to liberate all of us from our inhumanity one to  another.   God is especially near to those who suffer, as we see in Exodus.   Hear now the call of Moses, the most significant human character in the Hebrew scriptures.

Exodus 3:1-15

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.

³ Then Moses said, "I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up." ⁴ When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." ⁵ Then he said, "Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."

⁶ He said further, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. ⁷ Then the LORD said, "I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, ⁸ and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁹ The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰ So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."

¹¹ But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" ¹² He said, "I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain." ¹³ But Moses said to God, "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?"

¹⁴ God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" ¹⁵ God also said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you': This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.  (NRS)

God calls Moses, explaining “I have seen.   I have heard.   I know my people are suffering.   Go, tell Pharaoah to let my people go.”  God’s active engagement with the suffering people.  Moses is like most of us.   “No, I can’t do that, God.  Why should I lead?”  And God reassures.  “I will be with you.   You can!”  Moses says, “Why will they listen to me.  Whom shall I say sent me? What is the name I shall tell the people?”  God replies,  “Tell them it is the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and my name is not yours to hold.  I Am Who I Am.   I will be Who I will be.”  This is why to this day Jewish worshippers will not say the name of God, when the Hebrew letters YHWH come up, they say, “The Lord.”   God’s name is definitional for being.  I AM

It is no small matter that Jesus used the same language of I AM eight times in the Gospel of John.

John 6: 35, 48 I am the bread of life

John 8: 12, 9:5 I am the light of the world

John 8: 58 Before Abraham was, I am

John 10:9 I am the door

John 10:11 I am the good shepherd

John 11:25 I am the resurrection and the life

John 14:6 I am the way, the truth, and the life

John 15:1 I am the true vine

But in the synoptics, the earlier-composed Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus lives out his identity more than he announces it.   He is more engaged in healing and teaching, and asks questions to the disciples about who they believe he is and who the people think he is.   Let read that brief narrative.  

Matthew 16:13-18

 ¹³ Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" ¹⁴ And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."   ¹⁵ He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

 ¹⁷ And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.   (NRS)

The disciples speak for the people, “John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets.”   And Peter speaks for the disciples.  He announces the truth that had been continually revealed to all of them as they spent time with Jesus.  “You are the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”   Of course just moments later when Christ speaks of his coming suffering, Peter argues with him.   And when that suffering begins with the arrest, Peter denies even knowing him.   But in this moment Peter announces the truth, and Jesus gives God the glory for his awareness of the truth.  Christ further insists that the church will be built on people like Peter, who have courage to affirm their faith, even though they also misunderstand and deny him.   And the best news of all is that the ability of the church to survive is sure, despite our failings and in spite of persecution.

 This is a significant claim to make – one which cannot fall on deaf ears in places like Iraq and Syria, where Christians have been forced from their homes and pressured to give up their faith.  But even as they wade through Hades, a hellish existence, they have the promise from Christ’s mouth:  I will be with you.   

Christ said, ¹⁰ "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹ "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.  (Matt 5:10-12 NRS)

There is consistency between the exodus and the incarnation.  God see, hears, feels our pain, and comes to save us that we might be blessed and a blessing to others.   Yet Christ said, “Deny yourself.  Take up your cross and follow me.” That’s when Peter and the disciples started getting nervous.

So I have two questions for each of us today is this:  How is God calling you?   Moses had his holy ground experience with a burning bush and the voice of God calling him to a task he did not want, but to which he was ideally prepared.   Moses was alone when God called.   Are you listening for God’s voice when you are alone and quiet?   Do you have some time alone and quiet?  Who are suffering people God would have you lead to greater freedom and peace?
    
Next how would you answer Jesus’ question – Who do you say he is?   I want to give you a moment to consider this question quietly.   If someone was genuinely interested in Jesus and asked you to tell them about him, what would you say?    If someone had a gun aimed at you or a machete on your neck, and asked you to deny your faith, would you still have the courage to say, “Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and my Savior.”  I sometimes imagine that if I was in such a situation that I might be like the little old lady who fought off her attacker with love, telling him she would gladly give him the money he wanted, that he deserved a chance at life, that he was a valuable human being.   But often attackers are far too consumed with self-hate and hatred of others to hear anything.   And ISIS is far too consumed with broadcasting their brutality for their evil gains.

No truly faithful Muslim would do what I just described.   No, these acts of terror are conducted by sick people masquerading as Islam.   It is a shame the damage these acts of terror wreak on the reputations of God-fearing, peace-loving Muslims.   Let us never make the mistake of grouping good Muslims with this horrible ISIS group.  Hitler was a baptized Christian, who drifted far away from the true faith, and no Christian wants to be associated with him.  

Enough talk of all the evil in the world.  Let’s remember that we are here to worship a sovereign and holy God.  We worship God because God is worthy of our worship and we are in need of those “holy ground” moments when we hear God calling us, inspiring us to trust and follow, to be peacemakers in the world.

Secondly we come to learn and grow.   We come to worship and to Sunday school, Bible studies, Wednesday nights, and other activities and small groups that we grow in our awareness of who Christ is, so that we can faithfully answer Jesus’ question:  But who do you say that I am?   And further that we ourselves will be defined by that answer.   For God became a human that humans might become more like God, in image of God, obedient to God’s call on our lives.   May it be so.