Tradition Comes in Second

    The more I studied this particular lesson this week, the more I came to see there are two things Jesus goes after in this text, and they are very much related.  The problem is, if I deal with both of those things today, I will be preaching far too long.  We would not be able to beat the Baptists to Tony’s.  So, I will be breaking this text up into two sermons dealing with both of those points separately.  The first point Jesus highlights is the building up of traditions which supersede God’s commands and the second point–which I will deal with next week–is the reason we build up those traditions.  For those of you who have been in church your entire life, you will have a very easy time understanding this.  For those of you who have not been in church and are wondering about Christianity, you might have a more difficult time, but I am pretty sure you will be able to understand more as I go through the sermon today.

    The text begins today with a group of scribes coming down from Jerusalem to investigate the things they’ve heard about Jesus.  Normally, we paint the scribes and Pharisees in a negative light because that’s the way they come across to us throughout the Gospels.  However, in Jesus’ time, the Pharisees and scribes were not necessarily seen as bad guys.  They were actually seen as very pious; very religious; very thorough in their understanding about who God is and what God requires.  These guys tried to walk the walk as well as talk the talk; however, their understanding of how to do so was misguided.  How so?

    The text tells us the scribes questioned Jesus and asked, “Why do your disciples eat with defiled hands?”  Now, this question has nothing to do with hygiene.  It has everything to do with ritual cleanliness.  You see, there is a whole section in the Old Testament Law devoted to what it means to be a clean and pure and holy person.  This meant that you could only eat certain foods, associate with certain people, and do certain things.  If you ate pork, for instance, you were considered unclean; impure; not holy.  (Our Old Testament lesson this morning shows some of those laws.)

    Now, if you read through all these Laws in the Old Testament, you will see that there are some laws which only apply to the priests.  These are laws that do not apply to regular, everyday folks.  The reason for this is that the priests were daily working in the Tabernacle or the Temple and were closest to God.  Therefore, they needed to be ritually clean in order to work that close to God.  The Pharisees and scribes thought long and hard about this practice and came to a rather egalitarian conclusion: if it is good for the priests, then it is good for the rest of us.  If the priests need to do this to be holy, then we ought to do this to be holy as well.  We do not need two separate sets of standards of holiness.  If we, the people of God, are to be close to God and be an example to the world, then we all need to be as holy as possible–not simply one group.

    William Lane in his commentary to this text had this great quote, “Its finest intention was the demonstration that all Israel was devoted to God and the Law, and the fulfillment of the injunction: “You shall be holy to me.”  The Pharisees were convinced that the strict discipline of human conduct was the necessary prelude to the true acknowledgment of God as sovereign.”  So, here we have the Pharisees trying to make holiness an entire nation thing–not just a priestly thing.  Here we essentially have the Pharisees saying, “Don’t think that your pastor is the only one who needs to live a pure and holy life–such a life is to be lived by everyone!  No exceptions!”  It was really a radical thought; a leveling of the proverbial playing field thought; everyone was to be treated the same.

    So, they came up with a tradition that everyone should wash their hands like the priests–mind you, this was not the command of scripture.  This was not what God told the people to do.  This was something additional. The disciples therefore, were not breaking God’s commandments; they were just fine doing what they were doing.  However, they were breaking tradition, and that’s what caught the eye of the scribes and Pharisees.

    Jesus was not happy with this criticism.  In fact, He turned it right around on the scribes and Pharisees. “ 6He said to them, ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.”  8You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”  I want you to take note of a couple of things.  First, memorize the first part of that quote from the Prophet Isaiah, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”  This is a crucial, crucial statement–one that we will revisit next week.  And because their hearts are far from God, they abandon the commandments of God and hold to human traditions.  What is wrong with this?  Let me try to explain.

    You see, the scribes and Pharisees were enamored with God’s Law.  They were enamored with the commands found in the Old Testament.  They wanted to be holy and obey those commands, and they wanted to make sure that no one broke those commands either.  Therefore, they set up a bunch of human traditions to guard the Law.  They set up a bunch of human commands to ensure that no one would ever break the Laws of God.  In their writings, they referred to this as building a hedge around God’s Laws so that they could not be broken.  It could kind of be seen like this: The speed limit on I-10 is 75 miles an hour.  To ensure that I don’t break the speed limit, I will drive 70 miles per hour.  Everyone else should too that way no one comes close to breaking the law.  It’s not a bad idea when one looks at it, so what is the problem?

    Just this: let’s say that God came to you one day in the midst of your living room.  Remember, this is just an example, hang with me.  And let’s say God replaced your couch with another one.  He said to you, “My child, you and your family are weary after a long day’s work.  I am giving you this couch.  Sit on it at the end of the day and be refreshed.  However, no one is allowed to jump on this couch.”

    You thank God profusely for this wonderful gift, and you find that you and your family become refreshed by sitting on the couch.  But you are also worried.  You know that God said not to jump on this couch.  How can you prevent this from happening?  How can you ensure that no one breaks this command by doing such a dastardly thing?  You come up with a brilliant idea!!  If no one touches the couch, no one can ever jump on it.  Therefore, you forbid your family from touching the couch.  No one is allowed to set a finger, a toe, or anything else on it.  Therefore, no one will ever jump on it, and no commandment will ever be broken. Right?

    Wrong.  In reality, you are nullifying one command in your zeal to adhere to another one.  What do I mean?  Remember what God originally said, “Sit on this couch and be refreshed.”  That was a direct command from God as was “Don’t jump on the couch.”  You effectively nullified one command by building a hedge around the other.  You nullified the purpose of God giving you the couch to begin with! 

    Jesus is pointing out something similar with the scribes and Pharisees.  “You are putting human tradition in the place of God’s Law, and in doing so, you are nullifying the very purpose of the Law–and even breaking God’s commandments!

    Then Jesus launches into an illustration.  For those of us who do not live in first century Palestine, this little illustration can be confusing, so let me work through it with you just a little bit.  You see, if you left your family’s house and made your way in the world; and you obtained wealth and property; it was expected that you would take care of your parents.  In fact, it wasn’t just expected.  It was commanded by God in the 10 Commandments.  Honor your father and your mother. 

    But let’s also say that you were a holy, religious sort of person. Let’s say you wanted to honor God with your wealth and property.  You could go to the temple and say, “I want my land and wealth to be Corban.”  Or “I want my land and wealth to go to God.”  This was considered an oath, and God had also commanded that you cannot break an oath. 

    Now, let me make this clear as well: when you dedicated your property to God, you did not have to give it to the temple right then.  You had full use of your property.  You had all your money at your disposal.  You could continue to live off the fruits of your labor, but if your parents needed help; if your parents fell on hard times; you could look at them and say, “Mom, Dad, sorry.  I can’t help you.  I have dedicated all my wealth to God.  You are out of luck.” 

    Mom and dad could say, “Well, could you go to the priests and see if they can renounce this and let you take care of us?”

    If the child was actually wanting to help his parents, he would go to the priests; however, in nearly all circumstances, the response was, “NO!”  The property had been dedicated to God.  It could not be revoked.  The parents were out of luck. 

    Effectively, the establishment of this tradition had created a loophole in the law.  Kids no longer had to take care of their parents.  Kids no longer had to use their wealth and could hold onto it for as long as they lived.  And the religious authorities were laughing all the way to the bank.  Do you see why Jesus became so angry?  Do you see why He called the Pharisees and scribes hypocrites? 

    I think it’s blatantly obvious why!  Those darn scribes and Pharisees were placing human tradition ahead of God’s command.  They were incredibly ignorant!  Their good intentions were so far off base now.  How come they couldn’t see how far they had strayed from God?

    You know, I’m not sure we need to keep pointing at the Pharisees and scribes.  We need to be looking in the mirror.

        Here’s something to chew on: some of you know Adam Smith.  He wrote a tome back in the day titled The Wealth of Nations.  Within this book, he held that there was a guiding principle of the marketplace.  He called it the “invisible hand” which guided the distribution of resources and wealth.  Of course, this is a man-made tradition, and it actually supercedes what Scripture tells us about the redistribution of wealth.  God’s commands are clear and concise: if someone is in need, we help.  We do not wait for an invisible hand to distribute things.  We do it. 

    Yet, how many Christians oftentimes appeal to the free market?  How many Christians appeal to capitalism’s tenets to avoid helping out their fellow man?  How many times to human traditions supersede the command of God.

    Oh, and let me not let anyone else off the hook either.  Every culture in the world has some form of the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  If you were down and out and needed help, you would desperately want someone to help you.  You would desperately want someone to give you aid.  But how often do we see this disregarded?  How often do we turn our nose up at those who are in need?  How often do we say they should get to work; get a job; quit being lazy–without even getting to know them or their circumstances?  Are we not hypocrites of the finest magnitude?

    Yes, Jesus’ words to the Pharisees and scribes are His words to us as well.  We are just as guilty.  And don’t get me started about our own hypocrisy in the church.  I mean, how many human traditions get in the way of our primary purpose?  How many human traditions prevent us from pointing only and solely to Jesus who died for the sake of the world?  How many times do we get caught up in the minutia?  I mean, where in the Bible does it tell us what kind of flowers we need on the altar?  Where in the Bible does it say we have to worship to organ music or piano music or guitar music or even music at all?  Where in the Bible does it say that we have to meet at a certain time during the week?  Where in the Bible does it say we are supposed to wear our finest clothes to church?  All of these things are human tradition, and sometimes we hold onto them as though God revealed them on Mount Sinai along with the 10 Commandments!  And in our zeal to adhere to these things, oftentimes we drive away those who also would like to participate in our worship; in our fellowship; in our ministry.  Human tradition overwhelms the commands of Jesus to proclaim Him to the world.

    You see, our hearts are still far from God.  Jesus’ critique still rings true. 

    Now, as I start wrapping this up, I want to say that there is nothing wrong with human traditions–as long as we remember those traditions come secondary to the main reason we are here.  Next week, I will talk about how hearts get changed.  This week, I want to remind us of why we are here.  I want to remind those who may be seeking why the church exists.  I want our attention turned solely to the cross of Jesus Christ.

    For you see, even though we try to nullify the commands of God, even though we act selfishly and without regard for others, Jesus was willing to die for us.  In our brokenness and hypocritical nature, Jesus loved us enough to lay down His life to save us from ourselves. 

    One of the reasons we get so caught up in traditions is that we believe Christianity is primarily about what we do.  We believe we have to follow the commands of Jesus perfectly.  We believe we have to live perfectly obedient lives.  And when we don’t, we seek to justify ourselves.  We seek to interpret the scriptures to give us a break.  As Dietrich Bonhoeffer would say, “We seek to justify the sin instead of proclaim the justification of the sinner.” 

    And proclaiming the justification of the sinner is our primary focus.  Proclaiming that we are justified not by our own actions but by the love of Jesus Christ is the reason the Church exists.  We are called to humbly walk through this world announcing the news, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him.”  Our traditions do not save us.  Jesus does.  Let’s not give the world our traditions.  Let’s give the world Jesus.  Amen.

The Church Needs to Die

34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.  --Mark 8:34-35

It is quite hard to believe that this July, I will be celebrating 15 years of ordained ministry.  Lots has changed in that 15 years. 

One thing that hasn't is a repeated mantra that I have heard over and over and over again at conferences, in sermons, and read in books:

The Church must change, or it will die!!!

Now, for the record, I once believed this.  I once believed it down to my very core.  I believed that the Church must always be reforming--and to an extent, it must always re-form.  But re-forming does not mean changing.  It does not mean examining our core beliefs and understanding and changing them to fit a culture or a context which has trouble understanding those beliefs and concepts.  There is a reason there is such a thing as apologetics!!!

Reforming, at least in the Church, is a process of going backward to go forward.  It is a process of returning to the basics of the Christian faith which propelled it forward in the ancient world.  It is a process of returning to the bedrock foundation of the Christian faith: we are saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus who lived the life we should live and died the death we deserved to reconcile us unto God.

When this core statement, the Gospel, grasps the heart and the heart grasps it changes you to your very core and being.  For many years, I had heard the Gospel, but I never understood it.  I figured Christianity was best served by focusing on the Law--the doing; particularly loving God and loving one's neighbor.  How simple was that?  It should be relatively easy for everyone to agree upon that?  Right?

But it isn't.  Not in the least.  For loving God and loving the neighbor, while we can agree on the basics, is not easily fleshed out.  It is not easily applied, and it fails to address what is really wrong with the human heart.  

For while I might desire to love God and love my neighbor, more oftentimes than not, my heart centers on myself.  I only love God and love my neighbor in so far as they help me accomplish my goals and my desires.  Unless my heart is deeply affected or moved by the plight of another, I remain content to keep my business as usual approach to life.  And, here is the kicker, oftentimes I engage in loving God and loving my neighbor because "it makes me feel good."  It becomes all about me.

Most of the time, when we examine ourselves, it indeed becomes all about us.  It becomes all about what we want and we desire.  It becomes about how something makes me feel or about how something works to my advantage.  

Institutions are no different.  They may begin with all sorts of lofty goals and ideals.  They may begin with an outward focus, but before long institutional preservation becomes the order of the day.  This is especially true of the Church.  We spend a lot of time, effort and energy trying to get people to fall in love with the Church--of whatever denomination we are a part; of whatever congregation we are a part.  And if things start going south, we proclaim: the Church must change or die!  What is at the heart of this statement?  Self-preservation.

"For those who want to save their life..."

Yes, Jesus' teaching applies to the Church as well.  If we are interested in saving ourselves; if we are interested in preserving our institutions; if we are changing so that we don't die, we will do exactly that.  We will die.  A slow and painful death.

But there is a remedy.  

"Those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it."

Die now.  Die to self.  Die to what we want and what we think will save us.  Quit trying to focus on making people fall in love with us, and work to get people to fall in love with Jesus and His saving action.  Reform.  Return to the Gospel and let it change the hearts and minds of those who hear it proclaimed. 

The Church doesn't need to change.

It needs to die.

Setting Up a Date with Jesus

I remember a Synod Assembly I attended several years ago.  The presiding bishop of the ELCA was in attendance, and he was there to keynote as well as preside over the election of a new bishop.  Well I remember his address to the gathered.

In the midst of his address, he asked us to turn to our neighbor and answer the question, "Why should I come to your congregation?"

The lady next to me said, "We are a warm and welcoming congregation who will accept you and treat you with kindness." 

I responded, "Our congregation truly cares about our community.  We have been actively involved in ministering to our neighbors by building a house for a needy family, paying electric bills and groceries, and making a difference in people's lives."

When the bishop took the stage again, he said, "Statistics show that 90% of you answered, 'You should come to our church because we are warm and welcoming and friendly.'  Very few of you will talk about anything your church is actually doing to help your community."

Deep within I had a wellspring of pride.  Yeah, our congregation is different.  We are doing it right!

What an ass I was.

Not that being warm and welcoming and friendly isn't important--it is.

Not that doing good things in your community and making a difference isn't important--it is.

But these are not what our congregations should be about.  These are not the things which should set us apart.  Neither is saying, "We are welcoming of all people."  or "We have a great music/youth/Senior Citizen/or what have you program."  or "We get along well with each other." or "We work for peace and justice throughout the world."

These are all fine and dandy, but they are all, and I mean all, focused on trying to get people to like us; to be a part of us; to bolster our congregation's attendance; to make people fall in love with our congregation or our denomination.

As such, they fall far, far short of the reality of the Christian faith.  For a congregation should not try to get people to fall in love with the church.  A pastor should not try to get people to fall in love with him/her.  We should and must work to get people to fall in love with Jesus.

At a recent theological conference, I looked around the room at my colleagues.  I noted how very different we are.  I noted how vastly different our theologies were.  In talking to a higher up in synodical structures, I asked, "If you asked the people in there, 'what is the Gospel?' how many different definitions do you think you would get?"  Her answer, "At least 200."  And we would fight about whose definition is right. 

"Look at us!" I said.  "What person in his right mind would fall in love with us?!"  We who are broken, divided, burned out, tired, floundering along without an identity or a shared understanding of the Gospel.  We who have been caught up in the anxiety of a changing world in which we no longer have a privileged position.  We who wring our hands as worship attendance drops, offerings disappear, and congregations close.  We who are focused on survival; who set goals yet never meet them; who talk about having peace in our hearts yet show forth worry and anxiety. 

We cannot try to get people to like or fall in love with us.  It won't work.  Look at us.

Which is why we must get people to look at Jesus.  We must get people to hear the news of what He has done in reconciling the world unto God.  We must get people to understand the radical nature of the Gospel (more on defining this later)--that God/Jesus died for us while we were still sinners; living the life we were supposed to live and dying the death we deserved. 

What we do takes a back seat to what God has already done through Jesus!  (Oh, all those other things begin happening, but only after what God has done becomes the primary focus and proclamation of the Church!)

All of our worship.  All of our activities.  All of our spending.  All of our programming should be an attempt to get people introduced to Jesus.  Until we make this our primary focus, we will continue to see decline and decay.  For churches do not change people.  Jesus does.

When is the last time you tried to set someone up on a date with Jesus?

If you'd like to know more about Him, just contact me.  I will be more than happy to introduce you.

We are Meant to be Here!

Last night, I was caught flat-footed.  It was not a bad thing in the least.

During our congregation council meeting, I was working through a "Finding Your Story" process which I had found immensely helpful in my own understanding of my calling as a pastor and person.  This process was actually meant to be done by groups as large as an entire congregation, so I asked my council to participate.

We spent 30 minutes dealing with six questions, the last one being, "The quotation reads, 'Your church can't be anything it wants to be, but  it can be everything God wants it to be.'  What do you think God's vision is for our church?"

During the duration of the question/answer time, I tried to remain as silent as possible.  This exercise was the council's exercise of which I tried to facilitate not dominate.  I wanted to hear what they thought of themselves.  The conversation was extremely fruitful for me to just listen, and I did so for this question as well. 

One of the answers caught me flat-footed. 

"God wants us TO BE HERE."

That was it.  An explanation followed:

One of the previous pastors came in and said he was basically told to shut the place down.  The synod had done demographic studies and all sorts of other studies which told them the congregation would not survive and it needed to move to a nearby town if it had any chance to continue.  The pastor had been sent to bury the last member and then shut the doors.  But no one here wanted that.  No one here wanted to see the doors of the church shut.  We didn't want to move and then be absorbed by another congregation or what have you.  Something then happened.  There were about 60 of us in worship at the time, and that little group managed to build a fellowship hall and a church building.  We managed to pay it off, and here we are now, thriving.  God wants us TO BE HERE!

Other thoughts were added: 

Yet, we don't want to get a big head about this, because then we get arrogant and think it was all about us.  We need to be humble.

I added:

That's why we preach the Gospel.  The Gospel tells us that it was and is God working through us to accomplish things.  We know everything comes from Him, so when the Gospel is preached and takes hold of us, we cannot get arrogant.  God wants us TO BE HERE and to PROCLAIM THE GOSPEL--WHAT HE HAS DONE.

Wrestling with God's vision for a congregation is a difficult thing.  Oftentimes, congregations focus on what they believe they are supposed to be doing.  Because of this, many times, it's not so much God's vision that comes through but the peoples' vision of themselves, but this seemed different.

GOD WANTS US TO BE HERE!  Being.  Not doing, being.  A presence formed by the Gospel and proclaiming that Gospel.  A presence formed by God's action in Jesus Christ and letting the community know about that action.  Everything flows from this.  Everything. 

This caught me flat-footed because the answer came so quickly from one of my council members.  It was not something agonized over and wrestled over with difficulty.  It flowed.  It caught me flat-footed because of its simplicity.  It caught me flat-footed because it seemed right--deep down in the core of my being, I sensed it was the Truth.  It caught me flat-footed because I expected something quite different, but what was said and brought forth was better than whatever expectation I had.

God wants us to be here.

Amen.

No, Marcus. Jesus was God.

Because of Facebook, I was exposed to this blog post by Marcus Borg.  The content is disturbing on more than one level, not the least of which is the heresy of Arianism which he openly preaches.  It is also disturbing because there are many within my denomination who follow Dr. Borg ideologically and embrace his teaching as the doctrine to which the church should preach and teach.

Dr. Borg is an intelligent man.  He is well read and well versed in many things, but he is completely and utterly wrong in making many of his assertions in his attempt to make Christianity relevant (dare I say palatable) to a particular group of people.

Let's simply take the following assertion from his blog post:

1. Was Jesus God? No. Not even the New Testament says that. It speaks of him as the Word of God, the Son of God, the Messiah, and so forth, but never simply identifies him with or equates him with God. As John’s gospel puts it, he is the Word become flesh – that is, he reveals what can be seen of God in a finite human life. To say, “I believe Jesus was God” (as some Christians do, or think they are supposed to) goes beyond what the New Testament affirms and is thus more than biblical. He is the Word incarnate – not the disembodied Word.

Read more: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/marcusborg/2014/06/a-letter-about-jesus/#ixzz36F2KfAqf

Borg would do well to remember Christianity's assertion that Jesus is the God made flesh--God incarnate, but that's not his assertion.  Borg's assertion is that the New Testament does not speak of Jesus as God.  He is absolutely wrong on this point.  Absolutely wrong, and I go beyond the statements in the Gospel of John to state my case.

Let's take look at the book of Matthew as a frame of reference.  Most biblical scholars assert that Matthew was written by a Jewish-Christian for a Jewish-Christian audience.  This is important.  Why?

Oxford scholar Richard Bauckham has argued rather thoroughly and decisively in Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Studies on the New Testament's Christology of Divine Identity  that there was no middle ground for people of the Jewish faith.  God was God.  People were people.  There were no stages of holiness.  To worship anything or anyone other than God--the I am--was blasphemy and idolatry.  There are no instances, and I mean no instances of the worship of any intermediaries or "god like" people or objects.  Yet, the gospel writer Matthew includes three snippets:

And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’ --Matthew 14:33

Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. --Matthew 28:9

When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. --Matthew 28:17

Remember, Jews absolutely, positively did not worship anyone or anything other than God.  Yet, they were worshiping Jesus.  Conclusion: Jesus is being shown unequivocally by Matthew to be God.

Yet, it doesn't stop there.  Matthew doubles down on the notion that Jesus is God on the Sermon on the Mount.  This is found in Matthew chapters 5 through 7.  There is a repetitive phrase spoken by Jesus over and over and over, "You have heard it said...but I say to you..."

Every time Jesus says, "You have heard it said..." He refers to Old Testament Law.  And who gave the Old Testament Law--according to Jewish tradition?  Don't think Moses.  Moses merely conveyed the Law which was given to Him by...God.  God spoke the Law.  God was the initiator of the Law, and Jesus has the audacity to say "You have heard it said...BUT I say to you..."  Jesus is giving Himself quite the high place, don't you think?  He is daring to place His teachings above God's teachings.  Any Jew would have walked away from Him in a heart beat because He dared to do this--unless that Jew believed Jesus to be God--the God made flesh--the God incarnate. 

It is vitally important to recognize that Jesus was God--and is testified as God throughout the New Testament.  Grace only works if Jesus is God.  For the doctrine of grace states that God reconciled the world unto Himself through the Son.  No human being could reconcile the world unto God--only God could.  

But the reading and listening to Borg that I have done does not center on this act of reconciliation.  Borg is consumed by what Christians are supposed to do.  For Borg, Christianity is not focused on what God has done, but is focused on what we do.  For Borg, it's all about our actions, not about grace.  

It is not surprising considering his particular bias, but what is surprising, at least in my estimation, is how many folks embrace what Borg teaches when it is contrary to the New Testament, to most Christian Scholarship, and to the entire, orthodox tradition of Christianity.  He is even lifted up and advertized in my own denomination as someone cutting edge and well worth reading.  *Sigh.*

How is it possible that a scholar who preaches false doctrine is held in such esteem?  When you figure that one out, please let me know.

Striving for Perfection

    As per the church-wide email I sent out this past week, I need your help this morning as we begin into this sermon.  I asked everyone to consider what a perfect congregation might look like.  What are its character traits?  What are the things it does?  If you would, please share some of your thoughts this morning.  Those of you who did not get this email, please, off the tops of your heads, share your thoughts about what character traits the “perfect” church has and what things such a church would do.

(Other notables from the first service responses: freedom to express one's view without judgement; people pray for each other [response from a 9 year old], people listen to the contributions of youth; outreach oriented; no quarreling)

    O.K. So, these are the character traits and actions that those of us who are gathered here this morning see in a perfect congregation.  There might be a few more that we could add, but let’s say that this indeed represents a perfect congregation.  Now, let me ask you this: if this represents a perfect congregation, are there such things as perfect congregations around?  Has there ever been a congregation which in actuality meets this vision?

    Did you say no?  I’d be flabbergasted if you said yes.  You and I know there is no such thing as a perfect church or a perfect congregation.  You and I know that sin pervades every aspect of our lives here on this planet and is inescapable.  You and I know perfection is an unattainable reality until we pass the threshold of death.  This is something we cognitively know.  And so I must ask, if we know that we cannot reach perfection, why do we have a vision of it?  Why does such a vision even exist?  I mean if we can’t attain it, why even bother to think about it?

    Last Sunday, our Gospel lesson began with these words from Matthew Chapter 5, Jesus said, “Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven.”  Jesus then shows what it means to be more righteous than the scribes and the Pharisees.  “You have heard it said to those of ancient times, you shall not murder.  But I tell you if you are angry with a brother or sister, you are liable to judgment...You have heard it said to those of ancient times you shall not commit adultery.  But I tell you if you look at a woman with lust in your heart you have committed adultery with her.  You have heard it said you may write a woman a certificate of divorce.  But I tell you if you divorce a woman you cause her to commit adultery and if you marry a woman who has been divorced you commit adultery.  You have heard it said do not swear falsely, but I say do not swear at all, by heaven, by earth, or by Jerusalem.  Let your word be yes, yes or no, no.  Anything else comes from the evil one.”

    Today, Jesus finishes out His sayings about true righteousness.  It doesn’t get any easier.  “You have heard it said an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth, but I say if someone strikes you on the right cheek, offer them your left also.  Give your shirt as well as your cloak.  Go the extra mile.  You have heard it said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say love your enemy and bless those who persecute you so that you may be children of your Father in Heaven.  Be perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

    There you have it.  This is true righteousness.  Perfection.  Just as God is perfect, you be perfect as well.  This concludes Jesus’ vision of what it means to be truly righteous.  As I said last time, true righteousness consists of having one’s heart in complete and total alignment with God’s heart.  True righteousness is a heart condition for out of one’s heart comes anger and lust and failure to commit and fear of saying simply yes, yes or no, no.  Out of the heart comes the desire for revenge and retribution.  Out of the heart comes the desire to hate one’s enemy.  Only a changed heart can defeat such things.  Only a heart that is completely and totally oriented toward God and toward what is good can accomplish what Jesus says in this Sermon on the Mount.

    And as I said last Sunday, so I say again.  We cannot do it.  We cannot willingly make ourselves good.  There is a part of us which seeks our own self-interest.  There is a part of us which continually seeks to take care of our own selves and those closest to us at the expense of others.  There is a part of us which puts our own ego; our own righteousness over others and sees others as less than us.  This part is constantly in rebellion against God and is constantly unleashing all those things Jesus warns us against.

    You know this.  You see it all the time.  You participate in it.  We all do.  None of us can escape it.  So if this is the case...  If we know we continue to have these things come out of our hearts despite our best efforts...  If indeed our righteousness cannot ever exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees and then therefore we cannot ever enter the Kingdom of heaven...then what’s the point?  If we cannot achieve perfection, then why does Jesus set it as the goal?

    I think there are at least two very good reasons for this.  The first reason is one I have articulated before, and it comes from sports.  The record holder for the highest career batting average is held by Ty Cobb.  His career batting average was, get this .366.  This meant, he got a hit generally 1 out of every three times he came to bat.  Mind you, he didn’t hit a home run every time he came to the plate–even though that would be the ideal.  He didn’t get on base every time he came to the plate to bat–even that would have been awesome.  He didn’t even get on base half the time he came to bat.  36% of the time he came to bat, he got on base.  And he’s in the baseball Hall of Fame.  Can you imagine giving a child a pat on the back for making a 36 on a test?  Yet, that’s what folks did with Ty Cobb.  They applauded him for his efforts.

    Now, do you think Ty became disgusted with the way he played by batting .366 for his career?  Do you think he became disgusted with himself because he couldn’t hit a home run every time he came up to bat?  Do you think he thought of quitting baseball because he wasn’t able to get on base every time he went to the plate to face a pitcher?  No.  Of course he didn’t because there was always the chance to hit the home run.  There was always the chance of achieving a little piece of perfection.  There was the goal, dangling out there begging to be reached.  Generally, we can approach humankind in a couple of fashions.  We can set the bar low, and believe me, folks will reach it and then stop.  Or, we can set the bar high and just see how close people come to reaching it.  One of these ways will unlock greater potential.  One of them won’t.  I’ll let you decide.

    The other reason for setting perfection as a goal is a little different.  It isn’t about unleashing potential–it’s about keeping a person humble.  You see, if God is the only one who can be perfect, and perfection is the only way to achieve true righteousness–true holiness, then I can never be holy on my own.  I can never be righteous on my own.  I will never reach the pinnacle of perfection.   Every time I try to reach it, I will fail.  By my own efforts I can never achieve it.  If I realize this, where does this leave me?  Where do I end up if I know I cannot achieve what is required of me?  Well, I will probably give up.  If it is something I want badly enough, I will probably get depressed and angry.  I will probably shake my fist and have tears well up in my eyes because I cannot get what I desire so badly.  And then I resign myself to my failure.  At this point, and only at this point am I willing to acknowledge my need for help.  At this point, God usually reveals to us something wonderful:

    For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that the world may be saved through Him.

    My achieving righteousness does not depend upon my work but on God’s work.  My holiness does not come about because I am superhumanly good, but it comes about because Christ is superhumanly good.  My salvation depends not on my righteousness but on Christ’s righteousness.  Only in my humility can I recognize this. 

    When perfection is the goal, when the bar is set high, we reach for it and are challenged by it.  When perfection is the goal, we are humbled by it and recognize our need for grace.  We may never be perfect people.  We may never be a perfect congregation, but we need that vision before us to challenge us, to humble us, and to help us live God’s Word daily. Amen.

So What if the Government Shut Down Permanently?

October 1, 2013.  All non-essential parts of the U.S. Government are currently shut down because of an inability on the part of Republicans and Democrats to put together a bill for funding.

Let's put the blame game aside for a little while.  I am sure more than a few people will have a lot of fun jumping into it and deciding the political fallout from it.  I am not much interested in such matters.  Seems to me no matter what party holds power, nothing much really, truly changes.  The rich keep getting richer.  The poor keep getting poorer.  The cyclical narrative which has occurred throughout history keeps repeating itself as it will probably keep repeating itself until Kingdom come.

But I ask the question today: what would happen if the government shut down permanently?  More specifically: what would the Church do if the U.S. Government shut down permanently? 

Now, I am going to look at my own particular denomination: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  How would such a thing affect the mission and ministry we strive to accomplish?

On one level, it wouldn't change much.  I mean, I know most congregations would still have worship services.  Most congregations would still seek to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, care for the poor, sick, widowed, and imprisoned.  The Gospel would still need to be preached.  Of this, there is no doubt.

On another level, however, I think there would be substantial changes.  There are more than a few within my denomination who believe the government should take on the responsibility for feeding the hungry and caring for the poor and needy.  They base such thought in the prophetic literature of the Old Testament and seek to be modern prophets who criticize our government for "buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals."  Of these modern prophets, many seek to influence the political system to bring about their own particular visions of justice--economic equality and redistribution of wealth.  This is not unlike the so-called "Religious Right" which seeks to use the political system to impose a particular set of sexual and familial morals on the U.S.

So, what happens if the government goes away?  What becomes of such efforts?  What happens if there is no political/legal system to appeal to?  What role does the church (ELCA) play?

I have argued in this blog on several occasions that the church's role in society is to stay away from the political process and act much like the first century Church acted.  In that time and place, the Church had no legal or favored status.  It did not seek to influence governmental policy or procedures.  Instead, it sought to proclaim the Good News of Jesus even in the face of governmental persecution.  It steadfastly held to its teaching, preaching, and practice of care and concern for the poor, widowed and orphan, regardless of what particular stance the government held.  It risked life and limb to follow Jesus Christ and His teachings.

It wasn't until the Church received a most favored status in the Roman Empire that the Church had the ability to influence policy and procedure.  And, I would argue, it went down hill from there.  As the Church gained power and influence, it also produced corruption.  In the name of Jesus, people were persecuted, crusades were conducted, Protestants and Catholics fought for 30 years.  Power corrupts.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The power Christians are called to wield is the power of the Gospel, and that power is wielded regardless of whether or not a government is or is not functioning.

Now, I know that there are those who argue that the need of those around is tremendous.  There are those who argue that the numbers of people who are in need and the cost of providing for those folks is too much for the Church to handle.  I say, "Where is your faith?"  Do we not believe in the One who turned five loaves of bread and two fish into enough food to feed 5000 men plus women and children?  Do we not believe the One who said, "Do not worry, if God provides enough for the sparrows, won't He provide enough for you."?

I believe one of the greatest reasons the Church in the United States has declined in the past 30 years or so has less to do with the rise of secularism and more to do with the Church's desire to exert power in the political process.  That's not our job.  Just let the government stay shut down for a lengthy amount of time.  Then, it will become much more evident.