Your Offerings are Worthless!!

    As I begin, I can’t help but wonder how many folks looked at the sermon title this morning and then thought to themselves, “Well, I might as well just put my offering envelope up and save the money I was going to give to the church this morning.  How dare anyone put such a title as their sermon?”  Before you actually void or tear up that check or put that cash back into your pocket, I hope you will bear with me as we work our way through my sermon this morning.  Perhaps you will understand and then, at the end, be even more willing to give than before.

    Just over 100 years ago, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche helped lay the groundwork for many of the ways our current culture acts.  I can hear a few of you moaning in your heads right now. “Pastor’s going to get all philosophical and stuff.  We will never be able to understand this stuff.  We might as well go to sleep right now.”  Believe me, I understand.  You see, they didn’t have a Nietzsche for dummies book, so I actually had to wade through some of his writings.  More than a few times, my eyelids had to work double time to stay open!!

    But that is not the point.  The point is much more important, one that I hopefully can give you some time to ponder.  For you have undoubtedly run across more than one of the consequences of what Nietzsche taught.  You have undoubtedly encountered someone who adheres to at least part of his philosophical system.  You have undoubtedly run across someone who says, “There is no absolute truth.  What is true for you is true for you, but it’s not true for me.  That is just your opinion because no one can really know the truth.”  You see, Nietzsche proposed that there is no such thing as absolute truth.  He proposed that since there is no absolute truth, the concept of the ideal is irrational.  There is no such thing as justice.  There is no such thing as ultimate kindness.  There is no such thing as good.  There is no such thing as evil.  It is all a matter of one’s perspective.  Therefore, if something works for me and is good for me, then I can continue to pursue it–because it is good for me.  That it might be bad for you is only a matter of perspective, and it shouldn’t really matter too much to me because there is no ultimate judge of right or wrong.

    Are you with me so far?  I hope so.  I hope you haven’t gotten too lost because the next part is pretty crucial.  If there is no right and no wrong, what then is our motivation for doing things?  Why do we engage in the things we do or think the things we think?  Nietzsche offered up this thought: it is all about power.  It is all about how we obtain what we want.  It’s all about how we further our own position and basically survive in this world.  It’s all about our own self interest, making our self more powerful and ultimately, putting ourselves in the most advantageous position possible.  Chew on this for just a second.  I mean, really chew on this.  Without any sort of transcendence; without any sense of something beyond ourselves; it leads us directly to relativism–no right and no wrong and unbounded self-interest.  Do you see how our society today has been impacted by Nietzsche?  Do you see how such things infest our culture?  If you need any further evidence, I point to this past political cycle and the fallout from this past Tuesday’s election.  Have you noticed all the spin put on the results?  Each side is trying to manipulate what happened to its own advantage with the goal of obtaining more and more power to accomplish its own agenda.  Nietzsche nailed it.

    There is a bit of a quibble I have with Nietzsche; however.  Nietzsche was famous for stating that “God is dead,” and it was from this starting point–the lack of anything transcendent–that he arrived at the conclusion that everything was all about power and self-interest.  I personally don’t believe you need to get rid of God for folks to continue to act in their own self-interest and to engage in all sorts of power plays.  Even if one believes there is a God, that person can still do exactly what Nietzsche proposes and try to manipulate things to his or her own advantage.  What do I mean by that?

    Let’s take a quick walk through our Old Testament reading this morning from the book of Amos.  Here’s a little background.  Amos was a prophet who was called from shepherding to confront the injustice in Israel.  Much like our own situation, the rich were getting richer.  The poor were getting poorer.  But unlike our situation, there were no programs, no initiatives to help the poor and the needy.  They were basically on their own, and they were suffering.  The poor were suffering badly.

    And Amos holds nothing back.  He brings the Word of the Lord with conviction and with words that proved very, very unpopular.  “Alas for you who desire the day of the Lord!  Why do you want the day of the Lord?  It is darkness, not light; 19 as if someone fled from a lion, and was met by a bear; or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall, and was bitten by a snake.  20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?  21 I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.  22 Even though you offer me your burnt-offerings and grain-offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon.  23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps.”

    Let’s work our way through these verses.  I will come back to the day of the Lord stuff momentarily because it is important.  But before I do that, let’s concentrate on what Amos says about the peoples’ offerings and their worship.  See, my sermon title doesn’t come from me: it comes directly from Amos.  The Lord says, “I hate your festivals.  I will not accept your offerings–they are worthless.  I do not want to hear your worship.”  Why?  Why is God saying such things?  Some point to the next verse to bring it all to a close.  God doesn’t want offerings.  God doesn’t want worship.  God doesn’t want festivals and assemblies.  Instead God wants justice to flow like a mighty water and righteousness to flow like an ever flowing stream.  This is what really counts.  This what is really important.  So, go out and do justice.  Go out and make righteousness happen.  Sermon is over.  Be happy it is shorter than normal!  (Psyche!)

    Let’s re-think this for a moment.  Because God commanded festivals and solemn assemblies in the Law.  God commanded the people to bring Him offerings.  The Law is explicit about this too.  God also commanded the people to worship Him.  These are things that God wants!!  So why is He rejecting them?  Why does He say He hates them?

    Let me illustrate it this way. I remember vividly growing up as a kid.  More than once I heard one of my friends say, “It doesn’t matter that I am going out drinking this weekend.  I’m going to go to confession, and it will all be forgiven.”  Or, “It doesn’t matter if I’m having sex with this girl.  I’m going to confession, and it will be forgiven.”  Hearing folks say this always bugged me.  It didn’t seem right.  And it’s not.  Why?

    This is why: because by doing the rites and rituals, the folks who said this believed they were making a claim on God.  They believed that if they just did the proper things–offered the appropriate worship; offerings; or confessions, then God would have to forgive them.  Essentially, they were saying, “God, I know you really don’t want me to do those other things, but you said I would be forgiven if I did x, y, and z. I’ve done x, y, and z, so you cannot be mad at me.  You cannot punish me.  I’ve jumped through your hoops, so you have to forgive me.” 

    Let me stop for just a second and see if you can see how this is a power play.  Can you see how this serves a person’s self interest?  Can you see how this is ultimately about getting the better of God?  Can you see how this is not focused upon God and what God wants but is focused upon what I want and how I can obtain what I want without any consequences? 

    And this stuff was going on long before Nietzsche penned his works.  It’s exactly what the Israelites were doing.  They were disobeying God’s law.  They were not letting justice flow like mighty waters.  They were not letting righteousness flow like ever flowing streams.  They were abusing and using the poor.  They were trampling them underfoot and destroying them.  They were padding their bank accounts at the expense of others and laughing at how blessed they were.  And then they would go to the temple and offer their sacrifices.  They would chant their prayers.  They would sing their songs.  They would make their offerings convinced they had done their duty and God would love them and bless them because they had given God what He wanted.  They’d satisfied Him by their worship and offerings and sacrifices.  They were good to go.  They’d done their duty.

    And God says, “I hate, I despise your assemblies.  I hate, I despise your offerings and do not accept them.  I hate, I despise your singing and your worship.”  Why?  Because the people are trying to make a power play on God.  They are trying to have their cake and eat it too.  They are thinking that by worship and sacrifice and offering, they can excuse their behavior even though they know it’s wrong. 

    And they are looking forward to the Day of the Lord–yes, the day when God comes to restore everything to the way it should be and justice will be meted out.  They are looking forward to this day thinking they will have a grand time because they’ve worshiped; they’ve put their money in the plate; they should be good to go.  But God says, “Think again.  You have not even come close to satisfying my demands.  You have only and have ever only looked out for yourself.  My wrath will burn against you.  Why do you want the Day of the Lord.  It will be darkness not light!”

    Scary stuff.  Very scary stuff.  And so, what do we do about this?  Do we stop here and think, “Wow!  I hear what Amos is saying.  Our offerings; our worship; our singing; all of it is for naught.  We need to stop this stuff right now, and we need to go out and do justice.  We need to work for righteousness.  We need to throw ourselves into these things because the Lord demands this of us.”

    Stop right there.  Stop right there and think about where you are headed with this train of thought.  For if you think that you will satisfy God by doing justice and making righteousness flow like an ever flowing stream, what are you doing?  Or better yet, why are you doing it?  If you are scared that your offerings aren’t satisfying God and that you need to throw yourself at doing justice because that is what God requires, then I’d submit to you that you are attempting your own power play.  You are attempting to satisfy God with your actions once again and save yourself from the coming wrath.  You are not focused on God, you are once again focused on yourself and your own best interests.  I’m doing what God commands because I don’t want to face the darkness on the day of the Lord.  We are right back to Nietzsche. 

    Can anything break us out of this self-centeredness?  Can anything get us away from focusing on ourselves? 

    How about this?

    For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all 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 may be saved through Him.

    You knew I was going to get to Jesus somehow.  At least I hope you knew I was going to get to Jesus.  For you see, Jesus is the one who acted completely the opposite of what Nietzsche proposed.  Instead of seeking His own self-interest; instead of seeking His own power; Jesus sought to fulfill the will of the Father.  Jesus sought complete obedience to the one He was equal to.  Jesus sought to become powerless even though He had access to absolute power.  And instead of kingdoms, Jesus found the cross where He endured the wrath meant for us.  He became the blameless offering and sacrifice to end all offerings and sacrifices.  There was no longer any need to offer sacrifices of atonement to get ourselves right with God.  All was accomplished by Jesus.

    And that completely changes things for us.  No longer do we have to worry about a power play
with God.  We do not have to seek to save ourselves and act with self interest.  We can seek God and His righteousness for His sake and not our own.  We can seek to let justice flow like a mighty water and righteousness flow like an ever flowing stream not because this is what God demands lest we be punished, but because we know it is something near and dear to God’s heart, and in thankfulness we wish to please the one who acted on our behalf.  We gladly lift up our voices in praise and worship not because it’s going to affect our salvation, but in joyful thanksgiving that our salvation has already been accomplished.  We give our offerings of time and talent and money not to satisfy the commandment, but to show our gratitude to the God who took on human flesh and died for us.  And we now await the coming Day of the Lord with joyful expectation.  We no longer have to save ourselves.  We no longer have to worry about whether or not we have done enough good; or worshiped enough; or gave enough.  Jesus already gave it all.  Amen.

Who is Welcome?

A Facebook colleague shared the following blog post:

When my abuser is welcome at the table and, I am not.

Pertinent quotes:

It’s the cool thing in more progressive branches of Christianity now to talk about how EVERYONE is welcome at the communion table. I should be glad about that, I guess...

But this trend in Christianity where EVERYONE is welcome scares me.
Maybe it’s because of the time when a former friend of Abe’s, who knew my back story, told Abe and I that we had to be grateful that Jesus forgives rapists. Who told us that because we could not see rapists as sinners just like us, we must not know Jesus like he does.
Or maybe it’s because of the people who cut off all ties to me because I’m not all that cheery and positive in my critiques of abusive systems and ideologies. Those same people who talk about how they long to sit down at the communion table with popular spiritually abusive leaders in a show of grace and forgiveness.

Or maybe it’s because of the way I see so-called progressive Christians in powerful positions react when my friends who are gay or trans* or disabled or people of color say, “Hey, this person/ideology is oppressing us.”
EVERYONE is welcome. But more and more it seems the “EVERYONE” that Christians are really going after is abusers.
And why not? How radical and Jesus-like does that sound? Abusers and survivors, sitting at the same table. Sharing the same bread and wine. The lion lying down next to the lamb.
Sure. That sounds great. Excuse me while I go have a panic attack or two.

I apologize for the length of that quote, but I do not want to diminish what Sarah Moon is saying.  She's been abused.  She's been raped.  She's terrified of coming to a place where her abuser is welcomed, and she senses that she is not--not that she isn't welcome, she knows that, but where it seems like there is little compassion, comfort, or even safety for her.

Everyone is welcome.  That is the mantra.  No boundaries.  Anything goes.

This is one of those responses to pluralism that has infected the church--yes, I used infected purposely.

The idea that everyone is welcome has never been embraced by orthodox Christianity.  It wasn't embraced by Jesus.  It wasn't embraced by Paul.  So where did this idea come from?  Where did people start buying into the idea EVERYONE is welcome at the table of the Lord?

It's About Grace

Progressive Protestantism is enamored with the concept of grace.  I don't blame them in the least.  I am too.  When I hear the words of Romans 3

21 But now, irrespective of law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, ²²the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, ²³since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; ²⁴they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; ²⁶it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.

 and Ephesians 2

⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— ⁹not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 

my heart quickens.  This central doctrine of Christianity is something I cling to and refuse to let go of.

But there is a dark side to the concept of grace.  A dark side which reared its head in the early church and still rears its head even to this day.  It's called antinomianism.   That's the fancy word for it.  The less fancy word is lawlessness or anti-law.

You see, Christianity is both law and gospel.  The laws are the commands of God, the commands of Christ, the admonishments to live our lives according to God's will and do the works He commands.  The gospel is the acclamation that since we are unable to accomplish living the commands of Christ to perfection, we are forgiven and set free to live our lives striving to achieve perfection (follow the law) without worrying about being punished when we fail.

There is a bit of tightrope walking that I am doing in that last paragraph.  I hope you can see it.  In no way, shape or form does grace git rid of the law.  In no way, shape or form does grace nullify the commands of God or the commands of Jesus.  They are still in effect.  What is gone is that we are no longer under the discipline of that law should we fail. (Galatians 3:25).  But that certainly does not mean we are allowed to simply break the law.  Far be it.  For the same person (St. Paul) who wrote that we are no longer under the DISCIPLINE of the law also wrote:  Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. (Romans 3:31)

So, as Christians, we are free from the discipline of the law, but we still strive to uphold it.  This is important for without the Law, there are no boundaries; and in Christianity, there are definitely boundaries.

Who is Out?

The idea that Jesus showed this radical love and accepted everyone regardless of who they were and what they did is simply asinine.  It is a misreading of Jesus.  The very fact that Jesus died for the world does not mean that He accepted everyone and believed everyone was welcome.  There is a very important teaching to illustrate this point, and it applies to Sarah Moon's situation as well as to the understanding of boundaries in the church.  From Matthew chapter 18:

Jesus teaches: 15 ‘If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. ¹⁶But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ¹⁷If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. ¹⁸Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

 Would that the church follow these instructions!!  But alas, I can hope, can't I?

First off, we must recognize immediately Jesus saying, "If another member of the church sins against you..."  There is definitely right and definitely wrong going on here.  And how do we know what sin is?  How do we know what is right and what is wrong?  The Law.  We cannot abolish the Law!!!  It is necessary for clarity and boundaries and helping us know what is sin!!!

If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone.

That's the first step.  Now, if I were counseling Sarah or any other woman or man who had been abused by another, I would never counsel them to go alone.  There are exceptions to things, and this is one of them.  I would counsel them to bypass this step and move to step two--for protection's sake and for courage's sake.

I know intimately people who have been abused.  I know the pain inflicted upon them.  I know their desire and want to avoid those whom have harmed them, but I also know that if one tries to avoid everyone and every situation that one might encounter an abuser, then the one who was abused becomes trapped.  This is not good.  The church, in whatever form that might take, should provide a safe place for someone who has been abused to find courage, strength, healing, support, a place to break down without judgement and other means of emotional, physical, and spiritual healing.  We cannot diminish these things.

And one of those things is the courage to stand up to those who committed the abuse with the knowledge that person will not be allowed to harm him or her again--the courage to announce, "You sinned against me!"

Now, here is a very important piece.  Jesus says, "If the person repents, you have gained a brother."

This might cause some consternation because forgiveness comes with difficulty.  The healing is not necessarily done at that moment, but it none-the-less must take place.  Reconciliation is hard--very hard.  If you don't think so, just listen to some of the voices in minority communities these days when dealing with the effects of the Jim Crow laws.  There are still demands for retribution--even given to generations born well after these laws were in effect.  Forgiveness does not come easy.  Forgetting never happens.  Which is why support from those abused should never, ever be withdrawn until the abused say, "I am healed."

But that is just one scenario.  "If he repents..."

What if he doesn't?

Well, there are a series of steps to continue on with including exposing the sinner to the entire church.  Yeah, I know all about privacy laws and such things, but in order for infection to be dealt with, it must be exposed.  In this case, if an unrepentant sinner refuses to acknowledge wrongdoing--refuses to come to grips with what he did to damage another, then the church must act.

"Treat that one as a Gentile or tax collector."

These were outsiders in the Jewish society.  They were not allowed certain privileges when it came to worship and the holding of positions in Jewish society.  It doesn't mean that Jesus didn't come in contact with such folks.  It doesn't mean that Jesus didn't care about or love them.  They were now restricted though.  There were certain things they were not allowed to participate in.

In the early church and as the church grew, this meant excommunication--a refusal of the Lord's Supper.  Until repentance was shown, the means of grace would not be allowed to this person.

Boundaries.  They were important then.  They are still important now.

St. Paul knew this--knew it well.  He had to deal with a situation in Corinth which was not healthy, and once again, we see him drawing the lines in the sand with a particular church member:

9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral persons— ¹⁰not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since you would then need to go out of the world. ¹¹But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one. ¹²For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge? ¹³God will judge those outside. ‘Drive out the wicked person from among you.’  --1 Corinthians 5:9-13

How quickly we forget such admonitions from both Jesus and Paul.  How quickly we forget that they drew boundaries, lines in the sand, which should not be crossed.  How quickly we forget that radical grace meant radically new ways of living and transformation of the heart and soul. 

Who is welcome?  Well, all sinners are welcome.  There is no doubt about that.  But sinners who are accused of sinning against another and refusing to repent according to Matthew 18 are not.  The church has had means of dealing with such things since its inception.  Somehow, there are those who have forgotten. 

America Losing Its Religion

CNN Religion blogs ran the headline yesterday: America Losing Its Religion.

The headline is a bit of a misnomer because Americans aren't exactly losing their religion.  The article spells that out.  The headline is a cheap ploy to get people to read--yours truly included.  :-)

Pertinent quote--the first four paragraphs:

More than three in four of Americans say religion is losing its influence in the United States, according to a new survey, the highest such percentage in more than 40 years. A nearly identical percentage says that trend bodes ill for the country.

"It may be happening, but Americans don't like it," Frank Newport, Gallup's editor in chief, said of religion's waning influence. "It is clear that a lot of Americans don't think this is a good state of affairs."

According to the Gallup survey released Wednesday, 77% of Americans say religion is losing its influence. Since 1957, when the question was first asked, Americans' perception of religion's power has never been lower.

According to the poll, 75% of Americans said it the country would be better off if it was more religious.

So, the headline is blatantly wrong.  America isn't losing it's religion.  In fact, the poll actually suggests the vast majority (3/4) of Americans believe the country would be better off if it were religious.  This speaks volumes!!  People believe religion has a positive effect on the country!!!

Yet, these same people believe religion is losing influence. 

It's not surprising.  Religion has had a very tough time adapting to a host of things:

1. The rise of secularism.  The secular worldview has ascended to prominence when it comes to debating what goes on in the United States.  Faith based arguments generally no longer have much persuasive power.  This forces people of faith to suspend the place where they draw most of their ethics and morality and argue from a much different, uncomfortable place.  Too many people of faith do not have the tools to do this or to argue the difficulty of dealing with moral issues from a strictly secular point of view.  #2 below has contributed to this mightily as well.

2. The rise of relativism.  This path of thought developed to deal with pluralism.  In our now global culture, we have been made aware of the differences in thought and practice of people and belief.  It is not easy to forge a way forward when confronted with many differing worldviews.  Yet, instead of arguing the merits of which worldview provides a better way forward (atheism? Christian? Muslim? Jewish? Secular? Scientific?), we strive to say all worldviews are equal--none is better than another.  This is most certainly an absurd argument, but it actually has a good number of adherents.  Many people of faith have few philosophical tools to argue with the rise of relativism.

3. The prominence of science.  Science is cool.  It's brought about some awesome things--the ability to understand the world, how it works, and how we can work in the world to improve our survival.  Yet, science has proven poor at providing a framework for morality and ethics despite the claims of some that it is capable of doing such a thing.  Science has also been shown to be quite limited in other areas and aspects; yet one might never really know this based upon what one hears in the news.  For many, science is the be all and end all, and people of faith have had little training in saying, "Science is not this.  It is good in one area and not in others."

Because people of faith have not been provided such tools, secularism, relativism, and scientism have undermined the power of religious faith to shape public policy.  Most are unhappy with this because they see the benefits faith can bring.  Yet, most don't have any idea how to argue in the cultural milieu we find ourselves in.

Perhaps Christian apologists like Timothy Keller, Richard John Neuhaus, Ravi Zacharias, John Lennox, William Lane Craig, and Alvin Plantenga will be read and studied more as they offer some substantial tools to deal with this process, for it seems like America does not want religion to lose its influence--and you can count me in that portion of America as well.