"The Pearl of Great Price;" Sermon for Sunday July 27th, 2014 By Nicole Collins

It’s hard to believe a strange little sea creature, vaguely edible in my opinion... can produce a pearl in the first place.  But then there are many things in the world past and present that have produced amazing things, moments in time and life-transforming events!  Of course I am beginning to introduce Jesus the Christ, the crucified King, Fully Incarnate, Fully Divine, Son of God, Redeemer and Prince of Peace— who would free us from sin, death and the devil...

The prophet Joel paints our murky “state of mind” entrenched in the battle between good and evil... especially in the face of Satan’s literal rising—the beginning of the graceless wilderness where the Living Word has begun to be lost in our depravity! “³¹The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. ³²Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved; ... there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.”

There’s been a lot going on in the world these last few days, weeks, months... planes being shot down, murders abroad and even a river through pollution of some unknown origin appearing blood red in China.  I remember when BP Oil had their horrible oil spill in the Gulf and I remember watching the streaming online underwater video of it and seeing the evil of it all in its horrifying, opaque, all-encompassing blackness... These are real life ‘news’ stories of turmoil for some “justified” reason or another.  A whole lot of darkness, a whole lotta sadness to go around... perhaps going onto the back burner of our own lives’ dramas... If Christ were truly and truthfully the center of our lives’ developing stories as children of God and “aspiring saint and sinner” children of Grace; we would be taking IN, the LIVING Word of God to Be and become (transformed spiritually into) Kingdom builders in all we DO and SAY.

The logic of God’s choices and destinations for us however, become lost in translation blended away into our humanity.... To be and become misunderstandings of What Christ Jesus Gospel is all about: GRACE.  Salvation enacted by His Cross freed us to BE and become children of Grace.  Children of Grace to not be and become indentured to our own ideologies and agendas... but BE and become CREATIVELY children not of this world but truly, realistically reflecting the other—Kingdom of God!

There’s a great scene in the Two Towers’ Lord of the Rings film where the evil wizard is stirring up an army of demonic creatures/men; what comes out of his mouth is the fruit of calculated, diabolical evil which is heard and spread across the land.  Meanwhile on the other side of the mountains, the good wizard is stirring up nature to thwart the evil spells being cast...  This is a very literal fantastic illustration of how we struggle with discerning the Gospel and our lives affected and being effective through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Kingdom parable of the Pearl of great price is not only one illustrating priorities for our hearts to discern but about Faith and our destiny.  Faith and destiny go hand in hand much like our doctrinal understanding of Law and Gospel.  The Law points to our sinfulness as often an ugly mirror prompting us to open ourselves even more to the pearl of great Price—GRACE.  This is GRACE as realized most profoundly through a Fully human, Fully Divine Son of God who came down to us to die upon a cross and rise in more ways than one!

Rising in more ways than one is an aspect of what St. Paul is saying in this phase of his theological manifesto of Grace; he imparts to the Romans. “²⁸We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. ³⁰And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

Rising spiritually through faith is both rising into our New Nature planted by Christ Jesus’ Grace/Gospel and rising to the challenge of living with and fighting against our Old Nature and the Evil One’s power in our lives’ journeys.  Destiny can be or become a perilous fine line that challenges us to seek the TRUE treasures of God and His Holy Kingdom or fall prey to the empty, nihilistic temporal treasures of Satan.

Whose mold do you want to fall into?  In our humanity, we more often than not, find precedence with forcefully shaping people to our ideal model of “roles” we play in society.  We are probably using words that tear down more than build up the Body of Christ in the world but not of the world when we want control over destiny.  We conveniently forget that it is God alone who both judges and shapes our calling.  It is God alone who ordains the spirit into ministry.  His Living Word is the manna in the midst of our wilderness of painful, spiritual turmoil!

Renown nihilist/ existentialist, Friedrich Nietzsche illumines that painful turmoil: “Not necessity, not desire - no, the love of power is the demon of humanity. Let them have everything - health, food, a place to live, entertainment - they are and remain unhappy and low-spirited: for the demon waits and waits and will be satisfied.”

The truth of our existence is not to be molded by the world but developing a spiritual awareness of being shaped by Christ and His Living Word to live into the lifestyle of Grace—the Kingdom of God.  Paul answers this again for our contemplation, our transformation: “³¹What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³²He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? ³³Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. ³⁵Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.” ³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

We have to treasure the reality of God’s presence as being most real for our lives as well as central.  The reality of the world and its glaring imperfections and our ever-growing sinfulness is what is building up that graceless wilderness.  That graceless wilderness which I began in highlighting some illustrations from the current news of death, destruction and indifference... The manna in this wilderness is becoming harder to find as it is being buried by the world and our “seemingly logical” destinations...

We have to look deeply within ourselves to as the psalmist says: know, recognize and understand that God is faithful, keeps His promises and pours out upon us His steadfast love and mercy for those who obey His commandments by being and becoming, now through Christ—fully accountable, freely responsible servants to the Gospel and His plans for the world.

Being a disciple of Jesus and spiritually responsible to adhere to not only His law of love but steward and servant to His Gospel is very hard.  It is painful and necessary shaping that the Lord does in order that we grow in faith, trust, hope and a multitude of blessings that will BE and become the landscape of GRACE in the here and now for the Glory and Honor of God!

AMEN

Sunday July 27^th, 2014; 17^th Sunday after Pentecost; Year A; SOLA Lectionary; Nicole Collins

Psalm 125; Deuteronomy 7:6-9; Romans 8:28-39; Matthew 13:44-52

http://youtu.be/YmC4RDmQJoA