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The
Prophet Isaiah relays some harsh Words from the punishing parent God of the Old
Testament for us to contemplate especially in thinking about what is the “true”
righteousness? If we are in an age that
is justifying the self over and above God…
How could we truly “know” righteousness?
We know how to condemn and place the scarlet letter of outcast upon our
neighbor for “righteousness” sake… but aren’t we more or less filling in the
mortar to the graceless wilderness’ foundation Satan would have us realize?
A
Hardened heart toward God and the neighbor can be easily reached once we’ve
journeyed down that road of justifying our sin as a righteous act. This time of
year normally examples our human tendencies to be concerned the world of the
self, being concerned with buying things, eating and what not. I think the banter about “Black Friday”
started two weeks before Thanksgiving. This
makes you wonder, what does being grateful mean since perhaps we have “adjusted”
its true meaning? This is beside the point, yesterday on the news there were
shootings in two Chicago locations. One
was a suicide and attempted murder in a Nordstrom store on the Mag-mile and the
other was some sort of gang-related shooting on the south side spraying the
streets with over a 100 bullets…
Conceal
and carry could be considered the culprit here among other things… However, the general air it left me with
reflecting upon was that there is a lot of unrest in the world these days. If we really saw all the world’s news, all
the politics, destruction and what not… would we be awakened out of our lives’ “little
bubble” of security and dealing with our own problems, to thus arise and err on
the side of Grace? Or would we be too hastily
ready to add our contribution in the guise of “righteousness” to be that mortar
towards building the graceless wilderness, “advent” of destruction?!
It’s a
fine balance we would rather spiritually avoid.
We would rather avoid the challenge of living into the lifestyle of
Grace and perpetuate the development of our own “justification!” Righteousness is not an intellectual treatise
of development as we’ve conveniently made it to be in rewriting or revising the
Word to affirm our point of view.
Humanity wants the world to be a yes/ no reality. Why should we bother with the middle? We forget, however, most gravely…. Who IS in
the middle after all, this would be Jesus!
If as a disciple of Christ, you cannot see Jesus at the center of your
life, let alone as the reality of Grace realized for our benefit… What is the point?
Wake up
people! The true righteousness in this
world is not of this world and it came from Jesus! We cannot recreate it. There
was a funny post the other day on a social media site that had someone debate a
quote from a Reformation figure and basically their argument was centered on
coming from everything but Christ. The person
in essence had developed a self-oriented theology that justified not only cheap
grace or denying the need for any kind of accountability but even thought the reformer’s
comments were breaking some sort of sexual ethic… Please…
If
Satan is not real, hell is not real and we should make sure to have a
politically correct “eunuch” version of God… I think you are gravely missing
the point! Then what does Grace mean if
Christ doesn’t even really matter in juxtaposition to our “righteousness?” Across the country there has been wave after
waves of protests on the judge’s decision impact from the tragedy in Ferguson,
Missouri… And this is not going to be a
sermon talking about that or taking sides.
What about the latest with ISIS?
What about the working poor here and now? The point is; what is justice,
if we justify over and above God and ignore the real places where death and
destruction are truly reigning!?
Taking
into account or becoming awake to where death and destruction are truly
reigning is starting with ourselves. We
are those clay vessels created by God and filled with those filthy rags of
self-righteousness, greed and indifference.
It’s a little known fact but the word for earth in Hebrew is Hadam or “Adam.” When Luther had his epiphany upon the reality
of God’s Grace active in his life; he penned that we are both saint and sinner! The reality of growing or maturing as
children of God, children of Grace is actively as my mentor would say:
believing, receiving, incorporating and sharing.
We are
saved by Grace to which we have received through faith. Upon this reception is the natural unfolding
of living into Grace which means volition.
Volition is one of those strange Words Lutherans, in particular, are
perhaps scared of…. Because volition is
another adjective or enhancer for the calling and commissioning for all
disciples of Jesus to be accountable. Accountability
however does not have to mean “works righteousness…” for we must with a humble
heart remember that we all fall short of the glory of God.
The
beautiful attitude of Grace doesn’t take shape out of our own intellectual
treatise of judgment… It develops in,
with, and through Christ who is our redeemer and example. The New Nature planted by Grace is ready for
us to tap into. Tapping into the New Nature is volition produced by Faith Alone
from Grace Alone, Through Christ Alone and built by Scripture Alone.
St.
Paul’s pastoral message to his “wayward” Corinthian congregation defines this: “4
I thank my God at all times for you because of the grace (the favor and
spiritual blessing) of God which was bestowed on you in Christ Jesus, 5[So]
that in Him in every respect you were enriched, in full power and readiness of
speech [to speak of your faith] and complete knowledge and illumination [to
give you full insight into its meaning]. 6In this way [our]
witnessing concerning Christ (the Messiah) was so confirmed and established and
made sure in you. 7That you are not [consciously] falling behind or
lacking in any special spiritual endowment or Christian grace [the reception of
which is due to the power of divine grace operating in your souls by the Holy
Spirit], while you wait and watch [constantly living in hope] for the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ and [His] being made visible to all.”
Living
into Hope could be the second name for these past few months concerning my own “little
bubble” of time and space as Jesus disciple in formation. Since July my husband and I have had more
than half of our house packed up and ready to move... This would include nearly all of our books,
artifacts and whatnot stored away while we notice the dust collect and the
strappling tape fail in holding our “belongings” together.
Being
in transition in accepting the challenges or as they say “rolling with the
punches” becomes a spiritual drain not only upon the faith but in wondering why
and what for? It has more or less been like living in a storage unit wanting to
break out and truly move forward! A
sense of urgency but oriented around my own plans and “needs…”
Six is
an imperfect number Biblically speaking, but that was the years of study and
field work I have “accomplished” in order to meet the “standards of the world”
to become a pastor. Judgments have been made and we are still here. Political righteousness served in the eyes of
some but what about being missional minded, encouraging and enlightening
neighbor for the Gospel’s sake, I ask?
Each
and every “move” we make spiritually or otherwise coming from our own sense of
righteousness never serves anyone yet alone the Sovereign of Grace—Jesus. In
fact, it only examples the hypocrisy the Evil One would love for us to stumble
over… Moving forward spiritually or
otherwise with Christ as our guide humbles us to His sense of time as well as
to see and grow from His true righteousness, a saving, shaping and transforming
Grace!
Our
urgency and owning up to the task of living truthfully into the lifestyle of
Grace is the “advent” of our spiritual rebirth.
This is one we cannot circumvent, yet alone deny for if we deny the very
good that is within us—a process, life-time’s journey into holiness—wholeness…
we build towards our own destruction. As
Jesus said to His disciples… “31 Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my Words will not.” Allow the Living Word to be alive within you!
AMEN
First Sunday of Advent; Year B;
November 30th, 2014; SOLA Lectionary Nicole Collins
Psalm 80:1-7; Isaiah 64:1-9; 1
Corinthians 1:3-9 & Mark 13:24-37
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