Posts
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me is a wonderful statement of complete trust and confidence, not only in God but in the self to DO, BE and become all that God needs you to be in order to fulfill His will and purposes—this is what I would call our “Eden-Potential.” For we do have the potential to do many things in this one solitary earthly life. Tapping into through the right frame of mind and heart is a whole other story however…
Just the other day in preparing towards this message, I
read something like 40 pages of Luther’s commentary on the Book of Genesis
chapter 4. Mind you, working my way through 16th century language
did require an Excedrin chaser afterwards but proved to be very fruitful in
looking, contemplating the meaning of the reality of how we are truly both
saint and sinner. Yes, one of the battle
cry dogma statements of the Protestant Reformation soon to be celebrated a week
from now, devised of a wonderful reconciliation of just what we are through the
lens of the Gospel. We are more than
able to become freely obedient to the Gospel’s calling to love and serve God
and neighbor through our faith. We also
can and do fall into temptation….
The story of Cain and Abel holds a strong and timeless parallel
to the reality of the Old Nature and the Hope, Promise and eventual choice of
the New Nature through Christ Jesus our great propitiation, Redeemer. I must confess I am not one to usually
reflect or sermonize around an Old Testament text but in connection to today’s
Gospel; I believe it is essential to think about the reality of sin or in this
case: “Pride goeth before a fall…”
Cain is considered the first ‘child of man’ born into what
we have come to call ‘original sin.’
What we must remember and is important about that very first story of
our human attempt to make right with God, is that this was the whole of the Old
Testament’s goal in general—making “right” with God. How do we make “right,” our relationship to
God? Cain, the first child of the twins
of Abel and himself, from Adam and Eve, definitely was proud of himself being
the “first,” as well as felt a certain sense of righteousness to be attached to
this “privileged” role… In many ways, he
mirrored the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable who tried to conscientiously please God
but not really at all from a place of genuine trust, faith in God’s promise… He basically thought he could simply earn his
way.
From what we hear in St. Paul’s last witness and lesson
to his protégé Timothy, it wasn’t about himself at all more than for the true
glory and promise of the Gospel for all the world to share. Paul laid down his life for the sake of the
Gospel—out of a beautiful faith that lived into the Grace, Christ Jesus “en-abled”
him with to DO and BE all that he could be.
Think about this for a moment—a pun: Can and Able, Cain and Abel.
In first hearing the verb can, it holds a solid sense of
affirmation, commitment… The other side
of that could be that it is too self-assured and possibly could be heard or
experienced as being arrogant or prideful.
In regards to the verb, able, just how it sounds for example in saying I
am able to do or be, implies that there is a sense of humility and dependence that
has now made this possible. That is why
I started with that wonderful favorite verse of mine, from Philippians 4: “I
can do all things through Christ, who indeed strengthens me.” Here St. Paul has these two words indirectly
contrasted to one another. The only
reason why he feels he can now do all things that were once before impossible,
is because Christ has made his heart able to trust in the promise and hope of
the Kingdom of God (FAITH) to be truly confident and humbled to DO it!
The ability to be able to live in God’s righteousness
comes from Christ—His gift of Grace gave us faith. Living into that faith however is wading past
and over the many stumbling blocks to sin. The great sin in question, for both
Cain and the Pharisee, was pride. Pride
created a whole other mess of sins since it is fueled by a sense of greed
around the self and complemented by a sense of indifference or
self-righteousness that doesn’t rely on God and cannot love or care for
neighbor. In Cain’s case, his pride and
sense of privilege created a self-righteousness that made him become jealous to
the point of hating his brother Abel, since God saw Abel’s genuine faith and
realization of who he was.
That realization connects once again very well to the few
remaining verses in today’s Gospel where Jesus tries to enlighten not only the
disciples but all who were listening, that a child is naturally obedient and
trusting in its beginning journey into life.
This natural obedience and trusting nature realizes its humble role in
God’s plan as truly being children of Grace and Promise. Jesus Words we must hear prayerfully: “Let
the little children come to me, (He says), and do not stop them; for it is to
such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 17Truly I tell you,
whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter
it.”
In the story of Cain and Abel, the Old Testament “punishing
parent” God does place his mark upon Cain for his sins but as well extends
grace to him in the form of not allowing anyone to kill him… Hence the mark of
the beginning notion of that we all have the capacity to sin (our temptation to
feed the Old Nature) and we have the capacity to ask, pray for God’s forgiveness
with a genuine faith (our journey to reap the New Nature). Abel, before his murder, was humbly seeking
God’s forgiveness, to make “right” with Him.
The Tax collector’s heartfelt confession that he knows he’s a sinner and
asks, prays for God’s mercy genuinely realizes his role that he is indeed a
child of Grace and Promise. The tax
collector realizes, as we all need to continually remind ourselves, on our
faith journeys, that all we are in the here and now of this world, is due to
Christ—His Grace has set us free!
Christ sat upon the mercy seat to become the libation to
feed and free our souls from the bondage of sin, death and the power of evil.
This is the victory and glory of the cross.
This is not a victory and glory that we should ever take in vain or
advantage of, yet alone become indifferent to…. But sadly we have in one form
or another. We have turned our hearts
away from God when we blur the boundaries of righteousness for our own sakes
and not for love of God and neighbor.
We must look upon the world these days with hopeful eyes… It’s a tall order in the midst of so many
things that seem to be giving way to justifying the self over and above God and
allowing sin to reign lawlessly and with an oppressive grip upon the conscience
of the world… The other day, I read a
very say article about the great, barrier reef that stretches miles upon miles
in the ocean, has now officially been declared “dead” by marine biologists. They declared it bleached and deadened by the
trauma and abuses of the natural resources either pilfered or dumped upon by oil
and energy profiteers. It reminded me of
the horrible oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico a couple of years ago. They filmed something like hours upon hours
of the pipeline burst gushing gallons of filth into God’s creation… Sometimes watching stuff like this would
bring one to tears.
What we forget which again, goes back to the very
beginning, the earth, seas, and all its creatures were made out of love, out of
a beginning Grace, something we all share.
We have raped and murdered for the sake of our “will” over and above God’s.
The crimes committed maybe justified in saying that we need cheap fuel… but the
bigger picture beyond this illustration is that we justify ourselves all the
time and even create laws that suppress and persecute those of genuine
faith. This is what the movement of
political correctness has done. It’s not
politically correct to be pro-life, to necessarily be a Christian for that
matter. It’s not politically correct to
not be polarized and labelled by your suspected political leanings. It’s not
politically correct to “dare” disagree with people who feel that they are
justified, ratified and impervious to others because of their self-righteous
personal agendas…
These are harsh words to hear but then you must question—if
you are here gathered in this place and genuinely follow Jesus as His child of
Grace and Promise, why then are you not outraged by where the world is going?
Are we truly willing and able to go out into the world to carry the Gospel
above the solidifying Kingdom of this world and its’ ruler of empty promises?
Or are we succumbing to the torrent of evil crushing us under its burden to die
like Abel, or Paul who was awaiting his eventual execution by the Romans? If we
define ourselves as righteous by our own accord, we deny ourselves of
meaningful purpose that God has given us through creation and the gift of
Christ Jesus’ Grace. We can do, be and
become all that God hopes for us to. Our
saint sinner selves are able to defeat sin, death and the power of evil through
Christ—this is the libation of FAITH.
Let us Pray,
Gracious and loving Lord Jesus,
Help us to learn and know
That we truly are Your children of Grace and Promise
Help us to trust you, to hear you and not become idolaters
of the self.
Help us to be able to tap into that New Nature potential
This New Nature Potential is our New Eden—the Kingdom of
God
May Your Divine Righteousness keep us and teach us
As long as we live—
AMEN
October 23rd,
2016; Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 25; Year C; SOLA Lectionary
Sermon by:
Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins
Psalm 5;
Genesis 4:1-15; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-17
Today's sermon is dedicated to my colleagues, Reverend Debra Hamilton Atkinson & Mark Goldsworthy. May God Bless you both in your new roles in Ministry. Keep on fighting the Good Fight!
The link below is to this sermon's delivery at a special Saturday evening vespers at the Grace Hub:
https://youtu.be/xaPGtq_OAfw
https://youtu.be/xaPGtq_OAfw
No comments:
Post a Comment