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“But by the grace of God I am what I
am and His grace toward me has not been in vain.” What a beautiful thought from
a beautiful mind. What makes someone beautiful I think this is something we
have seen with the many shades of the Beatitude from the Gospel writers. This
Beatitude variation from Luke has some of the same features but perhaps has
more of its feet rooted in the ground. A beautiful attitude definitely
has something to say about our spiritual warfare battle between the flesh, the
devil and the world.
The last few weeks we've been
dealing with a lot of contemplation for us to utilize upon ourselves, the
reality of death and the reality of the new. We are just beginning to
understand the heart’s journey to turning to God and what transformation and
reconciliation are really to mean in light of the Gospel. We've been overdosing
on many of Paul's pastoral conversations to his wayward Corinthians. It was bad
enough how much they were challenged by the ego and challenged by all the
temptations of the world… In this week's message they had a big-time problem
with the Resurrection. In fact, today there's modern heresies that claimed the Resurrection
never happened. Then why have there been thousands upon thousands of martyrs
that the church has built its Foundation upon their flesh’ witness? If the churches of the world were to be built
only from bones, more than half of the world’s churches would be made from
bones.
Being a Christian and surviving in
the world today is going to be even greater of a challenge if you take Christ's
way, for you must abandon the values of the world. If you take on the
values of the world, you will most definitely abandon Christ. The Gospel is for the world, in the world but
actually not of the world. The short time I have been on my journey I
have witnessed more evil in the church than I have ever witnessed out in the
world and I wonder, how this could be? Its something much more sinister than hypocrisy
and power, that’s for certain. If people profess to be commissioned and
ordained to adapt the Beautiful Mind of Christ, in all that they say and do and
serve others... why do people do evil things? That has always perplexed me not
just in the sordid stories I hear from other colleagues but just from the
behavior of some colleagues themselves who found the wages of sin, a greater
route over the life of the Gospel.
You must always be a student and one
that is humble. You must be a student that hears God's Word most firmly and are
challenged by God's Word to grow. If you cannot love your neighbor and “pretend”
to do so because it seems like a great "self-righteousness"... then
you've not been called by Christ, you've been called by Satan. I love the
analogy and imagery we have in a few of our lessons today that have us think
about the Tree of Life. The trees that are mentioned in both the Psalm and from
the Prophet Jeremiah talk about being planted, talk about flourishing, talk
about the watering and nurturing that helps them to grow. It's truly a hope
that we commit ourselves to adhere to when it comes to what Christ Jesus did
for us and why we are, who we are. "But by the grace of God, I am what I
am!" I love Saint Paul, he has us hear things in such an amazing way. What
I have to say is that "I am what I am" because of Christ, on one
level, this is true. I am what I am as well, because of the wages of sin, death
and evil.
Our Beatitudes from Luke this
afternoon has those wonderful "woes" in them. “Woe to you who are
full now, for you will be hungry.” Outside of seeing that in relation to “blessed
are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.” I thought about that very
spiritually in wondering if we are starving to death in the world because we
have turned our hearts away from Christ? Perhaps “we,” is too strong of a word,
for some have turned their hearts away from Christ and filled themselves
with the glory and empty treasures of the world. "Nice guys finish
last," a cruel statement but sometimes true. If I but trust enough in God
yet alone a little bit in myself perhaps I could be a tree in the desert
offering life because of the Gospel through someone like me. You're only
as alone as the world makes you feel.
This past Valentine's Day, the
weather in Vegas made me wonder if there was an ark someplace hidden
around backside of Mount Charleston and pretty soon, we were going to
start seeing Noah loading the animals and things in it… for it rained all day
long. Since I came from the Chicago area, that had “normal weather,” (pretty
much being all the seasons and too much of the seasons...) this seems like a
regular rainfall in Illinois. What was wild however, living on the side of a
mountain, is my husband and I were seeing the waters roll down the Hills and in
and out of the gutters. It was literally a fast moving, flash flooding stream.
We had to “dust off” our umbrellas, yet alone find them… when we went to go out
and have a little bite to eat to celebrate our 11th engagement anniversary. Yes,
we are one of those silly couples who celebrates not only their engagement
anniversary but also their wedding anniversary.
While we were driving to this little
Japanese restaurant, I thought about wondering if the trees and the shrubs and
the burnt grass of Vegas made sounds of sighs of relief. You know like that
cartoon, where the tree falls in the wilderness and it is yelling…. I'm sure “they”
(the trees, shrubs and grass) were thanking God, if they could as a plant that
is. Though I did see on social media with all amusement, a vegan study was done
to see that a plant sends out distress signals when it's being eaten… I have no
idea how that is even remotely possible but amusing and thought-provoking at
the same time. On that same breath, I remember a few years ago this wonderful
eco-friendly invention that was created to not only help Mother Earth, but to
return someone to the Earth in a natural, organic encasement that would grow a
tree from the persons remains. The loved one is fitted in a fetal position
within the pod and then the pod is planted. I’m sure that will make one hell of
an enchanted forest that would come from a whole Cemetery of nothing but trees
that came from one's remnant.
Remnant— things that remain.... This
is our human battle: we are both aspiring saints and willful sinners. The most
direct and bold statement the Reformation could have ever made about the
problem of the human condition. The time of Jeremiah as well was prophesying to
a Remnant people. A people searching for themselves— who they were, why God
left them here and what does it all mean. We're still wandering in that same wilderness.
This is the same wilderness I've been talking about for weeks now. We are in
the wilderness of the world following the path first tread by Adam and Eve
trying to find a way back to Eden... Will we ever truly find it? This rests in
God’s hands and in His timing. That Secret Garden in the heart needs to
be fed and lead as well. Within it lies the seed of the New Nature waiting for
us to reap it as we put on Christ.
That secret garden just like the wilderness
of the world beneath our feet has its weeds however as well. Sometimes we
dress up those weeds and we think they are a new expression of a “choice” we
have been happy to make. I had a dream the other evening which was quite lovely
in many ways, as I'm sure we have all dreamed of what our Lord looks like. I
was walking towards Him and I was trying to reach out to Him, and He looked
straight at me. And before He could even begin to speak, my cat Louie walks on
my stomach and wakes me up! I'm sure we have all wondered what would we
ask our Lord about first? I know I have said this before but I'd love to have
the whole retelling of the book of Acts, blow-by-blow or see the motion picture
in heaven... I think I would ask Him though, if I had had the chance to, in
this dream: why things happen the way they happen and what does He need me to
learn from them? Perhaps we all have
those Job-like questions percolating in our hearts…
Being grateful is something that
challenges us, not only with our humility, but challenges us in our prayers.
This is especially when the world is more than a stumbling block to the truth
of the Gospel. We must remember Luke was never an eyewitness to Jesus in
the midst of His ministry with the original 12. Luke was a fellow church
planter and traveling witness with Paul and Barnabas and a cast of the early
church we may have not seen recorded. Like Luke, Paul was not an eyewitness
with the original 12, Paul did however, experience Christ on the road to
Damascus that is certain. The book of Acts, the Gospel of the Holy Spirit, Luke
ventures into having the world grasp the power of God unseen but definitely
active in the world. Even with this painting of His gospel sharing Jesus famous
Beatitudes, he is allowing the Holy Spirit to have us see both sides of the
human struggle, the struggle of the disciple—Spiritual warfare.
Speaking of the Holy Spirit that TobyMac
song from a number of years ago, ‘I don't want to gain the world and lose my soul,’
started to play in my head. I never watch any of the music videos anymore, but
I did think it began in an interesting way.
The opening scene shows a young girl coming to a pawn table to sell her
wedding ring and she receives some money for it and her ring is put in the display
window case. The last character that comes in is a man who trades in his gun
for money but then buys it back, but then gives it back again. We don't see if
the girl goes back for her wedding band or not and tries to buy it back, but we
do see a great statement of choosing peace over violence. Perhaps that was one
of the main messages of the TobyMac video. When we think of ourselves as not
only disciples of Christ but as human creatures God's Children of Grace and
promise, I just wonder how aware we are of the Life and Grace all around
us because of Christ. yet alone of the death that the world has come up between
us as those weeds and stumbling blocks.
Love is what grows roots and that
growth is Christ. The love of God is an unconditional love and we who are
witnesses to the truth of the Gospel as Disciples of Christ know that He was
crucified, died and was buried on our behalf. He rose on the third day to women
disciples. Love made manifest as Grace poured within us, washing over us and
working through us. The love of God nowhere meets what we understand is love.
Even the day we celebrate is a day of love. Valentine's Day was named after a
3rd century Roman bishop who was martyred for helping convert people to
Christianity. The gory details of his martyrdom sort of sound like a Stephen
King movie outtake… but during that time, what we don't realize, the Christian
persecutions for centuries would be profoundly violent and brutal. Just
one of many people, one of many witnesses of the Gospel working in their lives
and challenging their lives to be a light to others, at all costs. I'm not sure
what Saint Valentine thinks of himself being memorialized by decadent chocolate
candies and “Eros” love verses agape love but such as the culture has changed.
No matter where you are, know that
God loves you and has given you purpose. This is a purpose you may not trust
enough to understand, yet alone have confidence in yourself to understand, but
God's love is that solid foundation is that mighty rootage that keeps us
grounded. Err boldly on the side of Grace and God reveals his paths for
us. Sometimes it may seem like He takes His sweet time and the world is winning
in its battle to crush our spirits. What I have to say to that is that you need
to stand boldly in your faith, one that is not for the world but is because of
Christ.
Let us Pray
Loving and Gracious Lord Jesus
I thank You for all that You have
given
I say this not only for myself but
my whole family
I thank You for the beauty of the
Earth
And I thank You for the beautiful
mind and the Heart of Christ
That keeps me encouraged to move
forward.
I lift this prayer to You, O God.
Amen
February
17th, 2019; Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany; Year C; SOLA Lectionary
Sermon
by: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins
Psalm
1; Jeremiah 17:5-8; 1 Corinthians15:1-20; Luke 6:17-26
The link below is to this sermon's delivery at the Grace Hub at 12:30pm:
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