Both Sides of the Coin

Text: James 1:17-27

Focus: Holiness

Function: To help people be balanced in their approach to holiness.

Form: Expository

Intro: We have all probably heard the phrase “Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship with Jesus.”

I like the phrase because it demonstrates to me the personal nature of God's salvation in my life and the way the Holy Spirit works inside all of us to give us a conscience, help us follow that conscience and causes us to be humble, gracious, merciful, generous and self-sacrificing for the sake of others.

The Holy Spirit, according to the promise given by the prophet Ezekiel comes inside the heart of a person and turns that heart of stone, a hard heart, into a tender, caring heart.

I have used the phrase many times that I eschew religion because religion implies man-made institutions that really don't honor God.

They are creations of human imagination.

But, that really isn't what Scripture says.

Or, at least the word “religion” has changed its meaning.

It comes from the word Piety, or Pious.

When I think of Piety, or Pious behavior, I think of someone who is no fun at all.

But again, that is an unfair description.

Pious literally means “set apart for God.”

Holy. But then we hear the pejorative: Holy Roller.

It is a negative term and that isn't fair for someone who is our brother or sister in Christ.

It leads me to think this about the word religion: I want to take it back.

Even though I prefer “spiritual” to “religious,” I want to take back the word “religious.”

At least for the purpose of our discussion this morning.

There is great preaching from this passage.

I have heard a lot of preachers emphasize the words “be doers and not just hearers” of the Word.

Doers of the word.

I have had a lot of times when I have not measured up to whatever “doers of the Word” meant in the concept of this passage.

So, I am going to give you a break and speak about this passage from its own perspective. It is a very positive passage.

I find it funny that Martin Luther didn't think the book of James should be in the NT because he believed that it teaches a “works oriented” and then a “hell fire and brimstone” sort of salvation that fueled an institution that had become corrupt and had rejected the grace that Jesus gives.

That is not my experience of the book. I think I could break it down as this: “We love God by loving others and if we do not love others, then something is amiss. Our religion has taken us away from Jesus' mercy.

I find the book of James to have a lot of practical principles for us to live a faithful life as members of God's family.

We will get to a big principle later in our study of James over the next few weeks but today, let us take apart this passage.

Vs. 17: Every good and perfect present comes from heaven.

Hallelujah.

James starts out his whole admonition with the principle that God is generous and God loves to give. God loves to give. And God has given us many, many good things.

God gives and God loves to give.

And, James sort of -we will look at it- sort of tells us that God wants us to be generous with the generosity that God has given us.

He gave, we give back. We respond to God's giving by giving back. At a young age, I was told that this is the reason we give gifts at Christmas.

Everything starts with God's giving.

Then James takes up the question of human anger.

Anger is an emotion. God created it. It can be a very positive force. It helps us to move through problems that are depressing or frustrating us. One of my Counseling professors kept drilling into our heads this: “90% of non-medical depression is a result of unresolved anger.”

Anger part of God's gift. I get angry at injustice. I get angry at how Jesus teachings are oftentimes co-opted for personal or material gains and power over others. The prophets of God should resound God's displeasure at injustices wherever they may be.

BUT.

But look at the way we are to approach it, Verse 19: ¹⁹Remember this, my dear friends! Everyone must be quick to listen, but slow to speak and slow to become angry.

We have all heard the “two ears, one mouth” phrase as a possible explanation that we should listen twice as much as we speak.

Quick to listen. Slow to speak and slow to become angry.

Apparently, we have choice in this matter. I was asking a local businessman, because I wanted to listen without arguing or making any judgment, why his store had so many rebel flags for sale. I wanted to give the man a sincere voice. It was a decision for me to begin to love someone who to me is “the other” in my life.

I can't say I am satisfied with his answer, but I was satisfied with the sincerity with which he held his beliefs.

I think I formed a relationship with this man.

My idea was a decision to give up anger and try to establish a redemptive relationship. And without the arrogance of me having something to give to him, but for us to learn together.

I saw this sign somewhere this week. The difference between an argument and a discussion is that an argument is where we seek to make the other person learn our point of view. A discussion is where we sit down to learn together.

And the whole thing with anger culminates in the next verse, it is the spiritual principle behind the appropriate use of anger. And, it appears to me to be counter-evolutionary.

Verse 20: For human anger does not accomplish God's righteous purpose.

A couple of things. First, the word translated as “righteous,” Diakanos, is almost always translated in Greek literature as “justice.”

Almost every other language translation uses Justice as the default word except for the English translations.

It seems that we are having a hard time getting away from the Imperial perspective for which King James had the NT translated.

The “righteous” in many English translation refers to those who are saved to eternity.

But the word means those who act with justice.

The best way we might understand this is when we read about Joseph not willing to divorce Mary because he was a “just” man. He was a good guy.

Man's anger, by itself, does not accomplish God's justice.

God's justice is different than mankind's.

God's justice cares for both the oppressed and the oppressor. God loves both.

God loves both the just and the unjust.

I can't fathom that.

It took bravery for me to approach that shop owner. I didn't want to offend, but more importantly, I didn't want to make an enemy. The book of Proverbs speaks of scoffers who bellow and bluster and you can never have an intelligent conversation with them.

But I kept having this conviction in my heart that Jesus loves him just as much as Jesus loves me.

We are human and when we are hurt, we may want God to rain down justice on the one who hurt us.

But we forget that God's justice cares for both the abuser and the abused.

That is almost impossible for us to fathom, unless, of course, (pause) ...God is indeed love.

God is love.

But there is more to this verse. The verb tense in the Greek does not occur in the English. But it is the middle reflexive voice. Big words, but what it means is that by itself, man's anger to not do God's justice.

There is a definite emphasis about procedure when faced with injustices for us to remember, Our anger does not bring about God's justice.

This, to me, is a place of trust in God's justice.

James is calling on us to trust in God's perfect and loving justice for both the oppressed and the oppressor.

It takes trust that the God of all the earth will indeed do what is right in the end when judgment indeed comes.

And God's judgment will again be with respect to all of the people that God loves, and that is every one.

So, we get angry, but we do not sin. It should lead us to prayer and faith, not violence and revenge.

Think of the rhetoric that we are constantly bombarded with every single day. Think of the flash in the pan rise to fame of one TV celebrity who is running for President in 2016. He is popular because he reflects the angst and anger of a group of people who are beginning to see that the world is becoming browner and browner, 9 out of 10 babies born are not white, and white privilege is beginning to erode.

There is a lot of anger out there, but it does not bring about God's justice.

Yes, at times we need to let anger motivate us to do something. But! Remember that human wrath is not the answer, faith in God is.

And now, finally, James speaks of religion. And he speaks of it in the positive light.

True, or pure, religion is this: keeping oneself unstained by the world and taking care of widows and orphans in their distress.

Here is how I can have fellowship with my more conservative brothers and sisters.

There is a lot of talk in some Christian circles about moral purity and the way that morality appears to them to be waning in the face of Political Correctness.

I don't see it that way. What I see is justice and mercy being extended to more and more people.

Last week, as I was speaking with my twin brother about justice and my calling to set free the oppressed, I said this to him: “You remember that iconic picture of Jesus on the cross who answers the person's question to Jesus: `how much do you love me?' and Jesus stretches out His hands and dies?”

It is the image of Jesus on the cross.

I told him, that image of Jesus stretching out His hands to love others has taken me to sharing good news for the oppressed by preaching against racism, prejudice toward the undocumented, oppression of women, care for children who are being victimized, prisoners, the poor in Haiti and Tijuana, atheists, Roman Catholics, the poor, and now for brothers and sisters who are gay and lesbian.

And that picture in my mind of Jesus' stretching out His hands to give Himself and love others sacrificially just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I hope to see the day, and I will at the final judgment, where those arms of love and mercy extend to the world entire.

But to my brother, pure religion is keeping oneself unstained by the world and it is emphasized to him in his care for the unborn and his stand against what he believes is the moral decline in our culture.

Maybe I need a little bit more of his “purity” and maybe he probably needs more of my “caring for the widows and orphans.”

Pure religion is exactly what Jesus preached. Love God and love others.

And in that, I want to be religious.

I am going to love God by loving others, my twin brother is going to love God by keeping himself unstained by the world and God has called us both to God.

But, there are two sides to that coin called religion. Do social justice, and honor God by being pure and different from the world's excesses.

The Words of Life

Text: John 6:56-69

Focus: The Bread and Cup

Function: To prepare people for worship

Form: Storytelling

Intro:

Sometimes preachers say provocative things to get people to think outside the box. Sometimes they do it to overcome certain cultural biases in order to understand the time, place and context of certain passages of scriptures.

Jesus got very provocative here.

Actually, the scriptures in the original writings are provocative enough! Many of the idiomatic expressions and phrases used in the Bible are cleaned up for the pulpit. Or they are explained differently. For example, when Doeg killed the Priest, the actual Hebrew says “he counted down the 5^th rib.”

Sounds like tickling? But it was an assassination technique to locate the heart.

There are a few times when they are down right vulgar. But, I won't go in to those except to ask the question about this passage, How would you feel if your pastor told you that the way for you to get eternal life was to eat him or her?

There is a Science Fiction author who writes from the philosophical world view of nihilism.

For a moment, as we consider the 21^st century Church and the end of the age of Modernity, in theological circles that means the age that where Christianity was defending itself against the concept that science and reason alone can solve humanities problems.

Nihilism was the philosophy that grew out of it. In Nihilism, everything is completely random, or by chance. By chance, the universe existed and given enough odds, in an alternate universe, a living being might look like a sofa to us. Anything could have happened in evolution and since everything is random, life has no real meaning. Nihilism.

And a 6-part BBC miniseries was first made of the book and then Hollywood itself took it on with full blown Hollywood production.

The book from which the movie was made was has a panic button on the front with the words “Don't Panic.” It is The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and it is bizarre.

The age of Modernity, the philosophical age of Science and Reason alone can solve humanities problems, seemed to be a sort of hopeless time.

And then Post-Modernity came, it was ushered in fully after 9/11 and humanity was again looking to spirituality to help solve problems.

I believe in Science and every time I go to the Doctor, I thank God for science. But, humanity also needs its spiritual connections to help Reason Out the Ethics of Science. Science and reason alone do not have an ethical component: enter spirituality.

But the movie is nihilistic.

And the movie takes a ridiculously bizarre turn at the end. They are at this bizarre restaurant in space somewhere and sometime else, to bizarre to go in to, but the main course for the evening is this pig that is half pig, half person and the pig, knowing it is about to be slaughtered is selling off his prime body parts.

-Really bizarre image. I hate to bring it up to you, but that is the author's condemnation of nihilism because without Spirituality, randomness is meaningless, well, depressing.

I am sure that the image of that scene is related to this passage. In the book, the author is trying to say that since there is no God, nothing matters, even -pause- even someone giving their life for someone else.

And I wonder if the author is crying out for God, or making fun of Christ. I suspect the latter, but even that, is a cry out to God, a cry for meaning.

Of course, the people at the restaurant in the movie are disgusted by the suggestion.

And the same here.

If I said this, you would, you better, walk out of the room, call a council meeting and fire me on the spot.

But Jesus said this. And it appears that at this point, the crowds went from hundreds and then thousands to maybe 120-25 or so. The crowd becomes small enough that the Sanhedrin have to hire Judas to betray him.

This event reduces His ministry to the faithful fewer number.

The crowd was grossed out and left Him.

I don't want to dwell on that movie and the ridiculous image that I painted in your minds except to say that at that time, in the late 70's or so, that Modernity was at its height and there really wasn't a lot of hope.

People were sort of flocking to these ideas that nothing really counts. I think it might be why abortion became inflamed in people's minds. I think more than anything it is political and that is sad, but the Church trying to defend the concept of the human soul, of meaning beyond this life.

And cracks were showing up in culture. Spock, the guru of science and reason dies and they played Amazing Grace at his funeral. A popular rock song: “Bohemian Rhapsody” hit the charts and it described the futility of nihilism, the boy confesses his crime of murder as if it was just a random act with no moral consequences.

The culture starts asking itself, are there consequences of actions? And that is good.

We aren't defending the faith against atheists as much as we are having to answer the question to the world: “Does the church live up to the example Jesus said would prove us to the world, the way we love others.”

And that is proving very hard for some branches of Christianity. Hopefully not us.

During that time, a friend of mine was furthering her education. I was in Bible College and she asked me one of those difficult questions of the day at a Sunday School class party.

She said to me: “Is Christianity really a bloody religion?”

I said to her, after quite a bit of thought: “I guess it is. I mean, some of us celebrate the sacrifice of Christ every single week teaching that it actually becomes the real flesh and the real blood of Jesus.”

She drifted away from that sort of shame. She did not see it as good for her mental health.

A good friend of mine actually tried to explain to me his difficulty with some atonement theology. Atonement theology is the teaching around the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is the doctrines that we get from it. The most being salvation by faith in the sacrifice that Jesus provided freely for all of humanity. That salvation, to me, is best described as a welcome into the family of God here on earth and it will last forever.

But my friend may be thinking more of it as that sentient pig and the awful idea that any person would willingly allow another to die on their behalf. To allow someone else is an injustice. “The soul that sins shall die” is his trained theological answer. He is hard to argue with.

And I have always looked at the mystery of the bread and cup, but body and the blood of Christ with a lot of mystery.

I like the mystery that maybe I can't figure out all of what this symbol means to us, to me.

There is a scene in Saving Private Ryan that really demonstrates the humanity of war. Two enemies are engaged in hand to hand combat and by chance, one gets the upper hand and as he is plunging a dagger into his enemy, he is also cradling his head and shushing him as a mother does her baby.

Both men hated their job.

And one gave his life for his cause while the other took a life for his cause.

And I think about the willingness with which Jesus gave His life for us and I shudder with wonder.

And that is a powerful image to me, I took Jesus' life.

And, I realize that it is a shameful image and that was not Jesus' intent. His intent is freedom, not shame.

Before the Passion of the Christ was released, Mel Gibson explains that the only part he would play would be the soldier nailing Jesus to the Cross because, he said: “I too, killed the Christ.”

I wept for the humility that he expressed when that he said that.

But again, that twinge of pain comes back to me.

And that when it is shamefully motivated, it is a woefully incomplete image of God's love for us.

Jesus didn't suffer and die on the cross to shame us into following God.

No. He loved.

And love does not shame the other.

Nope, as I contemplate that image, I contemplate instead what actually happened the night he was betrayed, Paul said it: “For I received from the Lord that which I also gave unto you, the the Lord Jesus, the night He was betrayed took bread and brake it and said, this is my body, broken for you.

He gave.

Yes, we took.

Yes, we could have been the soldier who nailed Jesus there, we could have been Judas, we could have been the active killers of that time and still be forgiven. Even today.

But the emphasis is on this: HE GAVE. For God so loved the world that God gave...

This, by faith, is indeed the words of life. His life, in us to live in us, to give us hope, to give us purpose. Praise GOD!

The List Comes Up Short

Text: Ephesians 5:1-2 (4:25-5:2)

Focus: Simply Christian

Function: To help people embrace grace.

Form: Story Telling

Intro: I was recently asked by a friend for some help with a devotional for High School youth at a COB work camp she is leading this week.

She had a pretty good devotional, it centered on Jesus and Jesus' command to take up our crosses and follow him.

I agree, young people, especially youth, need to be inspired, not coddled. I prefer work camps and service projects to fun events. I liked the mix that Camp Brethren Heights had. It was spiritual the entire week. Even the recreation was born out of our study of the Holy Spirit. And it was affirming.

And the questions asked in the devotional guide that this friend of mine shared with me reminded me of how I often felt during my childhood and Christian upbringing.

Most often, I felt ashamed.

I had a lot of doubts. A lot of things just didn't add up. Faith was not simple and I was the kid who heard from the Sunday School Teacher, and from my own parents after the teacher talked to them after class -often, that I really asked good questions.

One time, I was frightened by the teachers comment because I didn't have the idiomatic reference in my mind about the phrase: “Devil's advocate.”

I was afraid that I was demon possessed! And, there was no way to Google the expression to see if I was over reacting!

My mom calmed me down right away be explaining that it is an expression where we take the other side of an issue just to ferret out any inconsistencies with the thesis.

And, I got worse at it than better. In my early teen years, I memorized Matthew, Romans and 1 Corinthians. And my dad was recovering from a heart attack, so his preaching was often sporadic guest appearances at churches in the area.

And after the sermon, he had to face me with my questions and corrections for him.

And I still didn't stop. In Seminary, I was showing off my knowledge of Matthew during a class on said book and the professor finally, in exasperation, interrupted me and said: “Ummm, Phil, you do realize that I read the book as well?”

My desperation showed up in pride. But it didn't feel like pride to me. To me, it was desperation.

I kept thinking that if I learn more of this book, somehow, I will never doubt again.

I still doubt.

But guess what? I don't doubt the simple things like this: “God is Love.” “God loves us.” “God is.”

God made it simple, “love Me by loving others.”

Let me repeat that, say it with me: Love Me by loving others.

As I mentioned Friday, the opposite of faith is not doubt, it is fear.

God's salvation brings us into that place of rest and trust.

Every time I feel fear, I pray, because that is where I know the Evil one is attacking me and sometimes, he attacks all of us by attacking just one of us.

Now, our Church Denomination has people who pray for us and seek to learn what God is saying to the Churches in this day, in this place, and at this time.

And they discern the lectionary text and choose one to emphasize in worship.

Although we only read Ephesians 5:1-2 in the reading for today, the entire text is Chapter 4:25-5:2.

And they emphasized an important command: verses 29: “²⁹Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.

Only say what builds up.

Man do we all need to hear that! Amen?

Let me just read for you the entirety of verses 25-34 in Chapter 4, it is great stuff!

²⁵So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. (expose)

²⁶Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷and do not make room for the devil. (expose)

²⁸Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. (expose)

²⁹Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.

³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. (expose)

³¹Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, (expose)

³²and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. (expose)

This is a great list of stuff to preach about!

I can think of at least one of my Seminary professors pursing his lips in disapproval if I didn't plan to preach each one of those concepts per week with a clever title like: “Rules for a New Life” as it is stated in the New Revised Standard Version.

This stuff is gripping (do the Tony Compolo head bowed, hands grasping gesture).

It is. I especially like “put off bitterness, wrath and anger...” Oh God! I always have to remind myself to do that and I am grateful that the woman I love loves me enough to show it to me. (mouth “thank you” to Kathy)

Oh, my heart longs for this list to be completely true in my own life. My heart aches for the days when the Church is known as the people who put off bitterness, wrath, anger, malice, slander and fighting.

I want that to be our legacy. I want that to be my legacy. And I admit, the times I fall away from that ideal are not the times that I doubt, no, it is fear that drives people to violate those convictions.

It is a great list.

But I realize, as I advised my friend who was preparing devotions for senior high youth this week when I said to her: “I always avoid any message that shames my listener. And doubly so with youth.”

Now, I realize that I have just projected my own issues into the way I do ministry.

Others may be able to do it without doing harm. I simply remember the harm.

The list comes up short of one thing.

And, before you think I just said that the bible isn't complete here, I didn't. I am that the lectionary text crosses chapter lines to include the commands in verses 25-32 with the principle defined in Chapter 5:1-2.

The list comes up short simply because there is an unfortunate chapter break. Remember, the chapters and verses were not in the original. This is just taken from a letter that Paul sent to the Church in Ephesus.

The list is summarized in verses 1-2 of Chapter 5. ¹Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, ²and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

We know that because it starts with “Therefore.”

We read Chapter 4's end to see what the “therefore” is “there for.”

Because of this list, brother Paul is saying: “love like God loves.” In context of the passage, Be imitators of God means “love like God loves.” It is a passage about love.

And then he re-states it -more simply- this way: “live in love.”

We are imitating God when we live in love.

The list is not shorter, it is just more simple to discern when it is considered in the manner: “Live in love.”

And then, Paul adds a caveat to the simple message: “Live in love.”

Paul says, “live sacrificially in love, like Jesus.”

Put it together. When I think of God's love, I remember this perfect loving parent. The Black Woman described as what we have traditionally called “The Father” in the trinity is in my opinion one of the best descriptions of the separate roles of the trinity I have ever read.

God, the one of the Throne that Jesus stands next to in the book of Revelation is probably best understood in the concept of “Unconditional love.”

And I would add a great big period right there. Everything else is secondary.

But the text also reminds us of something more than unconditional love. It reminds us of sacrificial love.”

Love goes beyond the convenience times when we are feeling charity towards others. Nope, love sometimes, maybe even for a season oftentimes, includes personal sacrifice.

I love this principle here and it is explained in detail in Philippians 2: ⁶who, though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, ⁷but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form,⁸He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.

And again, I fall short and I, we, are all surrounded by this God who loves us.

So let us make it simple, live in love.