LIVING THIS SIDE OF THE CROSS: PART VII
The Christian Church has long taught that faith does not form in a vacuum. Faith usually forms through a series of steps. It begins with Scripture, as one comes to know OF God. It grows through prayer, as one comes to KNOW God. It starts to take shape, as one comes to SUBMIT to God. In other words, faith forms from without…because faith begins with God. That’s what the Church has taught for centuries, yet that does not seem to be what passes for faith today.
For example, listen to a May 31st United Press International story. It seems a Houston, Texas family is gaining spiritual strength from an image of Jesus they found growing in the mold inside the shower of their home. “The mold began growing in the bathroom a couple of years ago,” the mother of the family said. “Recently, it took the shape of the face of Jesus. It gives me inspiration to be a better person.” Then she added, “Maybe it means something.” I think it does mean something. I think it means somebody ought to clean that shower! Is that what passes for faith these days?
My little brother was raised in the church. Although, rumor has it, he may be heading back there now, for years he had nothing to do with the institutional church. He always said, “I took a class on the gospel of Mark in college. The minister never says anything I don’t already know!” Is that what passes for faith these days?
A minister friend of mine was recently talking with a man in his community. The man said, “I had my fill of church when I was a kid. Now, I’ve had it with institutional religion up to here. Jesus will just have to get over it when I see him!” Is that what passes for faith these days?
Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut recently released data from a survey they conducted among Generation Xers. Many Generation Xers – those born between 1965 and 1982 – walked away from the church are not coming back. Sociologists have long taken for granted that teenagers typically rebel against their parents’ religion, but then return to it when they have kids of their own. But Generation Xers – many now in their 40s and raising high-schoolers – are not following that trend. Most of them are not coming back…and they’re not involving their children in organized religion either.
New York Times columnist Ross Douthat comments on that in a book entitled, Bad Religion. He writes, “This does not mean that our country is filling up with atheistic secularists. These Generation Xers aren’t leaving spirituality behind. They haven’t abandoned the whole Christian worldview – just the parts that require commitment.” Douthat does not call them atheists. He calls them heretics. A heretic, in his mind, is one who no longer looks outward for spiritual authority. A heretic, rather, is one who looks inward for spiritual authority. In other words, the primary spiritual authority for a heretic…is one’s self. And that, my friends, just might be our biggest problem these days. Keep that thought in mind as we move on.
This is the seventh in a series of sermons entitled, Living This Side of the Cross. The thesis of the series is pretty much summed up in verses 14 and 15 in the 4th chapter of the book of Ephesians. There the Apostle Paul writes, “We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro, and blown about by every wind of doctrine. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head…into Christ Jesus, our Lord.” In other words, this is a sermon series on growing up in Christ.
We talked about how the church is meant to represent the kingdom of God on earth. We said that the kingdom is here…but not fully here. Thus, could it be that the church we have is exactly what God intended when he created the church? Could it be that the church we have provides the very conditions necessary for growing up in Christ? While we live in a throw-away society these days, perhaps there are some things we should not throw away. After all, the providence of God means that wherever we have gotten to – whatever we have done – that is precisely where the road to heaven begins.
Then we talked about living a worthy life. A worthy life – a life that is truly growing up in Christ – is a life formed in community. Christian maturity develops as we form friendships with the friends of God…not just the friends we prefer. You see, God chooses to act and intervene in the world through us. We see God acting in the world today when we witness the heartfelt convictions of those who serve him.
Three weeks ago, we encountered Paul’s roadmap through the cosmos. He tells us who we are and where we are going as Christians. We are blessed by God, chosen in Christ, destined for adoption, bestowed grace, lavished redemption and forgiveness, made to know the will of God through Christ, and gathered up to God in the end. We are precious children of God – created in the image of God – and destined for eternal life. Do not let anyone ever tell you otherwise.
Two weeks ago, we noted how Paul refers to us as saints. Paul deliberately chooses a word that indentifies us not by what we do for God, but rather, by what God does for us. He is retraining our imaginations to understand ourselves not in terms of how we feel about ourselves, and certainly not in terms of how others feel about us, but rather, he is retraining our imaginations to understand how God feels about us. In God’s eyes, we are saints. In God’s eyes, we are holy.
Last week we discovered that God bestows grace to sinners like us. Yet the grace of God is a lot like water to a swimmer. It seems as though there is no possible way it could support us. Yet like the swimmer, we have to lean forward, lift up our legs, and let ourselves go. To coin a phrase, we need to learn to let go…and let God.
Now back to the issue with which we began this sermon. Does faith come from within, or does faith come from without? Is the primary spiritual authority one’s self, or is the primary spiritual authority God? In a manner of speaking, Paul takes a stab at that question in the passage we read from the book of Ephesians. The way he does so is by contrasting the way their lives used to be with the way their lives are now.
The church in Ephesus was comprised of Jewish and Gentile converts. It was no small thing for Jews and Gentiles to learn to get along. The Jews were the chosen people of God. The Gentiles were everyone else. Combining the two was a bit like trying to desegregate schools in the South in the 1960s. Yet they had managed to do so, in the name of Jesus Christ. How had they done so? By conquering their individualism.
Individualism is the habit of understanding spiritual growth as an isolated self-help project. The individualist is the person who is convinced that he or she can have faith in God without dealing with God. The individualist is the person who is sure that he or she can love their neighbors without knowing their names. The individualist is the person who assumes that getting ahead means leaving others behind. The individualist is the person who, having gained competence in knowing God or people or world, uses that knowledge to take charge of God or people or world. The individualist seeks to specialize in God without bothering with people, or to specialize in people without bothering with God. In Paul’s mind, that rings of heresy.
Of course, we are inherently individuals when it comes to the use of our own intentions and free will. God does not remove our individuality when we enter the church. Church, rather, is where we cultivate a submission to the authority and care of God. Church is where we try to conquer individualism. Church is where we come to think of God…and of someone besides ourselves.
That is exactly what Paul is trying to say in verses 19 through 22. He writes, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, you are citizens with the saints, and members of the household of God, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.”
Paul is talking about the church here. You become the people of God not as individuals, but as a community in the church. Yet perhaps even more importantly, your faith grows not from within, but rather, from without…through what God accomplished in the person of Jesus Christ. So what do we say to those who say to us, “I don’t think you need the church to get to heaven?” I think we say, “Those of us in the church think it’s better to be in the church.”
Part of the problem, I think, is that we fail to comprehend what the church really is. Far too many people see it as nothing more than a building with a special tax status, or even as a collection of hypocrites. On a more positive note, perhaps some see the church as a staging ground for getting people motivated to continue Christ’s work. The problem with both of these views is that they see the church as a human activity to be measured by human expectations. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Perhaps what we need to do is to look at the church for what it is, not just for what it does. The church is the gift of Christ to the world. Paul says that the church is the body of Christ. Christ is the head and the church is his body. In other words, there is far more to the church than meets the eye. There is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Ladies and gentlemen, that is found nowhere else. We miss the complexity and glory of the church if we insist upon measuring it and defining it by the parts that we play in it; if we insist on evaluating it and judging it by what we think it ought to be. For through the church, there is something Christ bestows upon us.
Paul calls it…peace. Peace is Paul’s word of choice to help us understand what Christ bestows through the church. He begins by identifying Jesus Christ as “our peace.” He goes on to describe Christ as “making peace” and “proclaiming peace.” The Greek word for peace is eiranain. When calling Jesus our peace, the literal translation is “harmony.” Yet when Christ makes peace or proclaims peace, the literal translation is “salvation.” What Paul is saying is this: Jesus brings us together, Jesus breaks down the walls of hostility, Jesus recreates us as a unified humanity, Jesus reconciles us to God, and Jesus brings us home. And he does so…through the church.
To that you say, “Peace through the church? I’ve been in the church, and I’ve never seen such a bunch of infighting, backstabbing, hypocritical people in my entire life!” The question now is: Is it God who causes the problems, or is it people? Listen to this.
I recently ran into a friend from this church on the street. She said to me, “There’s a rumor going around about you.” I rolled my eyes and said, “Now what?” She said, “Someone said to me that our church pays you over $100,000 a year, provides your house, and pays for your utilities.” I asked, “Was it a member of our church who said that?” She said, “No. I think they go to Stone Methodist.” I said, “You tell them that’s exactly what I make!”
For some unknown reason, people are always trying to stir up trouble. They are perpetually disturbing the peace. That’s because Christ’s peace is never a finished product. It is always a work in progress. But that does not mean that Christ does not impose peace upon us.
As many of you know, my mother died last November. I was sad. I seem to miss her more as time goes on. I couldn’t call her and tell her about Travis’ graduation. I won’t be able to tell her when one of the kids gets married. I won’t be able to tell her when she becomes a great-grandma. But I did not fall apart when she died. That’s because I knew in my heart that I would one day see her again. That’s the peace Christ brings. That’s the peace Christ brings through the church.
Today, of course, we want to believe that everyone goes to heaven. That’s not what Jesus said. That’s not what Paul says. Paul says Christ brings peace through the church. Peace stands for harmony, and peace stands for salvation. There is more to Church than meets the eye. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment