Competent Goodness

Sermon, August 6, 2000

Text: Ephesians 2:1-10

If you've attended Maundy Thursday worship services here in recent years, you've seen the stole I am now wearing. It's a gift from a congregation I served in New Providence, NJ, and is especially suited for the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The image of the grapes and wheat on each side calls to mind the bread and wine of the sacramental elements; the quality quilting and hand-stitching was a labor of love by those who fashioned it. What you can't see from where you are sitting are the two Scripture selections inscribed on the inside; members of that congregation knew these two verses have long been almost thematic to me in the work of ministry; I've referred to them again and again over the years. They joked that I referred to these verses so much in the course of my service in New Providence that they thought they'd save me time in the future ... rather than taking the time to find them in the Bible, I could just read them off my stole, sort of as a "cheat sheet." Both verses I've called attention to in this sermon series; the second was in our reading this morning. (1) Galatians 6:9-10 -- "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." (2) Ephesians 2:10 -- "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." As I said in the abbreviated sermon two weeks ago, and this is pretty much where I left off: The main theme of this series of sermons on the Seven Virtues is to direct our focus and attention and energies on what is good, virtuous. After all, this is the very reason God created and redeemed us. This is what we are created for in Christ Jesus, to do good works!

In the January 1995 issue of Crisis magazine (a Roman Catholic publication) there was an article by a Jewish rabbi named Daniel Lapin. Now in a Presbyterian sermon I am about to quote a Jewish Rabbi who is writing in a Roman Catholic publication ... how's that for ecumenical cooperation? Citing the rather doleful statistics of illegitimacy, the article pointed out that in 1960, just under 5% of children in America were born to unwed mothers. In 1990, the figure was 28%. (In 1998, I believe that figure had risen to 32% and climbing. I read elsewhere that in 1988, 4.3 million children were living with a mother who had never been married - up 678% since 1970! By 1989, one in four babies were born to unwed mothers; today, it approximates one in three.) The Rabbi proposed an unusual recipe for combating teen pregnancy -- kosher food. No, he was not suggesting that schools serve bagels and Hebrew National hot dogs in their lunch programs. Rather, he was alluding to the long-term benefits of religious discipline. The Rabbi pointed out the statistical fact that Jewish high school girls who observe the kosher dietary laws are far less likely to get pregnant out of wedlock. He wrote, "This is not due to any mysterious contraceptive qualities of chicken soup." Instead, Jewish children "...who are raised kosher learn to 'just say 'no' (to a cheeseburger, for instance) long before they are subjected to the compelling calls of adolescence." (emphasis mine --slc) Rabbi Lapkin is saying in so many words that as faithful, kosher Jews learn to consistently ... and, at times, inconveniently ... put their faith into practice in relatively small areas, it develops within them a moral strength of character that holds up under pressure in tougher areas. As the personal discipline involved in physical exercise develops strength which reaps all kinds of benefits, so the personal discipline involved in making good choices works in us a strength of character which is increasingly able to choose the best, and to resist the pressures, enticements and temptations which come our way. The discipline of making good choices in small areas works in us a strength of character which is increasingly able to make good and wholesome choices in greater areas of life. Good, moral choices of thought and action create good, virtuous and strong character in the individual.

I believe this principle is reiterated in II Peter1:5, the "ladder of virtues." "For this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love." As I said in preceding weeks, the first rung of that "ladder" is Faith. Once we have made the step of faith to follow Jesus as Lord and Savior, Peter exhorts us to not stop there. Make certain we take the next step to consistently exercise that faith through obedience to the Lord, the Master: to add to our faith goodness, to do what is good. The next rung of the ladder: Supplement that goodness with knowledge. As you seek to do what is good, seek to learn about your faith, learn what God calls good, and seek to study and learn WHY God calls good, good. I might add a little "aside" here ... too many people in our churches today effectively stop "climbing the ladder" at the second rung ... for all practical purposes we think that the Christian faith is simply concerned with our being "good and nice" people, and we never get beyond that! We never go beyond simply "being good" (ah, sort of like this series of sermons; we never seem to get beyond "goodness!"); we don't bother to learn more about God and/or about His wisdom and ways; about what God calls good, and why God calls good what He calls good, and so on. It is simply not enough to have a basic faith and good behavior; Peter exhorts, "Let's keep climbing!" God would have us move beyond simply being good to excellence, from being good to doing well! He would have us go on to be godly, He would have us be like Himself.

As your knowledge about and of God increases, as you understand Him and grow to understand His ways, He enables you to go on to the next "rung" (self-control), He gives you an ever increasing ability to control yourself, to master your passions and strengths. As self control becomes more and more instinctive and habitual, we will find it easier to steadfastly persevere (the next rung is "perseverance"), to stick it out, to keep taking moral and spiritual stands even in the face of opposition. During an address to an audience at the recent General Assembly, William Bennett made a twist on an old adage by exhorting those Presbyterians present, "Don't just do something, stand there!" He encouraged the faithful to stand for what is right and good, especially in these troubled times, rather than to just lose ourselves in busy-ness and church activity. Too many evangelical, good-thinking Christians are reluctant to take stands, we are too often reluctant to confront evil and corruption, we seem to lack the confidence and the self-assurance that the good really is good, that God's ways really are right. Too often we lack the backbone to take moral and spiritual "stands" in the presence of our co-workers, our neighbors, even our children ... and all suffer the worse for it. We seemed determined to (as one speaker at a recent conference put it) to keep the "jelly" in evangelical. God's ways really ARE good, they ARE right, they ARE the best, and the more we go on to learn about Him and His ways and the more we exercise that knowledge in faithful obedience, the more we persevere, the more we are able to stand. And on and on up Peter's ladder we climb to the supreme virtue, love. As I said last week, these are the steps that lead to goodness, that produce everything we need for excellence and godliness, that provide what we need to escape the corrupting influences that would shatter our lives and the lives of those we love. Let us focus our energies and efforts and attention on "climbing" this ladder of the seven lively virtues step by step, the virtues which lead to an ever increasing abundance and quality of life. Again, that first step of the ladder is faith: Putting our faith in the Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, which then leads to the next steps of obedience, knowledge, self-control, and perseverance.

This (as well as Rabbi Lapkin's premise) is well portrayed in a movie that came out years ago entitled The Karate Kid. The film's young protagonist, Daniel, is a somewhat lonely teenager who just moved cross-country with his mother to a small apartment complex in California. The maintenance man of the apartment complex, Mr. Miagi, is a 60-ish, somewhat reclusive Japanese-American. Daniel eventually falls into disfavor with a local gang of young toughs, a group of students of a rather unethical karate instructor. After Daniel daringly pulls a prank on one of their number at a school dance, these six or seven young toughs give chase as he runs for his life. They catch up to Daniel just as he reaches the fence surrounding the apartment complex, and they proceed to beat him into semi-consciousness. As he fades from consciousness, Daniel sees Mr. Miagi scale the fence. Then this reclusive, somewhat elderly ... no, middle aged (when I first saw the movie, he was elderly) ... diminutive maintenance man proceeds to effectively decimate Daniel's attackers in a matter of seconds. Daniel learned something he did not know earlier: Mr. Miagi was a master of the martial art of karate. The next day, Daniel asks Mr. Miagi to teach him karate, and Mr. Miagi consents.

The rather strange lessons begin at Mr. Miagi's home a few days later. Daniel is told to paint the fence. He is instructed to paint the fence with an up/down motion, keeping his elbow locked. If memory serves me correctly, this goes on for about one week: "Paint the fence: Up, down, up down, lock elbow! Up, down..." The second week, Daniel is told to wax Mr. Miagi's rather large collection of old automobiles. Again, he is given very specific instructions: "Wax on (a circular, clockwise motion with the right arm and hand), wax off (a circular, counter-clockwise motion with the left arm and hand). "Wax on, wax off. Wax on, wax off." Daniel is getting understandably irritated; after all, he wants karate lessons, and here he is painting fences and waxing cars. However, out of respect and reverence for his mentor, Daniel is faithful to do what he is told, even if he doesn't understand why. He saw unmistakable evidence of Mr. Miagi's authority and power, and therefore Daniel revered and trusted him as his mentor. Daniel doesn't understand why he is doing what he is doing, but he nevertheless doggedly and obediently follows Miagi's directives. The following week, Daniel is told to sand the wood floor of Miagi's home! A clockwise motion with the right arm and hand, counter-clockwise with the left, using sandbuffers on the wood floor of Miagi's residence. About the fourth or fifth night of sanding the floor, Daniel explodes. He has had it! He blurts out to Mr. Miagi, "I want to learn karate! And all I'm doing is waxing your cars, sanding your floors, painting your fence!" Mr. Miagi's response is to call Daniel to attention: "Daniel-San!" Daniel looks up. "Daniel-san, paint the fence!" Confused and somewhat irritated, Daniel responds, "What?" Miagi again commands, "PAINT THE FENCE!" Daniel proceeds to do the motions of painting the fence ... up, down, elbow locked, up, down. Miagi unexpectedly gives a yell, simultaneously delivering a lightning-quick blow to Daniel's ribs. Daniel instinctively blocks the blow on his "down" stroke; Miagi doesn't connect. "Daniel-san, sand the floor!" As Daniel begins the sanding motion, Mr. Miagi lets loose with a volley of kicks, each of which is deftly parried and blocked by Daniel. Miagi then attempts a whole series of hits, slices, punches and kicks on young Daniel. Each and every attempt is deftly blocked, parried, or deflected by Daniel ...Miagi never connects. Because Daniel was faithful to what his revered mentor told him to do, day in and day out, he instinctively reacted as he ought when the blows came. Daniel faithfully obeyed Mr. Miagi even when he didn't fully understand the reasons and purposes behind the commands. Through the motions of waxing, sanding and painting, Mr. Miagi was building reflexive instincts into Daniel's being that would enable the young man to go on and excel.

After all, the master knows what it takes to excel; the student does not. As Daniel grew in his reverence for Mr. Miagi and in his knowledge of Miagi's ways, he moved beyond being good to being excellent. "Add to your goodness, knowledge..." In like manner, the faithful believer is to do as the Heavenly Master directs, even when he/she can't figure out the Master's reasoning or purposes. God knows what it takes to excel in this life; we don't. He knows what it takes to experience fullness in life. His commands may not always seem rational or even logical, but as faithful disciples of the Master we are to reverently trust that He knows best and obey accordingly. There are times His commands may seem as connected to "real life" as sanding floors is connected to karate; however, He is the master, we are not. "Christian-san! Keep the Sabbath! Honor your parents! Don't commit adultery! Be truthful! Bless those who persecute you! Love your enemies! Give thanks in all circumstances!" Live as He would have you live, day in and day out, even if you don't know why. If we are reverently obedient to the Master, we, too, will instinctively react as we ought when the "blows" of life come .... and the blows will come. And as our knowledge of the master grows, as we go on to learn about Him and His ways, so grows our instinctive, innate ability to be good and do well, to excel in life, to react as we ought, to persevere in all things good. We'll continue in this next time.