Sow What?
Sermon, August 13, 2000
Texts: Acts 26:9-18; Ephesians 4:25 - 5:2
(With special acknowledgement, again, to insights and phrasing of the Rev. Dr. M. Craig Barnes of National Presbyterian Church, Washington, DC; portions of the first third of this message were gleaned from his sermon series on Acts available at www.natpresch.org)
One additional reading, from Paul's epistle to the Philippians (3:12) -- "But I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Today's reading from Acts gives the third account of Paul's conversion in the Book of Acts; the first account is when it actually happened, and this is the second time Paul himself gave an account of it, this time during his defense before King Agrippa. Every time Paul gives this account, this testimony, he begins by describing his persecution of the church. V. 9 -- "I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them." Paul makes clear that the church he is now leading, he formerly tried to destroy. Many men and women lost their lives because of Paul. Paul admits that he was wrong, and even calls himself elsewhere in the Epistles "the chief of sinners." Yet, Paul certainly doesn't seem to be immobilized by his guilt of hurting others, if anything, he seems energized and mobilized by it.
As the old saying goes, "There isn't a man alive who is as good as he knows he ought to be." You don't have to be a professional counselor, psychologist or pastor to know that many, many people live with a lot of guilt, many to the point that it hampers the quality and effectiveness of life. We feel guilty for what we have done and what we have left undone. We feel guilty for our failures, and we even feel guilty if we are doing well. We feel guilty that we have so much when so many have so little. We feel guilty about the sins we have committed, about the opportunities we have missed, for the mistakes we have made. We feel guilty for the people we hurt, especially if they are our children. Note that Paul doesn't ignore or deny or gloss over or rationalize away his very real guilt .... which, unfortunately, some churchs seem bent on doing these days. It would seem that some churches seem bent on designating themselves as "guilt-free zones," modeled after the "Drug-free zones" of public schools. "Don't bring guilt near here; there's just no guilt allowed around here!" The message of these "upbeat" churches seems to be that guilt is largely imagined and/or a product of puritanical upbringing; after all, it really doesn't matter to God or us how you live ... as long as you are sincere in your convictions, whatever they may be. After all, doesn't Jesus Himself command, "Judge not lest ye be judged?" You can have "relationships" (i.e., sleep with) whomever you choose, you can set your own ethical standards ... as long as you are honest. "Just trust your God-given instincts," they exhort. "Follow your desires ... after all, isn't that how God created you?"
A few years ago my dog Samson trusted his instincts and followed his desires, and you wouldn't believe what that got him into ... he decided to give chase to a small animal; after all, he was a dog and this animal seemed to be just begging to be chased. The trouble was, that small animal was a skunk ... and Samson paid a smelly price for trusting his instincts. In fact, I'm convinced the lingering odor so distracted him a week later that he did something very uncharacteristic ... this normally observant, street-wise dog momentarily forgot himself and dashed into the road directly in the path of an oncoming car; at the time, he was chasing another small animal (a squirrel). $2,000+ in veterinary orthopedic surgeon bills, an animal-hospital stay, and six months of recuperation later, he was finally able to run again. Yes, he followed his God-given desires and instincts. Friends, it is our ability to rise above our instincts that makes us human, created in God's image. Why trust your instincts when you can be a human being? Also, imagine going to a doctor for a routine exam, and he discovers you have a serious, but treatable, disease. Do you really want that doctor to "graciously" treat you by thinking, "But should I confront her with this? After all, the word "disease" sounds so ... judgmental. Who am I to make judgments, especially about something that seems so natural? She is just into an alternative health style, that's all. Maybe I should graciously keep my opinions about what health should be to myself, and encourage her in her healthstyle." No, that would not be gracious. That'd be cruel. Grace would be for your doctor to look you in the eye and say, "You need to know that something is wrong here, but there are things that can be done."
It may be stretching the analogy, but this is what "Dr. Jesus" did for Paul. Notice how Paul relates his story. After recounting his persecutions against the new church, he then goes on to say that as he was traveling on the road to Damascus to drag more followers of Christ off to jail, he was interrupted by a blinding light from heaven, he fell off his horse and to the ground, and he heard the voice of Jesus Christ saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Before dispensing the medicine of grace to Paul, Dr. Jesus first "diagnosed" the sin and confronted His "patient" with it -- "Why are you persecuting me?" Jesus' administration of grace begins with His making a judgement about Saul's sin; he diagnoses Saul's guilt, then "prescribes" a course of action, beginning with "Get up and stand on your feet."
It is not the ministry of Jesus to beat us down with guilt and leave us wallowing in the dirt, but to get us back on our feet. He has something for us to do! What does He have for us to do? What does He have for you to do? He has tasks for each and every one of us who respond to His diagnoses; tasks uniquely suited for our gifts, our background, our desires, and yes, even our guilt. We looked at this verse last time, I'd like to read it again (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." And we have to be on our feet, not remaining immobilized in the dirt of guilt and shame, if we are going to do the good works God has tailor-made for us to do.
So you see, as Paul's own life testifies, it just doesn't matter what you have done. What matters is what God has done in finding you, and what you do from there. Your responsibility is not to ignore your guilt, not to rationalize away your guilt, and not to wallow in your guilt, but simply to acknowledge your guilt and respond in faith to Jesus. Jesus does not use our very real guilt to dis-grace us, but to grace us. He really is the only one who can get you back on your feet ... and to make us able and willing to go on and be useful and productive for His kingdom, to do good works.
This is the same Paul who wrote to the church in Philippi, "But I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Paraphrased: "Jesus Christ put me back on my feet to press on to the higher things, He has not made me to wallow in the dirt of my guilt and shame." This is the same Paul who wrote: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things." Just as an aside: Note that Paul did not write: "Whatever is false, whatever is dishonorable, whatever is wrong, whatever is impure, whatever is ugly, whatever is disreputable, if anything is immoral or contemptible, avoid thinking about such things." Paul's New Testament writings do include admonitions of this negative sort, but he primarily focused his counsel on the positives -- why and how to press on to the higher things, to pursue whatever is "excellent or praiseworthy," to focus our energies on what is good and right and lovely, forgetting what is behind, or, to mix my metaphors again, to keep on climbing higher and higher upon the Ladder of Virtues (cf. II Peter 1: 1-11, sort of my theme Scripture this summer).
And this leads us to wrap up what I had hoped to do last week. Pressing on to the higher things, climbing the ladder of virtue and godliness, might be compared to growing a flower garden: First you clear the plot, next you turn over and expose the dirt, clear the remaining weeds, then sow the seeds. The gardener who keeps turning the dirt over and over and over again will never grow anything. Also, the gardener who just keeps going after weeds, but never sows any seed, will never grow anything of value, either. Please turn to the bulletin insert: (The following is taken from a short classic entitled As A Man Thinketh; J. Allen, Commission Press, Inc., Charlotte, NC, c. 1960, Emphasis mine -slc)
The aphorism, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," not only embraces the whole of a man's being, but is so comprehensive as to reach out to every condition and circumstance of his life. A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts. As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them. Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits; thus does a man garner in the sweet and bitter fruitage of his own husbandry.
A man's mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind. Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds, and growing the flowers and fruits which he requires, so may a man tend the garden of his mind, weeding out all the wrong, useless and impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection the flowers and fruits of right, useful and pure thoughts. By pursuing this process, a man sooner or later discovers that he is the master-gardener of his soul, the director of his life.
Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind and to take root there, produces its own blossoming sooner or later into act. Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit. This is but saying that nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles but nettles. Men understand this law in the natural world, and work with it; but few understand it in the mental and moral world (though its operation there is just as simple and undeviating), and they, therefore, don't cooperate with it.
I've discovered that this is the core philosophy of the lawn care professionals, as well ... focus on growing the grass. That is the secret to a lush lawn. Sure, go after the weeds, but it is much more important and productive to nurture, nourish, promote, feed the grass, which will eventually grow to choke out the weeds. Focus on what is good. Encourage what is good. Work hard to produce, feed, encourage what is good. Praise what is good in others. And that is in large part what the ministry of the church is about. Perhaps the most vital duty of the church is to encourage and promote and teach what is good, upright and ultimately pleasing to God. The church is to be the place where guilt is diagnosed and acknowledged, but it is also where good is defined, taught and encouraged, where God can be encountered, where parents can receive help to raise children to be good, faithful, and moral. The church is also to be the place where many of the physical, social and deep spiritual needs of individuals can be addressed, where others may find an outlet to help others, where the grand and at times mysterious major events of human life are solemnly celebrated, commemorated and sanctified, which are also vehicles to celebrate and contemplate "..whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- anything [that] is excellent or praiseworthy.
With all that said, and in the very little time I have remaining (in fact, this had to be edited out on-the-spot due to time constraints), I'd like to re-read the selection from Paul's epistle to the Ephesians. Ephesians 4:25ff -- "Therefore each of you must put off falsehood (weed) and speak truthfully (plant) to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. "In your anger do not sin" : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer (weed), but must work, doing something useful with his own hands (plant), that he may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths (weed out gossip, slander, foul language, etc), but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen (plant). And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice (weed). Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other (plant), just as in Christ God forgave you. (and the ultimate "plant:") Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.