NON-NEGOTIABLE! James S. Currie. Genesis was chosen several weeks ago. And whether it is coincidental or providential

Transcription

1 I John 4:7-21!!!!!!! First Presbyterian, Pasadena Genesis 4:1-16!!!!!!!!! July 10, 2016 NON-NEGOTIABLE! James S. Currie! This series of sermons on particular passages from the first eleven chapters of Genesis was chosen several weeks ago. And whether it is coincidental or providential that todayʼs text is the story of Cain and Abel I donʼt know. But somehow in light of this past weekʼs events in Baton Rouge, Minnesota, and Dallas, it seems appropriate.! It is strange, is it not, that the first story that takes place outside the Garden of Eden is one of fratricide. Stranger still is the fact that both characters -- brothers -- are worshipers of God. It is not clear why Abelʼs gift to God was more acceptable than Cainʼs. Perhaps it had nothing to do with the gift itself, but rather the spirit with which the gift was given. We are only told that Cain was angry that Abelʼs gift was more acceptable than his. And then, of course, we learn that Cain took his younger brother to the field and killed him. When God asked Cain where his brother was, Cainʼs wellknown response was, How should I know? Am I my brotherʼs keeper? And then God reprimands Cain for his act of anger and vengeance and tells him that he will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.! But as I read this text for the umpteenth time, I was struck by something I had not paid much attention to in the past. When Cain expresses his fear that now, as a fugitive and a wanderer, he will have a target on his back and others will want to kill him. Not so, God says. I will put a mark on you and anyone who touches you will have to answer to me. What struck me was the fact that, in spite of Cainʼs heinous act, God 1

2 does not give up on Cain. It turns out that Godʼs love and Godʼs faithfulness are nonnegotiable.! Often we hear that word in a negative sense, as in a stubbornness and unwillingness to change; or as in some legal proceedings one side might say that certain aspects of their position are non-negotiable. But here I think the term is to be heard in a positive way -- Godʼs stubborn refusal to give up on Godʼs people, Godʼs refusal to leave Cain on his own, as despicable as his act was. It is a position that mystifies many, if not most of us. When we would give up on another, God does not. When we consider a situation hopeless, God does not. When we think we can go no further, somehow God gives us the strength to persevere. That is the radical, mystifying, and counter-cultural nature of God. Some might remind us that God sent the flood when he saw, as the text puts it, the wickedness of humankind. But God did not abandon the creation project altogether. And even after the flood, human beings continued their foolishness, but God never gave up on them.! In a few weeks weʼll look at a powerful and poignant passage from the book of Hosea, a passage in which, speaking with the words of a parent, God laments the way in which his people have ignored his goodness and love and faithfulness and have chosen to go their own way. But even then God did not abandon them. They chose to leave God.! We see Godʼs non-negotiable faithfulness in Jesusʼ parable of the Good Samaritan, the point of which is that we do not get to choose our neighbor, but take the neighbor God gives us, whoever that may be, and that we are treat that neighbor as we would wish to be treated. We see it when Jesus does the unexpected -- like going to eat 2

3 with Zaccheus, the tax collector despised by his fellow countrymen. We see it in the birth of Jesus himself. Born to the unlikeliest of persons in the unlikeliest out-of-the-way place, Jesus was identified as Emmanuel -- God with us. Not God with us for awhile. Not God with us as long as we are good. Not God with us until God decides otherwise. Simply God with us. Period.! We see it in Jesusʼ death. He does not resist the authorities, but accedes to their insistence that he be executed. Even from the cross he says, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And then, just when the disciples are perhaps most distraught, they discover that God has not at all abandoned them, but is present with them in the resurrected Christ.! In the other passage we read this morning, John reminds his readers of Godʼs love, and how we know what love is only because God has shown us that love in Jesus Christ. We love because God first loved us. Love is not born out of fear, but out of the realization that God does not abandon Godʼs creation. Just as a child begins to learn about love from the love his or her parents provide, so also do we learn about Godʼs faithfulness, forgiveness, and love from that which God provides us. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.! But Godʼs love is not simply between God and us. Godʼs love is truly love when we exhibit that same kind of love to one another. As John writes, Those who say, ʻI love God,ʼ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. Although it is attributed to that British journalist and thinker, G. K. Chesterton, apparently it is only a paraphrase of something else he actually wrote, the following captures something of 3

4 this notion of Godʼs love and grace: To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless.! So, it turns out after all, we are our brotherʼs and our sisterʼs keeper.! There is a certain responsibility that goes with following Jesus. Itʼs not simply a matter of loving Jesus and knowing that we are loved by Jesus. You and I are called to love and serve one another -- quite another thing and a challenging one at that. In an old M*A*S*H episode Frank Burns says, I wouldnʼt mind being a doctor so much if I didnʼt have to be around sick people. Similarly, some might say that they wouldnʼt mind be Christians if they didnʼt have to love and serve other people.! But thatʼs part of the challenge, isnʼt it? As we see events around the world and in our own country that discourage us about the present and the future, we might be tempted to throw in the towel and simply say, Itʼs not worth it. The entrance to the gates of Hell in Danteʼs Inferno read, Abandon all hope ye who enter here and seem fitting for some today. But we are adamant in our refusal to accept that, for we, like Cain, have discovered Godʼs non-negotiable position of never giving up on us. God refuses not to love us us. That is not on the table. In fact, the problem is not simply whatʼs going on out there. The problem is also whatʼs going on in here, in our own hearts and minds. We want to identify with Abel when, in fact, thereʼs a lot of Cain in us.! In 1990 Tom Cutting, former pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Austin, published a collection of sermons that bore the title Can You Stand Forgiveness? Itʼs an intriguing title, isnʼt it? Of course, we can stand forgiveness. We beg for forgiveness. And yet, when God actually offers it, somehow many feel unworthy 4

5 of it. Forgiveness is one of Godʼs non-negotiables. If we are going to discover what it means to truly live, then somehow we need to discover and accept Godʼs grace and forgiveness, not only for ourselves but for others. That is hard to do, but God expects nothing less of us. Can we love our neighbor -- whoever that may be -- in the same way that God loves us? Only that love can heal the brokenness that is all too evident in our world, in our community, and in our lives. Now may we have the courage, the humility, and the grace to do our part and reflect that grace in how we live, not returning evil for evil, but to love and serve one another mutual respect and affection.! Thanks be to God! 5