Sermon Epiphany 4a 2017: God s Call, Our Response: Justice, Kindness, Humility Introduction: Beyond Belief

Transcription

1 Sermon Epiphany 4a 2017: God s Call, Our Response: Justice, Kindness, Humility Introduction: Beyond Belief I had an incredible conversation with a member of St. David s before Christmas About a change that has come over his life in the past few months. He explained that he had been coming to church on and off for most of his life, He had been confirmed in 8 th grade, like a lot of people, and graduated; And he believed that he was a Christian in a general way; He believed, but it was part of his life that he could take or leave, That was comfortable, but not crucial. And something happened this fall he says, as I was driving to work one morning; Something happened, and I felt God draw me closer; I felt a power and a presence and a grace that I had heard about in Church, But had never known before myself, And I almost had to pull the car over to park. I d been willing, he said, and I d been listening for God in some ways, By saying some prayers and coming to church and going to the men s breakfast, But out of the blue, unexpectedly, God has come into my life like never before. He spoke with such conviction and confidence of this experience with God That I knew that he had gotten over the am I crazy stage The stage that people often worry about when God draws close Or when we feel like God is with us and speaking to us And I told him how thankful I was, as I always am, To hear about the grace of God touching someone in a personal way How amazing it is that the Creator of all there is, is interested in people like you and me But I could sense that this wasn t the only reason for the conversation, And asked him if there was something else on his mind. 1

2 He relaxed at the question and said, yes, there is something else, What do I do now? I m a businessman at heart and want to know the bottom line for all this ; We both chuckled and began to talk about the life of prayer and ministry About the good stewardship of our gifts and living for God, And after a few minutes of talking about some of the ways We can live like Jesus more and more; He stopped me and asked again, But what s the bottom line? These are all good things to do, I understand, and I ll pay attention to them, But what s the bottom line for following Christ, What does the Lord want from me beyond belief? And I smiled and said what I say to our staff every once in a while, The bottom line is that God is calling us to love and to work with Him, To use our gifts and our lives to merely change the world. Micah and the Bottom Line The Old Testament reading this morning comes from the prophet Micah, Who prophesizes and challenges the people of Israel and we Who seem to have forgotten what God intends for their lives; And asks a similar questions, What does the Lord require from me? Micah wonders if burnt offerings of animal sacrifices are the things God most wanted, Or if God would be pleased with them if they gave up their firstborn children And suddenly, like the call on the way to work my visitor experienced, Micah realizes that what God most wants is not something, but rather you and me. What does the Lord require of you, he asks, and then the surprising answer comes To do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. All along, Micah and many of us assumed the bottom line in religion Was something that involved worship practices, Or acts of great sacrifice 2

3 But then, Micah realizes that what God most wants in response to His love for us, The bottom line is the commitment of our hearts to change the way we live And to change the way the world lives and the world operates, By doing justice, by loving kindness and by walking humbly with God, And so I want to talk about what that means for us this morning. All three aspects of this bottom line approach to Christianity Have a personal and a public dimension for we people called to follow Christ; A personal dimension that affects how we treat those near to us And a public dimension that extends far beyond our daily lives; Both dimensions allow God to change the world through us. The call to do justice emphasizes the social aspect of our life with God, A practice, a way of life, that has a connection to other people. When we say we re called to do justice in our personal lives, It means that you and I are called to treat people near to us fairly, To deal with people fairly and honestly at work, at school, even at church, And to take responsibility for the needs of those we know about, Like the neighbor down the street The homeless in Norristown and the hungry in Chester; It means taking a personal interest in doing the right thing for the people near to us. And when we say we re called to do justice in a public way, It means that we re called to not only do justice to those individuals Who have a pressing need for our help in our own community, people near to us, But to also work for a change in the society and the world, So that we can eliminate the conditions that cause 27,000 children to die from hunger every day, That cause people to live in poverty and hopelessness That prevent people in our own nation from the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. 3

4 We are called as individuals, we are called as the church to do justice to change the world When we say that we re called to love kindness, We move from the social part of bottom line religion to a more personal one. The phrase Micah uses here means a love with a strong element of loyalty A type of love that we experience between good friends, A love that never quits, a love that s a choice and not always a feeling. It s nothing less than a call to love others, those we know and even strangers In the same incredible way Jesus loved us in His incredible kindness in life; And when He was willing to die for us on the cross to break the power of sin And to be raised from the dead So that we would receive a hope beyond the door of death, Even though we had done nothing to deserve that love. It is a way of love that s beyond us without the power of God s working in us, But a way of love that affects how we treat those around us And how we act in a world of people we don t always know. I have a friend who serves in a church where one of the children in the community Was born with a severe handicap that causes him to go into seizures Without any warning. When it happened in church, his father would hold him close to his chest in bear hug Gently rocking him and whispering comfort to him until the seizure passed. Sometimes the seizures were so strong that the father would get up And go to the back of the church to hold him, There was never any hint of embarrassment or frustration, Only love and kindnessfor his hurting son. One day the father was in front of the congregation giving a talk about stewardship 4

5 And the boy began to go into one of his seizures, but the father continued to speak Because someone in the same pew had moved over And was holding the child close to his chest, Rocking him back and forth and whispering comfortable words in his ear Until the father returned to his seat, We are called as individuals and as a community to love kindness to change the world. The third aspect of the sort of life God wants from us brings us to the spiritual Or theological aspect of bottom line religion: to walk humbly with God. There are two key words in this phrase: Walk, which suggests action on our part Action to direct and to focus what we do in life on God; And humble, which means, down to earth, or close to, Suggesting that we are called to live our lives close to God s heart. You see, Jesus seldom asks us to believe first, But rather to follow Him or to come after Him. And though it doesn t mean that we won t face difficult times in our walk, It means that we never walk alone. And so, we walk as individuals close to God, alongside God, with our hope on God, And we walk as a community accepting God s love for us Seeking His guiding hand on all that we do here. We are called to walk humbly with God in our own lives; Close to His heart, following and trusting in His ways More than a Feeling The mountain top feelings of being drawn into God s presence, Of feeling His grace and closeness don t come every day, And for some of us those feelings haven t come yet. We are not always fully aware of God s presence or God s guiding hand 5

6 Or His will for this or that part of our lives But the call to be God s agents, to be God s hands and feet in the world The call to change the world never varies, And the bottom line remains the same: To do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with our God. And if you and I will pay attention to this bottom line, this way of life, In our personal lives, here at St. David s, and in the world around us; We will be living in God s will and know God s blessings in our lives; And our lives and the world around us will never be the same. Amen. 6