Sermon preached at St. Alban's, Spirit Lake, on August 31, 2008
(Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A, BCP Lectionary)
by the Rev. Carl D. MannTexts: Jeremiah 15:15-21
Psalm 26 or 26:1-8
Romans 12:1-8
Matthew 16:21-27“Blessed are you Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”
“Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
Poor old Peter! One minute he’s right on the money and the next he’s feeling like two cents waiting for change. Jesus calls him a rock then reduces him to rubble. Empowered by God to stand against adversity, he is then accused of being an adversary to God, which is what the name Satan really means. So what’s a poor Apostle to do? What are we to do? How are we to know what God’s will is at any particular moment?
Well, the answer is found in Paul’s letter to the Romans today which echoes Jesus’ rebuke of Peter. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God-- what is good and acceptable and perfect.” This is a power-packed sentence that is a step-by-step road map to living the Christian life.
First, don’t conform to this world. Do not fashion our lives and thoughts and actions according to what the world or culture says is true. The world and Satan are synonymous and they are both deceptive. Both attempt, or better yet, tempt us into doing what is wrong by appealing to our sense of pleasure or advantage over others. They permeate our culture through slick marketing. “If it feels good, do it!” “If this is wrong then why does it feel so right?” “A little (fill in the blank) never hurt anybody!”
God has created all things and all things that God has created are good but Satan, in control of the world, takes what is good and distorts or misrepresents it; blessing becomes curse, alcohol becomes addiction, food becomes obesity, sexuality becomes adultery and perversion, relationships become strained or broken, and love becomes diluted into unbridled desire for control over people, places and things. It would behoove us not to allow anything to develop beyond its intended purpose, and become an obstacle in our lives that will separate us from focusing on God.
I remember the words of the Baptismal vows found in the 1928 prayer book where as newly born Christians or as sponsors for a child, we agreed to renounce the devil and his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world with all covetous desires of the same, and the sinful desires of the flesh, so that thou wilt not follow, nor be led by them.” We have vowed not to conform to the wiles of the world and with God’s grace, received through the Holy Sacraments, we are nurtured, sustained, and disciplined; in other words, we have become disciples to that end.
Now, Peter understood this when he wrote to the Christians in Asia, “Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion, your adversary, the devil, prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.” You see, we need to do this not only individually but collectively because we are all connected together as the Body of Christ and it becomes easier to accomplish when working in concert with others.
Next, be transformed by the renewing of our minds. To be transformed is to change and become something other than what we have been. But if we intend not to conform to the world then we need to purge our minds of anything that leads us back into the world.
Again, Peter writes, “Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation--if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
Once our minds have been purged then the void need to be filled. As the saying goes, “Nature abhors a vacuum.” Or better yet, “Idle hands are the devil’s playground.” Left to our own devices we generally fall back into the world. For example, when I was in Jr. High, the science curriculum was changed so that we could work at our own pace. Well, I’ve got news for you. At that time in my life, when left to my own pace, my own pace was standing still. I was quick to be distracted by anything other than science or maybe by just one thing in science as were many others in my class. At semester break hardly anyone was at the same level of learning and by the end of the year, none of us were prepared for the next level of science. And this went on for three years until somebody in charge realized that nobody was learning any science. As students, we didn’t know any better, we were just having fun enjoying our newfound, so-called freedom, doing the same experiment over and over again because we liked the end result or not doing anything at all because our first experiment had failed and no one showed us what we were doing wrong.
The same thing applies to all of us. We are unable to transform ourselves, which is why we are in need of God’s grace in the first place.
In today’s collect we prayed to God that he would graft His love into our hearts in order that we may increase in our knowledge of him, be nourished with all goodness, and that the fruit of our labor might be good as a result. So with His grace we are able to consciously avoid the situations and conditions that may possibly influence us into returning to the ways of the world. If we have an alcohol problem then Lord, give us the strength to avoid alcohol, bars and liquor stores or people who don’t appreciate our problem. Or, like me, if we have a problem with food then we should avoid all you can eat buffets. Do you get the picture?
Finally, discern that which is the will of God. In my experience, I know I’m doing God’s will when it’s probably completely opposite of what I would normally do. This is reiterated by Isaiah when he prophesies, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD.” It’s very similar to Lewis Carroll’s make believe, mirror- image world in Alice through the Looking Glass. In order to get somewhere in that world, one must take off in what seems to be the opposite direction. One has to think backwards to successfully accomplish the task.
I had to discover this when I was learning how to back up a semi using only the mirrors and not being able to turn my head around and look. I was completely uptight and frustrated because the trailer kept going in the opposite direction from the way I turned the wheel very much unlike backing up a car. But once I unlearned how to back up a car then it all fell into place straight away and I relaxed and became proficient at the job.
The same thing applies to our life in Christ. We have to unlearn all of the ways that the world has taught us to think and let God’s thought fill our hearts and minds. Look for what is good and acceptable and perfect for these things come only from God, not from us. And if we are successful in discerning God’s will, then this almost overwhelming sense of peace and joy will descend upon us confirming that what we are doing is of God and not of us. In other words, when our spirit is at ease then we are probably setting our minds on divine things and not on human things.
And the cost of this way of life is to give up our lives to God. Deny ourselves, and take up our cross and follow Jesus. Get behind him; he must be first in our lives, and we are second. If we want our life to be saved then we need to lose it. But if we become completely dependent upon God then and only then will we become completely free.
It’s not an easy life, Christianity. The cost is heavy and Jesus told us that periodically we will have troubles throughout. But he also guarantees that he will be there with us, grafted into our hearts so that we may be able to overcome them. We have to work hard all the days of our lives. But in the end, when we die, the retirement package is heavenly.
As it is says in the final verse of hymn 541 that we sang this morning in procession in commemoration of this Labor Day weekend,
“Come labor on.
No time for rest,
till glows the western sky,
till the long shadows
o’er our pathway lie,
and a glad sound
comes with the setting sun,
‘Servants, well done!’”Gloria Patri