Sermon: Believe the Gospel, dangit!
Text: Matt 6:24-34, Gal 6:11-18
Occasion: Trinity XV
Who: Mark Woolsey
When: Sunday, Sep 16, 2007
Where: Providence Reformed Episcopal Church
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I. Intro
My text today will come in part from the epistle of St Paul to the Anglicans. Yes, the epistle to the Anglicans. As I say this, I worry about some of you today. Some of you, if you were a comic book hero, would have a big word-bubble above your head with a question mark in it. That’s understandable. You’re NOT the ones I’m worried about. It’s the ones with a happy face who seem to be saying, “That’s my favorite book in the Bible!” that I’m worried about. Of course, you won’t find this book in the index in your Bible. Nevertheless, I assure you it is in there. And you don’t need a Roman Catholic Bible with Apocrypha to find it, either. It’s right there in your protestant Bible. I will give you a hint as to how to find it. I’ll tell you the theme of the whole epistle. In fact, this theme is the title of my sermon today. It is: “Believe the Gospel, dangit!”. Before you get up and walk out, or put away this text if you’re reading it on the web, I want to assure you that I am being faithful to the text when I make this claim. I am not being flippant or casual when I say this. Furthermore, I have taught my children not to use 4-letter words and such, so I’m not endorsing a whole new language for Christians. I’m not even trying to be simply controversial – ok, well maybe a little bit – but I still maintain that this is the essence of St Paul’s Epistle to the Anglicans. Before we open our Bibles to this book, however, I would like to start with our Gospel passage today because it goes hand-in-glove with the Epistle.
II. Gospel Passage.
The Gospel reading from today’s Propers is the Gospel to the Jews, Matt 6:24 – 34:
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of their field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
This is a very familiar passage to many of us. Too familiar, I fear. I would like to try to help us see this with new ears and hear it with new eyes :) , if I may.
First of all, it is right smack dab in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount. Most of us have read this so many times and heard so many sermons from this larger passage that we know certain parts of it by heart. It has some of the most famous passages in the whole New Testament: the Lord’s Prayer, “Judge not that you be not judged”, “commit[ing] adultery … in your heart”, the Beatitudes, “do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing”, “do to others what you would have them do to you”, etc. However, as the saying goes, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” I think our eyes glaze over when we hear these passages again, and we don’t even realize that we don’t understand what’s really being said. What was Jesus getting at in the Mount Sermon, and what should be our response?
Well, whatever the answer to those questions is, I don’t think we really believe Jesus.
III. Who’s your Master?
That’s a pretty scary thing to say when we claim that it is through faith alone by which we are saved from eternal fires. If that faith is missing, then unlike the Roman church we have no absolution, no priestly intercession, no sacerdotal safety net which will catch us. Without faith the sacraments are to no avail and confession is simply gossip. Without faith we have as much chance for heaven as the Chicago Cubs have of winning the World Series. I guess I shouldn’t be so hard on the Cubs - I mean, anyone can have a bad century. ;-)
But what is it that makes me say that about believing Jesus? Well, I would almost be willing to wager that part of you right now are thinking, “What was the Gospel passage about today? I can’t remember”, while others are thinking, “I remember what was read, but I don’t remember thinking anything was particularly hard to believe. Seemed pretty normal to me.” All this goes to illustrate that we are casual about that which we should be concerned, and concerned about that which we should be casual. We work very hard to insure food is on the table, our kids are fed, they have decent clothes to wear, a roof is over our head, and so on. And that is certainly important. I don’t minimize that. Yet compare that with how much effort we put into insuring heavenly food is set before us, that our kids are taught eternal truths, and that they are clothed in righteous robes. Simply add up how much time you read the newspaper compared to how much time you read the Bible each week. How much money do you spend on toys versus how much you give to the church? If your life was a “reality show” and someone took a stopwatch to add up the time you spent on things of this world and the time you spent on eternal things, which would win? Who do you really serve? Who has your time, your service, your love? Listen again to Jesus’ words:
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (v 24)
Do you really believe this? Then why is so much of what we do dedicated to money, material possessions, and earthly pleasure? I’m not a Gnostic/ascetic. I don’t believe that the material is evil and we simply need to transcend our bodies and just “contemplate the heavenly”. No, earthly minded, in its proper context, is good. But what would an impartial observer say is most important to us if he simply measured the time we spend on our various activities? Do you spend even 5 minutes each day reading your Bible and 5 more praying? Typically we judge other by their actions and ourselves by our intent. We hear a passage like this and say, “Well, I know what I want to do. I want to study my Bible. I want to serve God. That counts, doesn’t it?”. Step out of yourself for a moment, and judge yourself like you judge others. You are most charitable to yourself, and significantly charitable to your friends in your judgment. We and they mean well. But how do you judge your enemies. More importantly, how would they judge you? Who would your enemy say your master is?
“Ok, I admit it”, you finally say. I do serve money and pleasure, but it’s only some of the time. I serve God, too. Imperfectly, but I do serve Him. Doesn’t THAT count? Perhaps you didn’t really hear Jesus:
You CANNOT serve God and mammon.
I’m asking you to put up a roadblock in your mind for the word “cannot”. Interrogate it. What does it mean? If someone was examining you and had to check one or the other, “Serving God” or “Serving Mammon” – and they could not check both - which box would get checked? By coming to church you admit that you seek the kingdom of God, but do you seek it first?
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness
What do you worry about – that is, what is your focus during the day?
Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For all these things the Gentiles seek.
As I said earlier, so much of the time we hear these verses and they go in one ear and out the other. However, these verses scare me.
IV. The “Carnal Christian”
Many try to deal with verses like these using the concept of the “carnal Christian”. That is, at some point in his life a person “accepts Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior”, but later slips into the mode of having Jesus as his Savior, but not his Lord. However, you will not find the Bible talking like that. When it refers to a “carnal” person, such as in I Cor 3:3, it’s referring to unbelievers, not some second-class believers. There are no “carnal Christians”. One of the scariest slogans in the church – and scary because it is true - is, “If Christ is not Lord of all, He’s not Lord at all”. By that standard, who is your Lord? Is He truly Lord of everything in your life? If He is not Lord of EVERYTHING, then He’s not Lord of anything!
V. Premature Application
At this point, if I have done my job well, each of you has a list in your mind of your own shortcomings. What do you need to do to make Christ Lord of your life? I could even suggest a list:
1. Read the Scriptures each day.
2. Pray at least 5 minutes
3. Tithe. Now you’ve stopped preaching and started meddling! ;-)
Rearranging your life is hard, but what’s longer – our life here on earth, or eternity? Perhaps you have made out such a list as this in your mind. You might have gone even further and resolved to implement this list starting today. If so, you have pretty much completely misunderstood the message of Jesus. If you see the Sermon on the Mount as a series of steps to get right with God, you have taken Jesus’ words and stopped short. Jesus is cataloguing our sins in this extended passage, but the cure you extract is as bad as the sickness itself. With St Paul, I would say to you:
Believe the Gospel, dangit!
VI. Epistle to the Anglicans
Given this invective, you might assume that St Paul is quite angry in this letter. And you would be right. You may be racking your brains without success trying to figure out where St Paul said what I claim he did, but I assure you, he did. As I said before, we keep reading the Scripture with the lenses of our culture on, and we cannot see what is really being said. I would like to identify the letter more clearly, and then help you to understand how its message relates to what Jesus said.
First, let me give you a little history of the people to whom he is writing and one reason why I think it could be called Paul’s letter to the Anglicans. I got this information from Christian History magazine, issue 60.
Have you ever wondered who it was that the Romans defeated when they conquered the world? Obviously they didn’t just find some empty land and take it because we all know they fought many wars to become the empire they were. One of the indigenous peoples that they defeated was the Celts. Today you might think of Celtic culture as primarily British: Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. And you are correct. That is why the British church has so much Celtic influence. But before the Romans swept through Europe, Asia, and Africa, it was the Celtic peoples who were settled there. They had conquered this land prior to the Romans. Altho they were not one nation, ethnically they were closely tied together. Their domain extended from Scotland, thru France, and all the way down to Asia Minor. The Greeks called them Keltoi (K-E-L-T-O-I), from which we get our word, Celt. The Romans called this people group the Gauls. When the Romans defeated them, the Celts, that is, the Gauls, divided, some fleeing to the remote parts of the empire (such as Britain) to remain free, and some submitting to the Romans. There were so many of them in what we now call Turkey that the Romans named that province Galatia. The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians was to the Celtic people. It’s a little stretch, but the Celts of Galatia were ethnically the Celts of Britain, which became in many ways the Anglican Church. Thus, Galatians is the Epistle of Paul to the Anglicans.
VII. Grumpy Old Paul
St Paul was a passionate Jew. When he felt things, he felt them strongly. Consider the Epistle passage assigned for today, Anglicans, er, I mean, Galatians 6:11-18:
See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand! As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they might not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation. As many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
Even in this short passage we catch a glimpse of “Grumpy Old Paul” in verse 17:
From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
An even fouler mood is seen earlier, in verse 1:8-9:
But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. (1:8-9)
Accursed is “soft” language for damned. Basically, Paul is saying if someone preaches the wrong gospel, then damn him.
Believe the Gospel, dangit!
But why would St Paul be so vehement about this?
Paul is grumpy because the Celts, that is, the Galatians, to whom he had previously preached the gospel, were now getting it wrong. And when this is wrong, nothing else matters. Kind of like, “If Momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy”, we could say, “If your gospel ain’t right, ain’t nothin’ right”. Not only did they get it wrong, but the church today, the conservative Evangelical church today, does, too.
When I was doing research for this sermon, I noticed that the Prayer Book lists 5 Sundays for preaching from Galatians:
Christmas I: Gal 4:1-7
Lent IV: Gal 4:21-31
Trinity XIII: Gal 3:16-22
Trinity XIV: Gal 5:16-24
Trinity XV: Gal 6:11-18
10 percent of the Sundays in the year are devoted to this little book that comprises only about 3 percent of the New Testament Epistles. What is so important about the message of this book?
VIII. Law vs Gospel
More clearly than perhaps any other book in the Bible, Galatians sets forth the distinction between Law and Gospel. Let me define the Law and Gospel. First, here’s Paul:
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. (2:16)
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us … Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made [and this Seed] is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. (3:13-18)
I think this is nicely summed up in a phrase I cannot take credit for:
The Law is everything God demands and nothing that He supplies; the Gospel is everything that He supplies and nothing that He demands.
(say it again)
The error of the Galatians was that they were mixing Law and Grace. This brings us into our second tie-in between Anglicans and the book of Galatians. If you remember from a couple of months ago, I pointed out the supreme denier of grace was that proto-Anglican, Pelegius. It seems that we Anglicans just have a hard time comprehending the gospel.
IX. Absolution
It seems to me that one of the most acutely felt needs of the day is for absolution. This might seem a strange statement, but it came out even in the movie called “Inside Man” that my family watched last night. It is the story of a bank heist, with the owner of the bank hiding a dark past, and the thieves, in addition to their robbery, exposing the hypocrisy of the rich owner’s self-absolution. The owner was extremely rich, and had been very generous with his money and time over many years. It turns out, however, that he was haunted by the fact that when he was young he worked in a Swiss bank and helped the Nazis to rob and steal from the Jews. All these years he was trying to atone for his sins, with the movie making it obvious that in spite of all his good works and high reputation, he had failed. Nothing he could do could atone for the part he had played in the holocaust.
I think this is in part what Jesus and Paul were getting at in today’s lesson. Jesus is not giving us 5 steps to get closer to God – He’s showing us how far from God we really are.
Keeping this in mind helps us to understand both Jesus and Paul.
X. Jesus’ Message
So, back to Mount Sermon. What was Jesus saying here? At the very basic level, He is saying you have not served God as your master. You are serving money, pleasure, things – all of which are called mammon. And this is precisely where we disbelieve Jesus. Surely it’s not as bad as He makes it out to appear. I mean, nobody measures up to that standard. Surely He must have been talking in hyperbole. While Jesus does talk in hyperbole, He was not here. You must serve God as master, and you have fallen short. If Jesus is not Lord of all, He’s not Lord at all. Then what hope is there? How can anyone measure up?
XI. Jesus is Lord!
Our hope is that Jesus is Lord! We don’t “make” Him Lord; He’s Lord of all whether we make Him that way or not. He doesn’t wait around for us to make Him Lord, He is Lord regardless. And this is our hope! When He came to earth, He came with the right and might to atone for us, to grant us absolution. Of course we have served mammon and not Christ. He came to atone for even that! He saves us not if we accept him as Lord, but precisely because He is Lord!
We are infected with the democratic spirit. We think that mammon is over here and Christ is over there, each one vying for our affections. Christ votes for us, the devil votes against us, and our vote breaks the tie. Rubbish! Christ’s Lordship extends even over our decisions, our inability to choose Him. Remember, according to the book of Ephesians, you
were dead in trespasses and sins. (2:1)
Not just sick, but dead! Christ hasn’t come to provide the way of salvation, He has accomplished it. Yes, you have served mammon. Repent! And know that even before your repentance, Christ has made you alive so that you can follow Him. It was His decision to save you, not you yourself.
Listen to what St John Chrysostom (ACC, St Matt, p144-5) says about this passage:
Do you see how Jesus clarifies what has been obscure by comparing it to what is self-evident? Can you add one cubit, or even the slightest measure, to your bodily life span by worrying about it? Can you by being anxious about food add moments to your life? Hence it is clear that it is not our diligence but the providence of God, even where we seem to be active, that finally accompanies everything. In the light of God’s providence, none of our cares, anxieties, toils or any other such things will ever come to anything, but all will utterly pass away.
It is this that St Paul was so adamant to communicate to the Galatians. It is this Gospel that saves us from damnation.
XII. The Feast
And it is this gospel that spreads out the feast before us today. It is this gospel that takes common bread and makes it spiritual meat. It is this gospel that takes simple wine and makes it the elixir of life. Believe the gospel and come to the feast!
This is the word of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Soli Deo Gloria!
