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Sermon for Sunday, October 3rd, 1999
Scriptural Basis: Philippians 3:4b-14
Measure or Embrace?
In Friday's paper I read a short article containing a few outrageous quotes of Jesse "The Body" Ventura, the professional wrestler turned politician and Governor of Minnesota. Jesse never seems to be at a loss for words about almost anything. As I've followed him a little, I'm coming to the conclusion that it's his style to say outrageous things, if for no other reason than to get people's attention and to get people to think. He's a kind of walking lightening rod, and I wonder if he doesn't INTENTIONALLY use hyperbole as a part of his method. His comments in this article were lifted from an previous interview covering issues including the Navy Tailhook scandal, abortion, the Kennedy assassination, and legalization of certain drugs. But even with all of that, the thing that caught my attention more than any of these was his comment about organized religion. He said,
"Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people
who need strength in numbers. (Organized religion) tells people to go out and stick their
noses in other people's business."
Taken out of context I'm can't say just to whom Governor Ventura might have been
directing his comments, and for that reason I'm willing to give him the benefit of the
doubt, but his comments did remind me a little of Paul's opening statement in today's
epistle, "If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have
more!" The similarity with Paul is not in THE CONTENT of what was said,
but in the way in which I perceive it was said. I picture Paul, at least before his
conversion on the road to Damascus, as a very self-confident, full-of-himself individual
who was boldly self-righteous and religiously self-reliant. He seemed to know who he was
and where he was going, and he brazenly challenged anyone to present a stronger case or a
better set of credentials. Paul, full of himself, lays out (in the first few verses of the
epistle) a pretty impressive set of credentials and lists them as if he is counting them
on his fingers: First he talks about what we might call inherited credentials:
- a native born Jew circumcised on the eighth day, the day prescribed in the Torah: in other words his life was in pure and proper order right from the very beginning.
- he was born of the tribe of Benjamin. You see, he wasn't just any Jew, but he was from the tribe of Benjamin, which in rank, prestige and status was second only to the tribe of Judah.
But he didn't rest on his inherited connections. Next, he toots his horn about his accomplishments:
- a Pharisee, the strictest sect of Israel, and not only was he merely a Pharisee, but one of perfection and zeal, even to the point of being in charge of a Pharisee "goon squad" given the responsibility of "cleansing" Israel of its heretics and impure elements, especially this new sect who called themselves followers of Jesus the Messiah! He was a religious crusader to whom the end justified the means!
Paul had a lot of hooks upon which to hang his hat of identity, pride and purpose for living. He was one who stood proudly before God and others with all his merit badges of religious and righteous accomplishment. But then (in verse 7) comes a GIGANTIC shift; a shift so dramatic it's amazing the room doesn't tilt to one side:
"Yet whatever gains I had," he said (and he
had so many) "I have come to regard them as loss because of Christ."
"More than that, I regard everything as loss("rubbish" as he says in
the next verse) because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ."
Why the change? What would have caused Paul, who had so much, to devalue it all to the point of calling it rubbish, garbage, so much worthless debris?
Well, you probably remember his story. It's recorded in the 9th chapter of Acts. His name was Saul in those days, his Hebrew given name. Fresh off the killing of the young Christian Stephen, where Paul had quietly given his behind-the-scenes encouragement to Stephen's self appointed executioners, Paul, captain of the Pharisee hatchet patrol, was bound for Damascus to round up some trouble-making Christians and bring them to justice. And then it happened!
It was about noon when he was knocked flat and blinded by a blaze of light that made the sun look like 40 watt bulb. From out of the light came a voice, "Saul, Saul why do you persecute me!"
When he pulled himself together enough to ask, "Who is it?" to his sheer horror he heard the voice say, "I'm Jesus of Nazareth, the one you're trying to destroy!"
Lying helpless, face down in the dirt of the road, with dust in his mouth and road-apples on his shirt, Saul must have figured if this Jesus had what it took to bust out of the grave, it wouldn't take much effort for this same Jesus to vaporize him - and Paul laid there waiting for the ax to fall. Only the ax didn't fall. Instead the voice said, "Saul, I want you on my side. Those folks in Damascus, don't fight 'em, join 'em!"
And from that moment on Paul never forgot the sheer unbridled joy of that moment! Everything he said and wrote from that day forward was an attempt to bowl over the human race as he had been bowled over himself on the dusty road to Damascus.
He knew he was now in a wild and crazy business! Writing to the Corinthians He called himself "a fool for Christ's sake," and then he told them why, because "the foolishness of God is wiser than all human wisdom."
To the Galatians he declared "I have been crucified with Christ !" All of the old; all that was dried up within him; all of his hatred; all of his striving for perfection; all of his self-serving; all of his trying to prove himself to himself - all it was crucified, dead and buried and now he said the life he lived was none other than the risen "Christ who lived within him."
"For me to live is Christ" He preached to the Philippians. "Christ died for us!" he told the Romans. And today we hear him say to us here in this place this morning,
"I regard all former things as rubbish, in order to gain Christ
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but one
that comes through faith in God..."
The biggest change in Saul's life was not his name change from Saul to Paul; that was only symbolic! The biggest change in his life was moving from a law-centered life to a grace-centered life.
Up until that incredible moment on the road to Damascus he had been living a law-centered life. A law-centered life cannot help but measure everything and everybody, including self - sometimes self harder than anybody. The key word in a law-centered life is MEASURE or MEASURE-UP. The law-centered life is primarily concerned with MEASURING. Now anybody can live a law centered life, it's not a religious thing, or even and ethical thing for that matter. In fact I've always maintained, religious or not, everybody lives a law-centered life. But you see, we have all sorts of laws by which we MEASURE and MEASURE-UP. For example:
The Law of Productivity, that's a huge one in our culture. It the law that says you must be productive to have value; or that others must be productive to have value. Your standing with others and even your own sense of self-worth are linked to this Law of Productivity whether it be at work, at school or at home. Perform and produce and you will be accepted; you will have value and significance. And for you to embrace another, or even embrace yourself is conditional; it depends on whether you or the other have produced. It's no wonder we have such a difficult time dealing with failure in our culture, because we live by the Law of Productivity. A man sat in my office just this week. He was a desperate man! He was at the end of his rope in more ways than one. He needed some serious help. He had things happen to him that were out of his control, and he had made some really bad choices. The result was he was standing at the edge of the cliff, and I sensed it! I intuitively knew that perhaps the only thing between him and jumping off that cliff was me. It took some doing, but I was able to assemble some of resources he needed at that moment. Several times he said, "I don't deserve the help you're giving me!" "I don't deserve it! I'm a failure, I don't deserve it!" And he was right! - as far as the Law of Productivity is concerned. He had done nothing but mess up, but it was a good thing for him that by the grace of God, he was led to someone who wasn't living by that law - at least at that moment.
Another monster is The Law of Popularity, especially among our young people. This one is little more complex. Track with me on this. In their heroic effort to find their place in the world by expressing their independence and individuality, young people seek Nirvana through the Law of Popularity, or what I like call the Law of Non-Conformity/Conformity. To be an individual this law demands a rejection of, or at least the appearance of rejection of, the values of their parents. But the insidious thing about it is, that in an attempt to be an individual, a non-conformist, they must conform to the values of their peer group, otherwise they run the risk of being unpopular - and being labeled a nerd! It's really a terrible Catch 22 for our young people. For in the attempt to individually non-conform they end up looking pretty much all alike as a group. The whole business is driven by the Law of Popularity.
And of course there's the Law of Materialism - that says fulfillment and happiness are found in the accumulation of material things and their counterparts of security, status and power. This law is so ingrained in our national psyche its almost impossible for us to think in any other terms. Success and happiness are measured in terms of investment portfolios, expensive toys, square feet of living space and number, make and model of cars in the garage.
For the most part we are people who live by the law - some kind of law - and it's the aim and function of any law to MEASURE - measure others; measure self. And don't get me wrong, heaven knows there's a time and place and need for measuring OF COURSE! But what happens to the person that is centered on measuring, always needing to measure everything and everybody? That person is an oppressed person. That person can be arrogant, uptight, conditional, fearful and anxious. It's a life that has precious little peace, no real joy and very conditional love. It's the life of Saul before he became Paul that fateful day on the road to Damascus.
But the grace-centered life is something altogether different. The keyword in the grace-centered life is not MEASURE - No way! The keyword in the grace-centered life is EMBRACE! You see, that's what happened Paul on that road. Now, the Lord had to get his attention by first knocking him flat on his face. And Paul expected the ax to fall because he thought God was merely law-centered, his only tool a measuring stick. What Paul didn't count on was that the only wood involved in this transaction didn't involved a measuring stick, but the cross of crucifixion - the cross of the very one he had been persecuting. And because of that cross the ax didn't fall as Paul expected, but rather he found himself EMBRACED by the very one he would have destroyed! And was bowled over! And as Paul continued to bask in the warm light of the Lord's embrace, little by little the forgiven person became a forgiving person. Little by little the slob Saul, became the de-slobbed Paul. Little by little he began to grow in the grace-centered life so much so that good fruit began to blossom on his branches like fruit from a well-watered tree. What fruit? "Love" he wrote the Galatians. Love was the sweetest and tenderest. And then joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control until his typewriter ribbon was in tatters bearing fruit - fruit of the grace-centered life!
The law-centered Saul who found he was passionately loved by the very one he had been persecuting became capable of a whole new thing; a whole new kind of love; a whole new way of living no longer needing to measure everything and everybody to death, but embracing even the ones he had hated and despised the most and loving them to life!
Struggling to put his glorious experience into words in a moment of almost poetic clarity he wrote the Corinthians,
"If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old
has passed away; everything has become new!" (2 Cor. 5:17)
I cannot presume to know what law or laws rule your life and cause you to measure things in such a way that perhaps breeds a deep restlessness, a lack of intimacy, a sense of not belonging, an absence of inner peace, a puffed-up pride, a disappointment in others, even self-contempt.
You know maybe Governor Jesse "The Body" Ventura was not altogether outrageous when he said,
"Organized religion is crutch for weak-minded people... (that)
tells people to go out and stick their noses in others people's business."
It sounds a lot to me like Jesse was directing his comments to those law-centered folks
who insist on measuring everything and everybody to death! I pray that will not be us. I
pray that we will be a grace-centered people who have little
concern for measuring people to death, but a passion and a zeal for embracing and loving
people to life!
How do we do it? The grace-centered life begins and is nourished at this table as we come and receive what the Lord has to give, his loving and forgiving embrace. It's an embrace that sets us free from any law that would oppress us; free to be grace-centered people! If it could change the Saul who measures into the Paul who embraces, just imagine what it can do to us?
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The Website of Pastor Joseph Holub
Aurora & Buena Vista, Colorado