Sermon for the 3 rd Sunday in Lent, March15, 2009
“ Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? ”
Can you walk through your life and never decide? Can you take up three directions for your life and get anywhere? Can you stay stuck where you are and also achieve your dreams? Of course you can't. Even the devil knows he must be unified, single-minded, whole-hearted for any of his nefarious schemes to work. How much more for a child of God do we need to be whole.
Part of our basic training in these days is to accept everything and not judge anything or anyone. This is a distortion of a biblical principle Jesus taught in Matthew chapter 7. We are not to judge, lest we be judged —you remember. Today that leaves us unable to lay down the law on any human behavior. We're not even to prosecute the perpetrators of 9/11 or interrogate prisoners who devise acts of lawless terror on their own citizens. We can't execute a mass murderer. We can't define marriage as, well, marriage : what it has meant since time began. We can't train our children in matters of right and wrong, for that might bias them against someone who disagrees with our definitions. We're so open minded our brains fall out. If we're tolerant of everything and afraid to speak our minds, no one says a thing against us except the 1.5 billion righteous Moslems, and just about everybody else. Playing safe is a way to be sure everyone can take for granted you won't defend yourself.
A mighty fortress is our God, says the famous hymn of Martin Luther. We need a fortress, a safe haven, a sanctuary where our families can be protected from the insanity coming at us from the world. The Church should offer them such sanctuary, and it does if you arrange your life in it properly, but is the Church the fortress it could be, that it ought to be? We see the Church as a kingdom divided, as literally hundreds of denominations of Christians vie for members in America, and the fastest growing sector of the Christian landscape is non-denominational. What does that mean? My congregation stands apart from all. How did we get in this mess?
The Church was one for a thousand years. For one millennium there was only one Church in this world, whether you were in India or Africa or Rome or Constantinople. Several patriarchs held governance over several spheres of authority, but the Church moved as one and shared its creed and sacraments until 1054 AD. Then there were two great branches, separated by language and certain issues, Catholic and Orthodox, for yet another 500 years.
The rigidity with which the Roman Church faced those who questioned caused a fracture in those following of that same man who wrote God's mighty fortress , Martin Luther, and this band of those who were not satisfied with indulgences, purgatory, and transubstantiation left the Western Church to start a Christianity outside the historic Church. Soon, an angry king of England would politically sever his island kingdom from Rome and Anglicanism emerged, a Catholic body without the historic catholic monarchial Pope. Then Anabaptists rejected infant baptism and birthed the Mennonite and Moravian churches, leading to Baptist sects. Quakers would further reject the formal worship of their forbears. Methodism in the 18 th century would divide Anglicans, and eventually birth such movements as the Disciples, holiness movements, Nazarenes, and Pentecostalism. The various denominations in America would again be split north and south over the Civil War.
Today's array of churches are depicted as mainline, evangelical, charismatic, fundamentalist, seeker-sensitive, cell church oriented, non-denominational, or emerging. The choices seem endless, but you will get much that is alike from one to another as they try to be acceptable to a shrinking number of church shoppers. Most of the disaffected “Christians” in our nation simply stay home and might watch Hour of Power or Benny Hinn on television. A mighty fortress is now TBS.
But the Church only reflects what we are, a kingdom divided. Were we to know and follow one thing, consistently, unfailing in our constancy, we would reach our objective. If all the former Catholics would just get over Sister Mary Margaret's ruler and go back to their Church; if the Episcopalians who loved the old Prayer Book better simply joined a Church using its worship; if the Lutherans who sang from the old Hymnal; the Baptists who loved the old hymns; the Methodists who never drank or danced: those who loved Christ in their own genuine way returned to those several streams—we would be at least a dozen good strong Churches. And the voice of these would heal this nation and solve a good many problems.
But the genie will not go back in the bottle. Our individuality demands brighter and newer ceremonies, differing approaches, entertainment, charm, good hair and slick suits, PowerPoint projections and lyrics on the walls, sound systems and soft rock bands, colorful banners matching the commercial packets distributed by smiling greeters at the door. And we can't see how we're conforming again, this time to a knock-down version of a trade-show in Vegas. We're being sold. And the world repackages itself for a “Christian” market.
This would never happen if we were ourselves whole. We couldn't be distracted so if our minds never wandered from our original commission. If our first love had not grown very cold, we couldn't have become so carnal, so easily led, so fickle, such consumers. If we knew what we believed, and loved the One who saves us, the latest by Beth Moore or Max Lucado might not feed the need in us for the latest and greatest Christian ideas. What is the cure for such a divided Church, such a divided Christian?
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments,” sang King David. Psalm 133:1-2 Love is always the answer, if love means passionate, whole-hearted, single-minded devotion to One. St. Paul preached it again and again: “I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment,” 1 Cor 1:10 “…be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you. Greet one another with an holy kiss.” 2 Cor 13:11-12 “…forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Eph 4:2-6 “Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” Phil 2:2 Jesus said it best, of course: “ A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:34-35
A house divided against itself cannot stand. A kingdom divided against itself can't rule anyone. If we claim to be of the light, and still walk in darkness, we are divided and we become powerless, even to help ourselves. There is only one Lord. There is only one path. There is only one Church, if we had heaven's perspective. We may attend different services, sing different songs, dress a little differently, express ourselves in other words, but the Love of Jesus Christ and the love of one Christian for another is the indispensable ingredient, the one piece that, if lost, then so are we. Love —knowing, open-eyed, conscious, committed, full-force, life-long Love—is the most powerful force in the world. Love created us. Love saved us. Love will deliver us.
Don't fear the economy. Don't fear the government. What did Jesus say? Don't fear even the one who can kill your body. What can he do to your soul? But fear the One who can both kill your body and send you to hell. Fear God. Don't get distracted. It's about Him. That's all you need to know.
Jesus came to seek and to save, and give His precious life for ours, that we might love and follow Him and Him alone, groping our way out of this dark world and into His Kingdom of Light. Along the way Jesus did some skirmishes with devils. They were in the way. They held people captive and caused insanity, disease, inability to hear or speak. He set those people free. His hour to judge the fallen angels would come. He just forbid them to speak, for when they did, they proclaimed Him the Son of God. He was not interested in the confession of faith in a demon. But His detractors found opportunity to say He was in league with the demons because He kicked them around.
These opponents were divided men. They found solace in their Jewish heritage, self-justification in keeping Sabbath and other laws, but were otherwise so given to a sinful life that they had to knock a man this holy, this powerful over the very devils that daily led them astray. They were speaking for those devils, casting doubts on the Holy One of Israel. Why else would they accuse Him so? Guilty, unrepentant, divided and conquered by sin, these men refused to follow the One who was consistent, holy, and offering God's forgiveness.
A rule of thumb: distrust all those who distrust Jesus . A rule of life: get everything out of your life that disagrees with Jesus . A rule of love: settle for yourself today who you will follow and devote yourself to for the rest of your life on earth . A rule of God: love your fellow Christian as though you were Jesus, willing to lay down your life for his . Set your compass, get your bearings, make a decision, set your course and follow it. Be one way. The only great men and women of any age were just so. One way. One God. One love. One life.
PFH+