Sermon for the Sunday after Ascension, May 23, 2009
“ As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ. ”
I had a birthday the other day and the inevitable question was asked: What would you like for your birthday? When we were young the answer to that question could often be purchased in a store, fulfilling our passion for the toy most longed for this month. We were carefully programmed in TV ads to think this toy the greatest fun and would make us the envy of all our friends, of our brothers and sisters. The gift could just be bought and brought home, wrapped in colored paper and set on the table with a card. Happy Birthday.
The older I get, the less toys please me. I actually like getting clothes. I may press my nose on the glass of a guitar store, but I really don't need to outfit myself more than I am already. My needs have gotten less, and more. I wish less for myself, and more for my world and those in it. Frankly, if I could wrap myself up as a gift and give myself to God, that would be my best birthday present.
Some of us, Americans for America, have given as much. We observe Memorial Day this weekend, and it's as true today as it ever was— more in fact, because we have an entirely volunteer army . Only two people have ever given their lives for yours: Jesus Christ and the American soldier. One gave His life for your salvation , the other gave his life for your freedom . Wars of former years call to our minds great numbers of war dead, our own Civil War having by far the highest casualty statistics America has known. During the entire Iraq struggle, 4300 Americans have given the ultimate sacrifice, 31,000 were seriously wounded. In the Afghan battle for their freedom, about 690 American soldiers also gave their lives. We honor them all today, for the willingness to shed their blood on foreign soil to make the world a safer place.
It's ironical and, for some, a debate that we are bringing peace to the Middle East by being a target for terrorism, a war not of empire or ideology , as were the wars of the 20 th century, but a war against idolatry . That's the reason for its intensity, and the attending insanity that drives young women and men to detonate themselves in a mosque, or to drive a car bomb into a bivouac. The benighted glory is paid to the false god of jihad, an idol of death, of hatred, of fear—a jeering devil who laughs at the fools he uses to destroy the innocent, the courageous, all too young. No longer does an - ism drive the machines of human destruction, but a demigod that devours men's souls and who simply hates. The war we are in is not for territory or any form of government, but either to enslave or to liberate souls. Those who have sacrificed their own lives in this battle are our age's ultimate heroes.
St. Peter saw his world changing, he was in fact at the epicenter of all change that ever would be: the end of the age of sin and man's attempts to pacify God, and the beginning of this world's end as men were claimed for God's redemption. “The end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” Peter admonished us. “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” 1 Peter 4:7-11 Every man has received the gift. What gift is that? We might say Grace. Grace is a gift. Grace, the unearned, unmerited bestowal of what God alone can give us. What is it and how are we to receive such a gift?
Grace is by nature a gift , something that didn't have to be given. It isn't payment for services rendered, or that would be wages. If we were paid the wages we've earned, well you've heard how that is paid. We're sinners, and our wage is death. No, we don't want to earn the gift. But we've heard what Jesus did for us in words to describe why and for what. To save us from those wages, He gave the gift of His life . That priceless gift being given, and the graces released that would save our souls, He rose up from that tomb and triumphed over death once for all. Forty days he remained with them, showing them His hands and feet, making them be sure He wasn't a ghost or the figment of their imaginings or fruits of their grieving, but real, solid, flesh and bones, alive.
He then opened the scriptures to them, told them in greater detail what was the meaning of His life, His message, the miracles and His Passion. All human history was leading to this moment, and the next stage was glorious. What they had seen with their eyes, handled with their hands of the Word of Life, the Incarnate Son of God, in human form and human being, was about to ascend to the Father and rule and reign over all creation forever. The glory they'd seen on a mountaintop, which John would later see on an island, when this real man glowed like lightening is bright, would return to Jesus as His true divine nature suffused the human substance, and our nature became the nature of God. Then He would send the Holy Spirit, the wondrous and mysterious Third Person of this God, who would now enter us also, and fill us with His light, and make of us luminaries to this world to light others and to do the works of God. By the time He rose into the Jerusalem skies, they were all anticipation of what came next, and any fear of the future was removed from their hearts.
Jesus met a Samaritan woman at a well at the noon hour, and asked her for a drink. When she wondered why He, a Jewish man asked this of her, He said, “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water… Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:10-14 The water He speaks of is that Holy Spirit who comes into our lives so gently, but offers us such wisdom and power. Peter would later speak great sermons, and end by saying: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” Acts 2:37-39
The world changed as these first saints brought the message of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit to those who were so hungry and thirsty for the true way to God. Where is that hunger today? We are filled to bursting with things, rich foods, bright images, closets full of toys and wonderful gadgets we fiddle with and grow easily bored with. It is distraction that becomes our enemy, idols of micro circuitry, wonders of Windows and high resolution plasma and cars we'll never hope to tinker with and endless choices. A song of the sixties comes to my mind that went: “ Streets full of people, all alone; Rows full of houses, never home; Church full of singing, out of tune; Everyone's gone to the moon. Eyes full of sorrow, never wet; Hands full of money, all in debt; Sun disappears in the middle of June; Everyone's gone to the moon; Long time ago, life had begun; Everyone went to the sun. Hearts full of motors, painted green; Mouths full of chocolate-covered cream; Hands that can only lift a spoon; Everyone's gone to the moon.”
This is a world where there almost is no sin. There isn't enough of us left to sin, not really hearty, lustful, passionate disobedience. It's more death than life, a lobotomized dream, The Matrix made real, our senses so filled up and bombarded we no longer can hear or see or feel a thing. Ours is becoming a world almost not worth damning, almost not worth saving.
But there are real people here. And it was for real people that Jesus came, lived, died and now sits at the right hand of His Father. Make no mistake, sin has gotten us where we are, and our idols are as powerful and evil and beguiling as those of any suicide bomber. He is catapulted into evil action, we are anaesthetized into an evil slumber. But it is sin either way, and if we are to be “ made free from sin, and become servants to God, we have our fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:22-23 And there it is again. Wages for sin, for which no one wants direct deposit, or the gift. Eternal life. Jesus Christ our Lord, the giver of the gift.
St. Paul admonished Timothy not to neglect the gift in him, given by God's speaking through his ordaining ministers, and to stir it up. “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind... be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.” 2 Tim 1:6-9 Timothy, a Greek, was to tell other Greeks a true account of goings on in Palestine in recent years. Irenaeus would tell his fellow countrymen of Gaul, Augustine came to tell it to the English, Patrick would declare it to Ireland, Thomas in India, Peter and Paul to Rome. The story was told, and these brave Christians gave their lives to it, to prove that they knew the story was true.
What kind gift would you like? When we were young the answer to that question could often be purchased in a store, but now our gift may only be bought in a story. It has been purchased at a great price. And, by God, this wonderful story is true .
What is more, the story has your name written in it, and there is more to tell. God is ready to write more of it, when it has happened and you have lived your part of the great story. That is the gift, that God should include your life in His story. Only, you need to come alive and come out of this world of drugged and besotted dreams and live, truly live before the true and only God.
PFH+