Sunday Sermons
Long Obedience
Long Obedience
I was glad I was wrong
“To be told we are wrong is sometimes an embarrassment, even a humiliation. We want to run and hide our heads in shame. But there are times when finding out we are wrong is sudden and immediate relief, and we can lift up our heads in hope. No longer do we have to keep doggedly trying to do something that isn’t working. A few years ago I was in my backyard with my lawnmower tipped on its side. It had my biggest wrench attached to the nut but could not budge it. I got a four-foot length of pipe and slipped it over the wrench handle to give me leverage, and I leaned on that, still unsuccessfully. Next I took a large rock and banged on the pipe. By this time I was beginning to get emotionally involved with my lawnmower. Then my neighbor walked over and said that he had a lawn mower like mine once, and that, if he remembered correctly, the threads on the bolt went the other way. I reversed my exertions and, sure enough that nut turned easily. I was glad to find out I was wrong. I was saved from frustration and failure. I would never have gotten the job done, no matter how hard I tried, doing it my way” (A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, Eugene H. Peterson, pp.. 37-38). Many are tempted to resent the Word of God for it reveals that need to change, but instead of becoming upset one should rather appreciate hearing a message that declares that life is far better and has far more to offer than our preconceived and superficial ideas. The atheist should be thrilled to hear the news that one’s existence does not end at death (Ecclesiastes 12:7). The person who is constantly trying to find happiness in carnal pleasures should be equaled encouraged to find that in contrast to such temporary pleasures, there are pleasures that are not temporary and neither are they dangerous to one’s emotional and physical health. There are eternal pleasures that come without the side effects of shame and regret. Whenever the Bible conflicts with our preconceived ideas of reality we should be glad that our limited view is not the truth.
When there is nothing to do
“An excellent way to test people’s values is to observe what we do when we don’t have to do anything, how we spend our leisure time, how we spend our extra money” (p. 50).
But I don’t feel like it
The danger of worshipping or doing the right thing only when we feel like it is that feelings are great liars. Paul Scherer notes, “The Bible wastes very little time on the way we feel”. “We live in what one writer has called the ‘age of sensation’. We think that if we don’t feel something there can be no authenticity in doing it. But the wisdom of God says something different: that we can act ourselves into a new way of feeling much quicker than we can feel ourselves into a new way of acting” (p. 54).
Is worship worth it?
A number of people in the world might be tempted to think that “going to services” is a waste of time, for just think of what one could do with all that extra time and energy with Sunday services. Yet consider the man who is sharpening his chain saw before he proceeds to do some woodcutting. Is all the effort and time put into sharpening the saw a waste of time? Or, does it make the task of cutting the wood that much easier? In fact, if he did not take the time to sharpen the saw, how successful would he be in trying to get the wood cut? Worship is very practical for one thing it prepares us to handle the tasks of the coming week.
Is your job hazardous?
If someone asked you the question, “Do you engage in hazardous work?” How would you respond? Our physical jobs may not involve us in life-threatening situations, but everyday the Christian is confronted with a spiritual-wrestling match with spiritual super-powers (Ephesians 6:11ff). The task of restoring a brother can equally be dangerous (Galatians 6:1-2; Jude 22).“Everyday I put faith on the line. I have never seen God. In a world where nearly everything can be weighed, explained, quantified, subjected to psychological analysis and scientific control, I persist in making the center of my life a God whom no eye hath seen, nor ear heard. Every day I put hope on the line. I don’t know what the next hour will hold. There may be sickness, accident, personal or world catastrophe. Before this day is over I may have to deal with death, pain, loss, rejection. Still, despite my ignorance and surrounded by tinny optimists and cowardly pessimists, I say that God will accomplish His will, and I cheerfully persist in living in the hope that nothing will separate me from Christ’s love. Every day I put love on the line. There is nothing I am less good at than love. I am far better in competition than in love. I am far better at responding to my instincts and ambitions to get ahead and make my mark than I am at figuring out how to love another. And yet I decide, every day, to set aside what I can do best and attempt what I do very clumsily. All that is hazardous work; I live on the edge of defeat all the time” (pp. 76-77).
Working in God’s complaint department
If one is vocal about his or her faith sooner or later one is going to run into people who will say something like, “Oh yea, well if God is so loving then why does He allow…..?” “I am put on the spot of being God’s defender. I am expected to explain God to His disappointed clients. I am thrust into the role of a clerk in the complaints department of humanity, asked to trace down bad service, listen sympathetically to aggrieved patrons, try to put right any mistakes I can and apologize for the rudeness of the management. But if I accept any of these assignments I misunderstand my proper work, for God does not need me to defend Him. He does not need me for a press secretary” (p. 72). While God expects us to have a ready answer for the hope that is within us (1 Peter 3:15), and boldly proclaim the gospel (Ephesians 6:18). It is not my job to put the best possible “spin” on what people consider to be unpopular events or verses.
Cynical about optimistic verses?
In a previous lesson I observed that people in our modern culture are accustomed to being lied to. “Advertisers are routinely so dishonest with us that we train ourselves to keep our distance from any who speak with passion and excitement for fear they will manipulate us. We see Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods speaking on behalf of a product and inwardly discount the witness; we know the words were written by a highly paid copywriter and that the testimonial was done for a handsome fee. In the midst of that kind of world come on the lines, “If God hadn’t been for us when everyone went against us we would have been swallowed alive” (p. 74). Yet the Bible contains not only such optimistic statements but “every skeptical thought, every disappointing venture, every pain, every despair that we can face is lived through and integrated into a personal, saving relationship with God. Good poetry (as in the Psalms) survives not when it is pretty or beautiful or nice but when it is true: accurate and honest. The psalms are great poetry and have lasted not because they appeal to our fantasies and our wishes but because they are confirmed in the intensities of honest and hazardous living” (p. 75).
Evil is temporary
Evil is temporary in the sense that God will eventually bring evil to an end (Matthew 25:46), yet it is equally true that evil is also temporary while this earth remains. “Evil is always temporary. ‘The worst does that last’. Nothing counter to God’s justice has any eternity to it” (pp. 88-89). This means that no temptation or trial is eternal, in fact, it may only last for a moment, yet it is in that moment that everything is either lost or won. As in the case with Jesus, the devil would return from time to time, but he equally departed from Him for a season.
Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net/mdunagan@easystreet.com
