Text: Ecclesiastes 3
I wonder if you noticed that there has been a method to the madness of the 3:16 series? This past Spring we looked at Stewardship and saw such texts as Leviticus 3:16 and we talked about an offering to God or Malachi 3:16 and talked about the Tithe. We looked at living in the midst of this world and saw sermons like “Warning” from 2 Peter 3:16. After that we began looking at our Spiritual Gifts and now, over the past several weeks we have been looking at Evangelism. We have jumped out of the 3:16's this month to ask “Why do you follow Christ” and what difference is it going to make in the world? We have looked at 1 Peter 3:16 and said we need to live out our faith regardless of the persecution that may follow. Be ready to tell others of the hope that is in you. Last week we saw that none are righteous but all are worthy. Christ died for us all. Today we will have the last sermon of our 3:16 series and, it too will be a sermon on evangelism.
Evangelism you may ask? Ecclesiastes 3? Isn't that the chapter that the Byrds got the lyrics to “Turn Turn” from? Well, yes it is, but there is a lot more to the chapter than just those few words and that is what we are going to look at today.
Ecclesiastes 3:16 – 22
Ecclesiastes is one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted texts in our Bible. In a sense, people try to make of it what they will. For instance, one might read 2:13-14 and see that there are many advantages in this life to having wisdom OR one might read the same passage at another time in their life or from another translation and see that wisdom or foolishness doesn't matter because death comes to the foolish or the wise.
The truth is Ecclesiastes is hard for us to translate because it is so different from anything else we read. The Psalmist looks around at all that God has created and responds with a song of praise for God's great handiwork. The author of Ecclesiastes looks out at the same thing and sees the repetition of life, that the rivers flow into the sea, the wind blows where it may, the sun shines and the rain falls and then comes to the conclusion that, there is nothing new under the sun.
The prophet Isaiah may look at an unjust and corrupt society and demand justice in the name of God. The author of Ecclesiastes sees the same and says in 5:8, “It's just the system, you can't beat it.”
In some respects this is one of the most depressing books of the Old Testament. Songs like “Turn Turn Turn ” and “Dust in the Wind” were inspired by it. Songs that plea for peace or say simply that we are just dust waiting to blow in the wind when we die.
However, I think there is a lot more in this Book than depressing words about the meaningless life we live. I think it can help us to ask questions of ourselves. We can see injustice in the world around us and it can remind us that there is a time and purpose for everything under heaven.
That is the thought I want us to take a few minutes to look at. Time.
That thing that we just can't get enough of.
We always need more time don't we?
We say, “there just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done.”
We have the term “waiting till the last … (what)... minute” – (time).
We are concerned that the time won't be there if we wait too long.
We worry about having time to do all our work and still spend time with our families.
We worry that time is slipping away and we can't control it.
Time, it seems, is our enemy, and for some maybe it is.
We do seem to have a limited amout of time in this life.
We do know that “This is the day and the hour of salvation”.
We know that others need to hear about and know Christ before before they die and we do not know when that “time” may come and we need to respond!
But I heard something yesterday about time. Bridget, the young lady that works at the Wash n Fold made a comment about time and then chuckled. She said my Mom always said “There's more time than life” Bridget would say, “Mom, I don't have time to do such and such, I have to finish this so and so.” and her mom would say, “There's more time than life.”
The truth is we use time as an excuse. We don't have time to go to church. We don't have time to talk to someone about the church or about God. We don't have time to care if someone is dying and going to hell.
Well, if that is the case maybe it's not about the time, maybe it's about our priorities. We somehow find the time to do the things we want to do. It's just those other things that we don't have time for.
Let me help us all out with this time thing,
Did God not create this world? Did God not design the earth to rotate around the sun setting our years and seasons? Did God not tilt the earth to the perfect 23.44° and set it spinning on it's axis to set our day's and nights? God created what we have deemed “time”.
God created just the right amount of time for what you need to do. The problem is we try to do all those things that we don't really need to do.
Time is what we make of it and that leads us to the question, “What time is it for you?”
In other words, what is God asking you to do with your time right now?
I think that issue of what God wants us to do with our time is directly related to our purpose as a church. Our church is not about this building! Our church has nothing to do with this building!
Don't get me wrong, I love this building. This building has a lot of history. There are a lot of sentimental feelings associated with this church. Sacred events have happened in this church. You and your children have been baptized in this church. Your families sweated as the bricks were laid and the repairs were conducted to this chancel and choir loft after the fire in 1927 – after much of the oil money had left the community.
All of those things are important for us as a church and as a community, but if this beautiful building were to be destroyed tomorrow we would still be a church. Because YOU are the church. In fact we as a church have somehow gotten this whole thing wrapped around backwards. And I'm not just talking about here in Wortham/Kirvin. I'm talking about the way we as Christians “do church”.
Somewhere between Christ and today we decided that church meant that we come for an hour of Sunday School, then meet together, sing a few songs, say a few prayers, put a little money in the offering plate, try to stay awake during a 20 minute speech that some call a sermon, sing a song and hope we make it to Magic China before the Baptists get there. Am I right?
That is what it means to “Do church”. Doing church involves coming to this building and doing “good things” and that's not a bad thing.
But being the church is something totally different.
Being the church means going to the McCurdy School in Espanola, NM on a mission trip.
Being the church means going to the food pantry and handing out food to those in need.
Being the church means seeing that person that you know is not in church and asking them if they would like to come to church with you Sunday.
Being the church means going to Caritas or Opening a Christian Clothes Closet, Oh, we are already doing that...
Being the church means more than simply showing up on Sunday and hoping to hear a good sermon. Being the church means you have to do something.
Now let me stop right hear and clarify something.
1) I'm not saying that you don't have to come to church. I can hear it now, “well I don't feel one bit guilty for missing church the entire 9 weeks of Deer Season because the preacher said being out doing is more important that just coming to the church.” or “I can skip church this week, it's getting to be Christmas season and I do need to do all my shopping. After all, I can't very well be with those that need to go to church on Sunday if I'm in church. I'll be able to talk to more people that need to be in church if I go on Sunday.”
No, We should never forsake the assembling together as believers.
2) I'm not saying that there is no purpose in coming together here in this beautiful building.
What I'm saying is, well, let me steal a phrase from Gerald Ray.
We need to come to church to fill our salt shaker. We should never have a full salt shaker.
What is salt? It is a purifying agent. It is a seasoning. It is what we are. We are to be out salting the earth, spreading the great seasoning of Jesus in the world. Think of your life as that salt shaker. We need to be emptying that salt shaker every week as we spread Christ to the world around us.
Then, when we come on Sunday we fellowship with other believers.
We gather and discuss how we spread our salt.
We rejoice in lives changed.
We support and repair each other when our shaker gets cracked by heartaches and mistakes.
And we refill our salt-shakers with the Word of God and the Fellowship of the Saints so we can go do it again.
Though Ecclesiastes seems to be saying that time and justice doesn't really matter because everything ends with death, we know there is more. There is more to church. There is more to life. There is more, because, as Jesus said, we are the salt of the earth.
It's time to spread a little salt.
When we see the injustice and wickedness under the sun, spread a little salt.
When we go out into our work, spread a little salt.
Go spread some salt. Share your salt with the world.
That is what time it is.
Monday, September 28, 2009
None Are Righteous
Text: Romans 3:5-22
There is an old tale of a Scottish farmer named Fleming. While some have disputed the facts of this tale with circumstantial evidence, others have used the same circumstantial evidence to prove the tale.
He was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog.
There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the boy and sent him back to his parents
The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.
'I want to repay you,' said the nobleman. 'You saved my son's life.'
'No, I can't accept payment for what I did,' the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer.
Just then, the farmer's son came to the door of the family home.
The nobleman asked, 'Is that your son?
'Yes,' the farmer replied proudly.
'I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy If the lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of.'
The Farmer's son did go to school, eventually Medical school, and they were both made to be proud in the days to come.
- - - - - - -
That, for me, is an example of grace.
Though the farmer had done a good thing, helping the nobleman's son, he didn't deserve anything for it. To save someone is what should be done. You can't repay a person for saving the life of your son. And the Farmer's son - he certainly didn't deserve the reward he was given. It was because of a sense of obligation, but also grace, undeserved favor, that the nobleman paid the boy's way to medical school.
Though this passage seems to be about judgment and righteousness, in the end it too is about Grace. Though it seems to be about the law and the failure of the Jews to live up to the law, it is about grace.
Though the first part of Romans seems to be about the Gentiles, us, being outside of the covenant in the end Romans is about grace: God's unmerited or unearned favor. Or according to one theologian, “In the New Testament grace means God’s love in action towards [people] who merited the opposite of love” (J. I. Packer, Knowing God. Inter-Varsity Press, 1973, p. 226.)
So, where do I get from “None are righteous, no not one” to this is all about grace? Join me on a quick journey through the first three chapters of Romans...
As you begin reading in Romans you find Paul excoriating the Gentiles for failing to recognize God in God's creation and choosing to follow their own way. 2:12 says “When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God's written law. And the Jews, who do have God's law, will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it.”
We see from these verses that the Gentiles will come before the Judgment of God hoping to be justified by their works. The Jews on the other hand will come before the judgment and rest in the TORAH, the Law, and find that the Law doesn't save them but instead reveal their sin. The TORAH is the covenant that God made with the people, “If you live in this way, then I will be your God and I will give you the benefit of that, an abundant life.” I recently heard a great way for us to understand “The Covenant” in our own terms.
How many of you have a Mortgage? That Mortgage is a contract, a covenant if you will, that you and the bank made together. You agreed that you would abide by the “covenant”, i.e. you would pay your monthly payments on time, and they would let you live in the house until the contract is fulfilled. Now what happens when you fail to live up to your end of the bargain?
They take the house from you and sell it to someone who will live up to the agreement.
So here we see Paul reminding the Jew's that they failed to fulfill their side of the Covenant.
They served other gods. They failed to worship God as they promised. They failed to be a lighthouse on a hill guiding others to God. They tried to keep God to themselves when they were to share God with others and teach others about God. They failed.
But unlike the banker, God didn't abandon them. God allowed the natural consequences of their actions like, if they worshiped god's of other people then they were ruled by those other people. If they failed to share God with others, then God would share God's self with others.
But God never abandoned them.
But some took it to the next level. In our passage we see that some have tried to excuse their sin. It seems that once we sin we display an amazing amount of ingenuity to justify our sin don't we (William Barclay, The Letter to the Romans, Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 1975, 54.) I know with myself there is this particular sin that returned over and over in my life. Rather than recognize it as sin that is controlling me, I compared myself to Paul and said it was my thorn in the flesh. It's what kept me in line with my humanity and in need of God's grace. In other words, I was saying that my sin was giving God the chance to show grace to me. In my sin I was allowing God to be God. What a load of stupidity.
But, we do the same with other sins don't we? Though my body is the “Temple of God” I tear it down by putting chemicals in it. Let's say I were a smoker, I might say that I smoke to keep my weight down. The truth is, that is my excuse to justify my behavior. A better choice would be to spend 20 minutes a day walking. Then rather than tear down my lungs and keep my weight down, now I have made a decision to strengthen the Temple God gave me and keep my weight down.
Let's try another one. Let's say I use foul language that doesn't help encourage someone to do better. Scripture tells us that our language is to be wholesome and is to edify or build others us (Ephesians 4:29) so we know that foul and abusive language is a sin. But I could justify it by saying, “that's the way I was raised”, or “I was in the Navy”, or “that's the only way I can get her to do what I want her to do.”
Let's try one more. We even have a special name for this one, “A Little White Lie.” We lie so we don't hurt someones feelings. We lie so we don't get in trouble... do I need to go on?
These are just the “minor sins” that anyone of us could have committed in our life. I'm not even going to get into the major ones like Murder, Stealing, creating other Idols in our life that we worship.
Once we sin we try to excuse it. We try to justify it. We try to make life just as if the sin never happened. But you know what? We can't. Sin happens in our life and it isn't just something we do to give God the chance to forgive us. No, we knowingly and willingly disobey God and that separates us from God.
That is what this description is here. In verses 10 – 18 Paul follows a typical teaching style of the Rabbi's by stringing together a list of verses from Scripture. Here he uses verses from Psalm's and Isaiah to paint a vivid picture of the depravity of humanity. No one is righteous, no one understands God, no one does good, they all have wicked speech and violent behavior. In this list any of the Jew's or Gentiles could find themselves, then or today. In this list we can all see that no one can fulfill the law and “the entire world is guilty before God. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the Law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.” (vs 19b-20)
But that isn't the full story. No, neither the Jew's nor the Gentile's can be made right by the Law. No one ever could. God isn't like the shrewd banker who forecloses on the home when the contract is broken. No God never leaves them and God never leaves us. In fact verses 21 & 22 tell us that “God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.”
God never forecloses on us when we fail him. No, instead of making the Law the only way, God creates a new way. God shows the way that was in the works since the first sin happened in the Garden of Eden. God shows the way that Moses and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Daniel and Joel told us about.
God makes a new way.
A great song of our faith comes to mind when I think of this....
God sent his Son. They Call him Jesus.
He came to love, heal and forgive.
He lived and died, to buy my pardon.
An empty grave is there to prove my savior lived.
And it's
Because he lived that I can face tomorrow
Because he lived all fear is gone
and because I know he holds the future
my life is worth living because he lived.
That is why this passage is about more than judgment and righteousness. That is why this verse is about Grace. We don't deserve the Abundant Life God promises. We don't deserve the hope of a life to come. We don't deserve to have a relationship with God. But because of Jesus we can have that relationship.
And our lives can make a difference today because of that Grace that God affords us.
We never know what the outcome will be when we let God's grace flow through us.
Think about Farmer Flemming's son...
Because of the grace offered to him by the nobleman he attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. He went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.
Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia. What saved his life this time? Penicillin.
The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill .. His son's name?
Sir Winston Churchill.
And the world will never be the same because of grace.
We never know the reach of God's grace. God's son came to this earth for you and for you and for you. Jesus gave his life for each of us. We didn't deserve it. We don't deserve to be rescued from the bog of our life. We don't deserve the finest education available. We don't deserve even to know of God much less to know God.
But that is the beauty of Grace.
It is while we were yet sinners that Christ died for us.
That is the grace that has been offered to us. But, who will you share that grace with, because though none are righteous, all are worth it.
There is an old tale of a Scottish farmer named Fleming. While some have disputed the facts of this tale with circumstantial evidence, others have used the same circumstantial evidence to prove the tale.
He was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog.
There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the boy and sent him back to his parents
The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.
'I want to repay you,' said the nobleman. 'You saved my son's life.'
'No, I can't accept payment for what I did,' the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer.
Just then, the farmer's son came to the door of the family home.
The nobleman asked, 'Is that your son?
'Yes,' the farmer replied proudly.
'I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy If the lad is anything like his father, he'll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of.'
The Farmer's son did go to school, eventually Medical school, and they were both made to be proud in the days to come.
- - - - - - -
That, for me, is an example of grace.
Though the farmer had done a good thing, helping the nobleman's son, he didn't deserve anything for it. To save someone is what should be done. You can't repay a person for saving the life of your son. And the Farmer's son - he certainly didn't deserve the reward he was given. It was because of a sense of obligation, but also grace, undeserved favor, that the nobleman paid the boy's way to medical school.
Though this passage seems to be about judgment and righteousness, in the end it too is about Grace. Though it seems to be about the law and the failure of the Jews to live up to the law, it is about grace.
Though the first part of Romans seems to be about the Gentiles, us, being outside of the covenant in the end Romans is about grace: God's unmerited or unearned favor. Or according to one theologian, “In the New Testament grace means God’s love in action towards [people] who merited the opposite of love” (J. I. Packer, Knowing God. Inter-Varsity Press, 1973, p. 226.)
So, where do I get from “None are righteous, no not one” to this is all about grace? Join me on a quick journey through the first three chapters of Romans...
As you begin reading in Romans you find Paul excoriating the Gentiles for failing to recognize God in God's creation and choosing to follow their own way. 2:12 says “When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God's written law. And the Jews, who do have God's law, will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it.”
We see from these verses that the Gentiles will come before the Judgment of God hoping to be justified by their works. The Jews on the other hand will come before the judgment and rest in the TORAH, the Law, and find that the Law doesn't save them but instead reveal their sin. The TORAH is the covenant that God made with the people, “If you live in this way, then I will be your God and I will give you the benefit of that, an abundant life.” I recently heard a great way for us to understand “The Covenant” in our own terms.
How many of you have a Mortgage? That Mortgage is a contract, a covenant if you will, that you and the bank made together. You agreed that you would abide by the “covenant”, i.e. you would pay your monthly payments on time, and they would let you live in the house until the contract is fulfilled. Now what happens when you fail to live up to your end of the bargain?
They take the house from you and sell it to someone who will live up to the agreement.
So here we see Paul reminding the Jew's that they failed to fulfill their side of the Covenant.
They served other gods. They failed to worship God as they promised. They failed to be a lighthouse on a hill guiding others to God. They tried to keep God to themselves when they were to share God with others and teach others about God. They failed.
But unlike the banker, God didn't abandon them. God allowed the natural consequences of their actions like, if they worshiped god's of other people then they were ruled by those other people. If they failed to share God with others, then God would share God's self with others.
But God never abandoned them.
But some took it to the next level. In our passage we see that some have tried to excuse their sin. It seems that once we sin we display an amazing amount of ingenuity to justify our sin don't we (William Barclay, The Letter to the Romans, Westminster John Knox, Louisville, 1975, 54.) I know with myself there is this particular sin that returned over and over in my life. Rather than recognize it as sin that is controlling me, I compared myself to Paul and said it was my thorn in the flesh. It's what kept me in line with my humanity and in need of God's grace. In other words, I was saying that my sin was giving God the chance to show grace to me. In my sin I was allowing God to be God. What a load of stupidity.
But, we do the same with other sins don't we? Though my body is the “Temple of God” I tear it down by putting chemicals in it. Let's say I were a smoker, I might say that I smoke to keep my weight down. The truth is, that is my excuse to justify my behavior. A better choice would be to spend 20 minutes a day walking. Then rather than tear down my lungs and keep my weight down, now I have made a decision to strengthen the Temple God gave me and keep my weight down.
Let's try another one. Let's say I use foul language that doesn't help encourage someone to do better. Scripture tells us that our language is to be wholesome and is to edify or build others us (Ephesians 4:29) so we know that foul and abusive language is a sin. But I could justify it by saying, “that's the way I was raised”, or “I was in the Navy”, or “that's the only way I can get her to do what I want her to do.”
Let's try one more. We even have a special name for this one, “A Little White Lie.” We lie so we don't hurt someones feelings. We lie so we don't get in trouble... do I need to go on?
These are just the “minor sins” that anyone of us could have committed in our life. I'm not even going to get into the major ones like Murder, Stealing, creating other Idols in our life that we worship.
Once we sin we try to excuse it. We try to justify it. We try to make life just as if the sin never happened. But you know what? We can't. Sin happens in our life and it isn't just something we do to give God the chance to forgive us. No, we knowingly and willingly disobey God and that separates us from God.
That is what this description is here. In verses 10 – 18 Paul follows a typical teaching style of the Rabbi's by stringing together a list of verses from Scripture. Here he uses verses from Psalm's and Isaiah to paint a vivid picture of the depravity of humanity. No one is righteous, no one understands God, no one does good, they all have wicked speech and violent behavior. In this list any of the Jew's or Gentiles could find themselves, then or today. In this list we can all see that no one can fulfill the law and “the entire world is guilty before God. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the Law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.” (vs 19b-20)
But that isn't the full story. No, neither the Jew's nor the Gentile's can be made right by the Law. No one ever could. God isn't like the shrewd banker who forecloses on the home when the contract is broken. No God never leaves them and God never leaves us. In fact verses 21 & 22 tell us that “God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.”
God never forecloses on us when we fail him. No, instead of making the Law the only way, God creates a new way. God shows the way that was in the works since the first sin happened in the Garden of Eden. God shows the way that Moses and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Daniel and Joel told us about.
God makes a new way.
A great song of our faith comes to mind when I think of this....
God sent his Son. They Call him Jesus.
He came to love, heal and forgive.
He lived and died, to buy my pardon.
An empty grave is there to prove my savior lived.
And it's
Because he lived that I can face tomorrow
Because he lived all fear is gone
and because I know he holds the future
my life is worth living because he lived.
That is why this passage is about more than judgment and righteousness. That is why this verse is about Grace. We don't deserve the Abundant Life God promises. We don't deserve the hope of a life to come. We don't deserve to have a relationship with God. But because of Jesus we can have that relationship.
And our lives can make a difference today because of that Grace that God affords us.
We never know what the outcome will be when we let God's grace flow through us.
Think about Farmer Flemming's son...
Because of the grace offered to him by the nobleman he attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London. He went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.
Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia. What saved his life this time? Penicillin.
The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill .. His son's name?
Sir Winston Churchill.
And the world will never be the same because of grace.
We never know the reach of God's grace. God's son came to this earth for you and for you and for you. Jesus gave his life for each of us. We didn't deserve it. We don't deserve to be rescued from the bog of our life. We don't deserve the finest education available. We don't deserve even to know of God much less to know God.
But that is the beauty of Grace.
It is while we were yet sinners that Christ died for us.
That is the grace that has been offered to us. But, who will you share that grace with, because though none are righteous, all are worth it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
