August 31, 2008 Message

Romans 12:9-21; Matthew 16:21-28
“Christian Living: A Labor (Day) of Love”

Over these last several weeks, Paul has laid out for us God’s great patience and persistence at entering into loving relationship with God’s creation. The only way Paul, or any of us for that matter, can respond to such grace is by our worship.

But, what kind of worship? Thomas Yoder Neufeld, author of Recovering Jesus: The Witness of the New Testament, suggests that considering everything, the only worship that makes sense to Paul is a spiritual one in which we offer our lives – mind, body, and soul – as “a living sacrifice.” Our lives become a worship of God when we use our imagination, our skills and talents, our possessions in such a way that it glorifies God.

What Paul has for us in Romans 12 are incredible possibilities, rather than ordinary obligations. The letter is written to encourage those in the church, not to get on their case or to make them feel guilty. These people want to follow Christ. They want to do the right thing. They want to do what is expected of them. But there is a pressing need to know if they are on the right track.

So, Paul lays it out to them – and for us - the signs of living a Christian life, things to look for if our lives have truly become a worship of God. It’s not a ‘to-do’ list of things to check off, to work on until everything is done, but more a list of the various things a life such as this might possibly include – considering the gifts of the Spirit may be different for all of us and our lives not marked in the same way.

With “genuine love” (v. 9), we can hate what is evil; we can cling to what is good.

As Christians, we are not to just be critical of evil we are to take a strong position against it. We are to hate violence, to hate poverty, to hate sexism, to hate greed, to hate neglect of God’s creation. And in doing so, we are to hold fast to what is good.

We can love one another and respect each other, even in our differences. We can be passionate. We can be enthusiastic. We can offer service. We can rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, and persevere in prayer.

Paul says, It’s best – and even special - to hang out with those who are not flashy or always ‘tooting their own horn.’ Paul placed a lot of value in those unlikely saints of the faith who were “not always wise by human standards, or powerful, or of noble birth” (1 Cor. 1:26) Perhaps together we are to join in passionate worship, intentional faith development, risk-taking mission and service.

We can contribute to the needs of the “saints.” We can extend hospitality to strangers.

Maybe we are to participate in addressing those needs by our extravagant generosity or encouraged to “extend” or “practice” hospitality with such zeal that whenever a stranger walks into our midst we are overcome with the love of Christ. This hospitality is to be so radical that it becomes like a phobia in which our fear is replaced by love.

We can even bless those who bother us; rather than cursing them.

Not only are we to invoke the very best for those who would harm us, we are also with equal tenacity to pursue them with love. Think about those we most fear today because of what they might do to us – the illegal aliens who would take over our country, the terrorists who would destroy our way of life, the gay and lesbians who would undermine our moral ground. What would happen if those who have experienced God’s relentless pursuit of strangers and sinners were to pursue the alien, those who are different from us and those who are hostile to us, with the same clever and persistence love?

So, we can do what we can. But are we? As recipients of God’s grace, have we been doing all we can? We can love, but do we? We can hate what is evil, but do we? We can respect the differences of others, but do we? We can contribute to the needs of others, but do we?

A stranger walked into a restaurant in a strange town. The waiter came and asked him for his order. Feeling lonely, the stranger replied, "Meat loaf and a kind word."
When the waiter returned with the meat loaf, the stranger said, "Okay, so where's the kind word?"
The waiter put down the meat loaf and sighed, bent down, and whispered gently, "Don't eat the meat loaf."

Okay. Maybe we do. Maybe we do tell some people about the meat loaf. But is there more? I think Paul would say so.

Earlier In Romans 12, Paul invited his readers to pick up a towel and an apron and actually get to work “according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (12:3). We have gifts or jobs to do “that differ according to the grace given to us” (12:6). We have both an assignment and the means by which to carry the assignment forward. We’re expected to do what we can.

If we think we can’t because it’s beyond our ability, “I could never do that.” Wrong! God doesn’t ask us to do what we can’t do. If we think we are not needed because someone more capable will take care of it. Wrong! They’re not being called to do your job – you are!

Paul’s says there are tasks the Spirit has given us all to do, each in its own time. You do what you’ve been tasked to do. You teach if you’re a teacher, you encourage if you’re a cheerleader, you minister if you’re a minister, you give if you’re a giver, and you lead if you’re a leader. (vv. 7-8).

You do what you can to:
• bless those who persecute you
• not curse those who persecute you
• rejoice with those who rejoice
• weep with those who weep
• live in harmony
• be humble
• mingle with the less fortunate
• not think you’re so smart
• not repay evil with evil
• live peaceably with all
• not take revenge
• feed your hungry enemies
• give drink to the thirsty enemies
• not be overcome with evil
• overcome evil with good

Betty Meadows, general presbyter of Mid-Kentucky Presbytery (a position similar, in some ways, to bishop in other traditions), describes a summer sabbatical that transformed her life. She left her churchy world behind and went “under cover” for three months, working as a Waffle House hostess. To her surprise, as she put it, “the risen Christ showed up every day” (in those doing what they could do).

1. A van broke down in the parking lot, on the Fourth of July, carrying a family from Alabama. No garage or mechanic could be found. A waitress heard of their plight and called her boyfriend. He arrived 15 minutes later and fixed their van, for the price of a cup of coffee.

You do what YOU CAN do!

2. A lawyer set up shop in the Waffle House, offering legal help to the needy of the community, for what they could pay — or for no payment at all, if they couldn’t afford it. “Day after day,” writes Betty, “this lawyer sat at a table, smoking his cigar, meeting client after client, turning down no one.

You do what YOU CAN do!

3. A woman hobbled into the restaurant, a cast on one leg, but displaying signs of other medical difficulties. The police had just arrested her boyfriend for drunken driving and had impounded his truck. She was turned out on the street, with nowhere to go. The restaurant was so busy, none of the staff could give her a ride to the bus station, but she called her landlord, who lived an hour and a half away. He dropped everything, and drove right over to pick her up.

You do what YOU CAN do!