First Reading Revelation 14:6-7
6I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. 7And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
Psalm Psalm 46
1God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved, and though the mountains be toppled into the depths of the sea; 3Though its waters rage and foam, and though the mountains tremble at its tumult. 4The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. 5There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. 6God is in the midst of her; she shall not be overthrown; God shall help her at the break of day. 7The nations make much ado, and the kingdoms are shaken; God has spoken, and the earth shall melt away. 8The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. 9Come now and look upon the works of the Lord, what awesome things he has done on earth. 10It is he who makes war to cease in all the world; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear, and burns the shields with fire. 11“Be still, then, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.” 12The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
Second Reading Romans 3:19-28
19Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. 21But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it — 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Gospel John 8:31-36
31Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” 34Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
A SPIRITUAL RE-FORMATION
Let me ask you a question, what are the most important lessons you’ve learned as you’ve gone through life? Author Adair Lara asked dozens of people to pass on the things they wish they’d known in their earlier years. Here are a few nuggets of wisdom:
- “Never marry a man who hates his mother.” — Beth Clements
- “Never pass up an opportunity to use the rest room.”– Sally Sanger
- “You will never, never win an argument with a meter maid.” — Dean Backus
And this final one from Jackie Windspear: “Grace isn’t a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It’s a way to live.” As Christians, we know that grace is God’s free gift to all who receive it by faith.
Elizabeth Strout’s novel, Abide with Me,is set in a small town in Maine in the 1950s, where the Reverend Tyler Caskey is on top of the world. He feels overwhelmed by the love of God, his socialite wife, Lauren, and their two young daughters. Tyler appears oblivious to Lauren’s unhappiness over his low salary, the absence of like-minded friends, and their dilapidated parsonage situated out in the middle of nowhere. As is typical of the 1950s, the church serves as a significant gathering place in the life of this community, providing residents with one of the few opportunities to get out of the house and socialize. Against a backdrop of bomb shelters and nuclear apprehension, the church provides a place of sanctuary and security in an era wrought with unrest.
Life in New England is a struggle, where harsh winters and brief summers are constants, and feelings of cabin fever and isolation penetrate the population. The church provides a refuge for the weary and a place for sharing joy among God’s people. Church youth groups provide a safe environment for teens to meet and socialize with others like themselves. The community, at first, is enthralled with their new young pastor, who is enthusiastic and energized for ministry among them.
However, Tyler soon finds that his flock is struggling spiritually with issues of euthanasia, malicious gossip, church conflict, sexual immorality, domestic violence, grief, theft, and infidelity. Tyler soon discovers that he is ministering to a community of decent, but flawed, individuals who gossip incessantly and judge maliciously. Sadly, his vivacious young wife, Lauren, dies of cancer, leaving Tyler struggling to cope with her death and the raising of their daughters.
Where he once felt blessed and surrounded by God’s love, he now feels alone and isolated. Overwhelmed by his own grief, he finds his flock’s problems trivial. His daughter, Katherine, suffers also, acting out at home, at church, and in school. The congregation then turns on Tyler, gossiping about Katherine and speculating that he is now having an affair with his housekeeper. The powerful, almost mystical feeling for God that Tyler had cherished is now gone, as he falters in his faith and staggers under a burden of anger, doubt and debt.
Previously, he had always found strength and solace in reflecting on the life and teachings of German pastor, Nazi resister and martyr, the Rev. Dr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Tyler has now come to realize that the cost of discipleship is indeed high, and he yearns to recapture his spiritual certainty in a confused world. Thankfully, there is a happy ending to this story. Tyler and his congregation eventually do find their way back to God and to each other in their life together, discovering that faith entails much more than a feeling. Through hard work and reconciliation, they experience a deeper, more mature faith, enjoying life together in a new and gracious way. In a number of ways, things in churches and in society haven’t changed very much.
Sure, there have been advances in technology and life has become less strenuous physically, but people are people and sin is still sin. Another major difference is that we twenty-first-century Christians don’t like to think or talk about sin in our own lives, but sin is still among us and it won’t go away. The apostle Paul reminds us, in our Second Reading for today, that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). As “modern” or progressive thinkers, we trivialize sin, we excused sin, we normalized sin and even now we’re guilty of justifying sin in order to deny it. But the problem is, when we minimize, excuse, normalize and justify sin in order to deny it, we also deny the grace of God that overcomes sin.
For example, anger is a sin that permeated pastor Tyler’s church and community. It wasn’t the blazing, obvious kind, but the brooding, simmering variety. There are two different words in the Hebrew Bible used for anger. One of the words means to have “pregnant nostrils.” When we become angry, our nostrils enlarge. It reminds me of waving a red flag before a snorting, raging bull. That same Hebrew word is used for both nose and anger. In Exodus, God is described as being “slow to anger” (34:6), which literally means to be “long of nose.” The other word means “to burn or to grow hot.” We often think of anger in degrees of heat or in the shades of red used by cartoonists to illustrate anger. Now to be fair, there is the side of anger that’s good for us.
Anger in and of itself is an emotion that can motivate us to make changes for the better. Jesus became angry with moneychangers and He drove them out of the temple. Jesus cursed a fig tree, causing it to wither. Anger channeled at people in order to get even, to seek revenge or retribution is the bad kind of anger. However, anger at a situation or at an injustice that moves us to constructive action, is the good kind of anger. What we need to ask ourselves is, how does this anger affect me and others? How we channel our anger can get us into trouble, it can lead us to sin.
The parson in The Canterbury Tales appropriately describes anger as the “Devil’s Furnace.” In vengeful anger, we put ourselves into God’s place, becoming the judge instead of leaving that to God. Paul reminds us that “… it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord” (Romans 12:19). God has given us an indescribable gift in our salvation. Through God’s grace, our scarlet sins are washed white as snow. For the most part, we Americans are skeptical about the idea of receiving something for nothing. Our inboxes are filled with offers to get free money for simply allowing some person of royal decent from another country to “transfer money” from their country into ours. I’m constantly receiving offers not only by email, but also snail mail, for free gifts simply for signing up. We’re always on guard looking for scammers and we’ve become skeptical of anything labeled “free.”
I was raised with the reminder that “there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” It’s true, everything in this life cost someone something. So we remain suspicious because of the many hoaxes we’ve seen in recent years, and the internet makes defrauding easier than ever. We’re also familiar with slogan “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” It’s become so bad that in some ways, even when a friend gives us a gift, we feel the need to reciprocate in kind. We’ve developed a tit for tat attitude that says if Mark remembers my birthday, then of course, I must remember his. But there is one free gift we can receive that really and truly is a free gift.
Justification is a free gift; a gift that we receive through faith. The words justify and justification come from the court of law. Imagine a court in which a prisoner stands before the judge for sentencing. The prisoner is guilty, of that there is no doubt, they know it and so does everyone else, including the judge. The prisoner’s only hope is to confess his guilt and ask the judge for mercy, which he does. Then the moment comes for the punishment to be announced. But instead of condemning the prisoner to death, the judge declares the guilty prisoner innocent and sets him or her free. The judge out of unmerited grace takes away the guilt. The prisoner is then “justified” or “made right” by the judge.
Forgiveness, by its very nature, is a gift. In order to need forgiveness, we must have done something wrong. We must have incurred a debt and earned a punishment. Paul explains the cost of sin in the 6th chapter of Romans; “the wages of sin is death…” (v. 23a). However, God’s grace breaks in as a free and undeserved surprise. Our sentence has been commuted. Paul continues verse 23 by saying, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Anytime we come to God with a contrite heart, we are forgiven. But the cost of that unmerited grace was high. You know it, and I know it. Death is the price for sin, this is what God’s law says. This is why Jesus had to die in our behalf.
Now when Paul refers to “the law,” he usually means the laws of Moses. In his former life as a Pharisee, Paul had been utterly devoted to keeping the law. When you and I talk about the law, we use this word in a way that includes the laws given through Moses and society’s laws. As a Christian, Paul still wants to uphold the law, but he no longer regards it as definitive for knowing what God requires. Instead, Paul contrasts the righteousness that is given through faith in Jesus Christ with what the law provides.
Paul lays out the human predicament quite clearly: We all have fallen short of the glory of God. No matter how well we abide by the rules, we miss the fullness of life if we do not accept God’s gracious unconditional love. The letter of the law is tempered by grace. And there may even be times when grace is best served by breaking a rule.
For example, Cathy came home late to dinner one evening, and her dad wanted to know why she was late. Cathy explained that her best friend, Anna, had dropped her china doll on the sidewalk and the doll had broken into several pieces. “Oh,” said her dad. “Did you stop to help her pick up the pieces?” “No,” explained Cathy. “I stopped to help her cry.” The rule about being home for dinner at six had been broken, but due to prevailing circumstances, Cathy’s offense was forgiven.
Listening to the council of the Holy Spirit, Luther reread the book of Romans with an open mind and heart, and with new-found understanding, he broke Roman Catholic church law and acted upon what he believed, and in the process, changed world history. John Wesley read Luther’s comments about the book of Romans and changed the way Protestants spread the gospel message in the Western Hemisphere. Our world is changing rapidly, and we too need to generate a reformation in our generation.
In recent years, there has been a new wave of spiritual formation in the church with a revival of long-forgotten spiritual practices. For many, small-group Bible Studies and home meetings have led to a spiritual transformation and a “re-formation.” As we mature in our faith, we discover more and more of God’s wisdom. Each of life’s circumstances opens new doors to understanding God’s work in our world. And as recipients of God’s amazing grace, we need to share that gift with those around us.
Paul reminds us and the Romans not to be “conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of your minds” (Romans 12:2). Through spiritual reformation, we are transformed to the image of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Christianity’s most basic faith practices are relevant to every person and every era. Marjorie Thompson reminds us that “Prayer, scriptural mediation, self-examination, and hospitality never go out of style.” These practices serve to move us from guilt, shame, and anger toward forgiveness and reconciliation.
We need to be part of that movement to revive, understand, experience, and embody the great practices of our faith; it’s called discipleship. In becoming faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, our lives can be strengthened and reshaped, reformed and transformed by God’s new revelation in our lives. By opening ourselves to God’s revelation to us in a new way, we can celebrate our own reformation in Christ.
A man approached heaven’s gate. St. Peter asked, “What’s the pass phrase?” The man quotes John 3:16, Peter said, “Nice try but wrong.” The man then quotes John 3:17. Peter again says, “Nice try but you’re still wrong.” The man recites the 23rd Psalm. Peter said, “Nice try but wrong.” Helplessly, the man blurted out, “Well, then, I give up!” At this St. Peter says, “That’s it!” Peter extends his hand to the man and welcomes him into heaven. All we have to do is recognize our sin, confess it to God and receive His forgiveness in faith. That’s grace. Amazing and mystifying grace.
Amen
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