A psalm of David.

1Let all that I am praise the LORD;

with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.

2Let all that I am praise the LORD;

may I never forget the good things he does for me.

3He forgives all my sins

and heals all my diseases.

4He redeems me from death

and crowns me with love and tender mercies.

5He fills my life with good things.

My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

6The LORD gives righteousness

and justice to all who are treated unfairly.

7He revealed his character to Moses

and his deeds to the people of Israel.

8The LORD is compassionate and merciful,

slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

9He will not constantly accuse us,

nor remain angry forever.

10He does not punish us for all our sins;

he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.

11For his unfailing love toward those who fear him

is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.

12He has removed our sins as far from us

as the east is from the west.

13The LORD is like a father to his children,

tender and compassionate to those who fear him.

14For he knows how weak we are;

he remembers we are only dust.

15Our days on earth are like grass;

like wildflowers, we bloom and die.

16The wind blows, and we are gone—

as though we had never been here.

17But the love of the LORD remains forever

with those who fear him.

His salvation extends to the children’s children

18of those who are faithful to his covenant,

of those who obey his commandments!

19The LORD has made the heavens his throne;

from there he rules over everything.

20Praise the LORD, you angels,

you mighty ones who carry out his plans,

listening for each of his commands.

21Yes, praise the LORD, you armies of angels

who serve him and do his will!

22Praise the LORD, everything he has created,

everything in all his kingdom.

Let all that I am praise the LORD.

A lot of thought goes into desserts in the wintertime. In our country, we begin at Halloween with candy, gear up with pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving , and are in full swing with assortments of desserts – both candy canes and cookies for Santa at Christmastime. It doesn’t stop there though. Once New Year’s rolls around, many people make decisions to lose some of that weight they gained during the holiday festivities – so they are still thinking about desserts… either the lack of them in their lives, or how to make them with less fat and sugar. Then of course, there is the growing number of people in our country suffering from diabetes that need to regulate their sugar intake, so they always have to be thoughtful about their desserts.

We pass along recipes for that certain kind of cake or pie that’s just how Mom used to make, or perhaps something new we happened across that turned out well. Rarely have I heard someone asked how they made that special batch of mashed potatoes or green bean casserole. We either work through the regular meal to save the best for last (dessert) or, as some are prone to do, eat their dessert first. Either way, it tends to be something we actively work towards, or intentionally avoid.

You can perhaps imagine how confused I was the first time I heard the phrase “just deserts”, as in “he got his just deserts” – for although spelled like the vast, sandy patch of land, it is pronounced as the sweets we know and love. Yet, the actual meaning of the phrase “just deserts” implies judgment and consequences that fall upon us, perhaps for good, but most often for ill. The closest parallel I can relate is the threat parents make to their children, that if they do not eat their vegetables, there will be no dessert for them. Even this is not quite accurate though. The phrase comes from the word “deserve”. To get your just deserts is to get what you deserve.

I suspect we keep a special focus in our lives on what we deserve, just as much, if not more so, than our thoughts spent on dessert. It drives our work, play, relationships, and expectations of the world around us. It helps us look out for the needs of those around us. It helps us advocate for those who suffer injustices. It can also be a trap. Seeking our just deserts can draw us in and keep us so focused on what we have earned that we forget all about the blessings God gives us that we have not earned.

Read verses 8-10 of this psalm again. The Lord is merciful, slow to anger, full of compassion and unfailing love. He does not remain angry forever or constantly accuse us. He does not punish us for all our sin. In other words, with God, we never get our “just deserts”. Thank goodness for that. I know for every time I have done something good, there have probably been a dozen times in my life I have acted selfishly. For every generous gift I have given, I have likely spent ten times that amount chasing after foolish and vain things that did not bring God glory. Perhaps I could think of all the bad things that I could have done with my life, but have chosen not to… and yet, how often have my life choices been guided by the blessing of loving family members, friends who pray for me daily, and church congregations that have walked beside me through good times and bad. All too often, it seems to me that the little bit of good I can do in this world, I am only able to do, because of God’s blessing and grace in my life. Therefore, I choose to be thankful for God’s goodness, rather than fighting for acknowledgment of my own.

Tonight, we begin a look at the mass – perhaps the basis of Christian worship, and the story told through its movements. We begin entering God’s presence with a reminder of our baptism and the Kyrie on our lips. We do not come to God with bags of gold or incense, money or even promises. We come humbly into His presence crying out again for the mercy to even be in God’s presence. Thanks be to God who is full of that very mercy, and let all that I am praise the LORD.

I’ve been reading through the book of Exodus this past week and it struck me how many times Moses must have felt like a failure in his life. After his miraculous rescue at birth and the opportunity to be raised in the palace of the ruler of Egypt – then one of the most powerful nations in the world – he lost it all helping out a Hebrew slave when he killed the Egyptian guard beating him. So he failed at a life of luxury. He then fled into the wilderness and became a wandering shepherd, and this is the point where he seems to have experienced the most success in life. He made friends with some shepherds in Midian, helping them to water their flocks, and was married to Zipporah, one of the daughters of Jethro as an act of gratitude. This would be a great Rags-to-Riches-to-Rags story if we ended it right there. We might even be able to pick up some lessons in finding comfort and satisfaction in the small things in life rather than always chasing after the bigger and better. You could even say there is a lesson in there about using your head when potentially getting mixed up in other people’s business because sometimes you end up with a new family and great appreciation, and sometimes you end up with a warrant for your arrest and execution. We could end the book of Exodus right there in chapter 2 and be done with it.

God however, was not done with it. Moses first approached the Spirit of God, present in the burning bush on Mt. Horeb one afternoon, long after he had come to terms with his new life as a wilderness shepherd among the Midianites. God explained to him that there was a divine plan to free the Hebrew slaves from their bondage in Egypt and that he, Moses, had a leading role in the coming drama. Yes, drama really was the appropriate word. Now, I don’t know if Moses was listening carefully or not because when God says, one the one hand, “they will listen to your voice…” but then on the other hand, “Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt will all the wonders I will do in it; after that he will let you go.” Not just one or two wonders. All the wonders. What happens when he does let us go… will it just be that simple, we walk away, no questions asked? This is about the time that Moses starts having second, third, and fourth thoughts and even develops a stutter. Sounds like a job for… someone else. I’ve made my peace with the world and plan on dying a simple shepherd out here in the wilderness. Those Hebrew people didn’t want my help the first time and they certainly won’t want it now. And perhaps, in the back of his mind, God, this plan does not sound very well thought out. Not only are You saying that Pharaoh might not be impressed with sticks turning to snakes, but You are actually saying that You know it won’t work. God, if You want Your people out of Egypt so badly, why don’t You go to Pharaoh Yourself. (Of course you’d never actually say that to God.)

It didn’t stop there either. The first two rules God gave were to love and worship Him alone and not to make idols. Guess what the Hebrew people were doing when Moses came down the mountain with those laws God wrote on stone tablets. Could they have failed any worse? Several weeks later they made it to the Promised Land, but Moses couldn’t convince the people to actually step foot in it because they were afraid of the Canaanites who lived there. So Moses got to wander the wilderness with them for 40 years. Moses went through all of this… over 40 years of failed attempts to simply lead a group of people from one place to another and follow a few simple rules. And he failed. For forty years. Wow. He did not even get to set foot in the Promised Land himself, but died on the mountaintop that overlooked the place to which he spent most of his life trying to bring his people.

So why does Moses get such fame in the Bible, both Old and New Testament? I don’t know. Maybe Moses wonders about that himself. Some people have said that the destination is not as important as the journey, and there may be times where that is true… but as for me, I’d like to know that I at least ended up in the right place. I mean, in all fairness, those Hebrew people were giving up everything they had ever known and trusting that Moses (and God) were going to be good to their word, even if the people themselves were not always themselves. I don’t think they were willing to pull up roots and leave just to be remembered as the world’s most famous homeless people or for the sake of “the journey”. There were probably shorter and nicer trips they could have taken than the 40 year trek round and round the Sinai desert. So again, it begs the question: Why, God, would you call Moses to go through with all of this when You know very well that this expedition had its hitches from day one?

And why do You let us go through failure as well?

The first time I remember wondering this was the day I was rejected from joining the army. I was 17 and planned on joining the Army band, not out of patriotism or even looking for career security, but because I felt God calling me to do that, which surprised most of my friends and family at the time. I got to the audition and bombed it. They wanted me to play jazz improve and I’d never done anything like that before in my life. Then, very frustrated, I decided I would enlist as infantry or whatever was available and try to re-audition later and was rejected for health reasons because I wouldn’t lie on my medical history papers and I strongly felt God calling me to be honest and truthful. It wasn’t 40 years, but it was several weeks worth of leaving my old life behind and putting myself in places I never dreamed I would ever go, simply because God asked… and the end result was… nothing. A rejection. Back to square one. Why did God lead me on?

I don’t have a definitive answer either for Moses or myself. I do believe that God works out all the messy details of our life for good somehow in the end, even when we can’t see it – but I do not think that is really an answer to why God lets us see failure, even seems to call us into it sometimes. I know that the world teaches us that if we encounter failure, we were probably mistaken – that perhaps we weren’t following God after all, but I do not think that success = faithfulness. Indeed, I have seen, and experienced, God working “success” in ministry despite the failures in my own faithfulness and that of others leading ministries. Not ideal, but God is big enough to work through all of the mess that we bring with us sometimes. I don’t have a perfect Scripture that explains why God would call us into failure, but I know the story of Jesus. God, in the flesh, who had the opportunity and the power to change the way the entire world worshipped, to bring people back to relationship with Him in a profound way. But he chose the cross instead of the crown – the ultimate symbol of failure, rejection instead of reign. For Jesus, his 33 year journey in this world was important, but his destination was even more important. It just happened to be two sides of the cross… and as much as we glory in the resurrection, it doesn’t change the fact that he did not kick Rome out of Israel. In fact, Israel fell just a few decades after His own death. God, apparently, had other things in mind.

The Church however, was born out of that failure, and the realization that God had other things in mind. I’m not sure Peter would have been as great a preacher or as strong and faithful a leader, had he not known what it was like to doubt, to turn tail and betray his Lord and Savior. Would they have grasped near the depth of God’s grace had they not needed it so much themselves? Perhaps not. Would Paul the Apostle have been such a fervent evangelist and advocate for the Gentiles had he not fallen so far from God’s intention in giving Israel the law? I doubt it. Sometimes it’s not just the journey, but the failure itself that changes us and brings us closer to the people God wants us to be.

As for me and my short excursion in the Army, I still do not understand all of it. Some days I think back and wonder if life would have been much simpler if I would have pushed forward on my own and made that experience successful rather than listening to God and following Him into failure. Other days, I’m grateful it didn’t work out the way I was expecting. In response to my questions to God about that failed experience, He has only told me one thing. He led me through it so that I could look back and see that I had done it. Yes I had failed, but I had followed Him the whole way. Through thick and through thin, the good times and the bad, even when I was so far out of my comfort zone and natural element that I didn’t know what or how to think… still I followed Him… and if I followed Him through complete and utter failure, how hard would it be to follow Him to victory?

Blessings

1 The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:

    ²     To know wisdom and instruction,

to understand words of insight,

    ³     to receive instruction in wise dealing,

in righteousness, justice, and equity;

    ⁴     to give prudence to the simple,

knowledge and discretion to the youth—

    ⁵     Let the wise hear and increase in learning,

and the one who understands obtain guidance,

    ⁶     to understand a proverb and a saying,

the words of the wise and their riddles.

    ⁷     The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

fools despise wisdom and instruction.

“Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn. My God do you learn.” – C.S. Lewis

There is something in me that, from time to time, yells and screams, stamps its feet, jumps up and down, and creates a general ruckus until it gets its own way. Usually, the way that it, and I desire, is not a good way, or at least, not the best way. It, and I do not care though. It may not be the best way, but it is my way – and we want it. The Bible calls that thing in me sin, and when I identify with it – moving from it, to we, to I… I become a sinner. A sinner need not be a horrible person. A sinner is just someone who advocates for the interests of sin.

God does not want us to sin – in part because sin is offensive to God, and also because God loves us and wants the best for us. Sin, on the other hand, has no care for us and knows that the consequence of the road it walks is death and destruction. There is no love in sin.

This is the backdrop, the thing going on behind the scenes when we talk about wisdom. You see, the Bible tells us that the beginning of wisdom and knowledge is “the fear of the LORD”. However you choose to translate “fear” in that statement, it means you take what God says seriously and it has a strong bearing on your actions. However, how many times have you heard people around you (maybe me), or perhaps even yourself saying, “I’m the type of person that just seems to have to learn things the hard way.”? Or perhaps you told someone else, “Some things you just have to learn through experience.” I remember hearing a comedian talk about wisdom once and comment that there were some things he really did not need to learn through experience. For example: how it feels being run over by a steamroller. I think I’ll pass and take someone else’s word for it that it hurts. A lot.

Sure, we can laugh at that, but what about all those other things that we have been told absolutely everyone should experience at least once? In retrospect, how many of those things were told to us by people who had bad experiences themselves and perhaps just wanted to share the misery, so they would not feel like the only foolish people for doing it. Certainly, Lewis is right in that we seem to learn so much more concretely from our mistakes than from lessons we learn from the teachings of others… however, the Bible clearly tells us that it is the way of the fool to learn everything that way and the way of the wise to learn from instruction, and in particular, to learn from the instruction of God. How do we learn from God? Consider the writing of James:

⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

James tells us that if we want wisdom from God, all we have to do is ask. We have to ask seriously, not jokingly, or with no real intent on actually listening to God… but if we ask earnestly, James says, God will give us wisdom generously and without reproach (meaning He will not make fun of us either for asking). Apparently God does not believe there are any stupid questions… just stupid actions, usually resulting from not listening to Him.

Consider then, the Price of Wisdom. The street value for it is pain, and often irrevocable and devastating consequences. That’s what it costs to get wisdom out on your own. But today, just for you, you can receive it at no cost to yourself or your friends and family, because the Price of Wisdom for you has been paid for by the Prince of Heaven. The sacrifice of Jesus gives you access to God Almighty, maker of Heaven and Earth, and you better believe it, the Wisest, Smartest, and most Generous being in the entire universe… the one source that will never, ever lead you wrong. All you have to do to gain this wisdom is say no to sin and yes to God.

Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.  With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you;  but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.  For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.

 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.  Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.  Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.  As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:  whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. – 1Peter 4:1-11 (ESV)

One of the things I love about the Scriptures and the Gospels in particular is that people are usually portrayed as just that: people. There are miracles and wonders that occur throughout many books and many of these have become some of our most beloved stories. But the people to whom, and through whom these miracles are accomplished are usually shown as having good days as well as bad days, just like you and I. The Gospel of Matthew, for example, which spends the majority of its chapters portraying Jesus as the Teacher and True Interpreter of the Law of Moses – ending with His resurrection and commanding His disciples to pass on that teaching to the rest of the world… this same Gospel writer also states that “when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted.” Even those who had been with Jesus in the flesh for several years did not have it all together.

There are many models of ministry out there today – particularly of what it means to be the Church, and a church in the world. Some have viewed the church as a pulpit and altar, where the Word of God is to be proclaimed and commitments offered up to Him for salvation. These traditions emphasize the “go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…” aspect of the last command of Jesus. Coming from another direction, others have viewed the Church as a schoolhouse, where we are to be trained in holiness and the way to live as Christians. These churches emphasize the “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…” aspect of the Great Commission. Still others view the Church as a hospital where those who seek healing from the brokenness in their lives can come and be made whole. In our study with Koinonia, we have come to look at the Church primarily from the model of a Family – God’s own adopted family in this world. It’s important to remember that all of these images: altar, school, hospital, family… are just that – images. They are our way of using things we know to describe things bigger than all of us. Therefore, instead of getting into arguments about which is the best model, we need to look at the deeper question they all seek to address. Is the Church a place for sinners or saints? In other words, is the Church a place you go when you are not quite right and want to change, want to turn back to God? Or is it a place where you come to spend time with God in praise and thanksgiving, learning to be more holy – more like Him? According to Scripture, the answer is: Yes!

The Bible in general and Jesus in particular never presents the Church as a place for sinners or saints. It is not an either/or choice. It is both at once. It is a place for people to connect with God from wherever they are as God’s grace falls upon them in accordance with His love for us. Why then, do we continue to struggle in our congregations with how do preach, how to teach, how to welcome people when they visit our church – on the basis of how Christian they seem to be? Does it matter if the people in our congregation have been in church for 50 years or only 5? Does it make a difference if we are teaching people who have degrees in Bible and Theology or others who have only heard God’s name used as a swear word? Yes, in getting down to the nitty gritty details, these issues do matter, but we cannot lose sight of what the real purpose of being a church, of being The Church: Koinonia – the vessel of holy community that brings Christ Himself to the world. It doesn’t matter how deep the theology is that you are teaching, if the Spirit of Jesus is not present it is just empty philosophy… ideas without the transforming power of God. If our preaching gets everyone excited but lacks the Spirit of Jesus, it’s just an emotional ride without support to carry you through the rest of the week. And if we try to do ministry alone, cutting ourselves off from the Body and the Spirit of Christ that flows through it, we will wither and die in our ministry. God may call us to get alone with Him sometimes, but He does call us to serve alone. You see, people do not need sermons to get to heaven or to grow in the Grace of God. They do not need bible studies or to learn certain kinds of teaching. They need Jesus Christ to connect them with God Himself and the Koinonia community to lift them up to Him.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

“Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!  And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire.  And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven – Matthew 18:1-11 (ESV)

Sometimes it surprises me how often the teachings of Jesus and the early church are compared to socialism, especially in light of the fact that the Jewish law demands that the poor and the foreigner among us be shown at least basic hospitality. In other words, I do not believe Jesus was being especially innovative with the kind of economic lifestyle he asked from most of his followers… (more on this next week). However, one thing Jesus was especially innovative in was his teachings and actions regarding children, something I do not believe I have seen a facebook status or email forward about in many years. What does that say about us? Does that show us as caring more about taxes, about our money, than our children? Does it mean that we find Christian teachings about how we use our money more controversial or harder to accept than the teachings about children? Maybe we think we live in a society that so embodies Jesus’ view on children that we don’t really have to think about it at all.

I believe that, although we may feel that we live in a society that places a high value on children, or that at least we ourselves do, we are often mistaken. Before I go any further I should clarify, for those of you who do not know me personally: I have no children of my own and my primary interaction with children is from a teacher or pastor role. While I have not had the experience of actually raising children and caring for them day to day, I have seen the extremes that come out teaching in Junior High classrooms at school or leading youth lock-ins at church. I may not have seen all of it, but I have seen enough to not be entirely naïve or ignorant of the challenge of raising children.

It is true – raising children is no walk in the park. They push our boundaries, try our patience, break our hearts… it is most certainly a challenge. But it is a challenge that Jesus specifically calls us to meet as the Church. When mothers brought their infants to Him, to bless, the disciples began to turn them away supposing that this was far beneath Jesus. He was changing the world with His teaching and could have much more impact on a community speaking with the leaders of the people, or at least people who could understand and apply His teaching. These infants could not understand any part of the Sermon on the Mount… they had not learned to talk yet. Jesus thought differently. Jesus had taught, in the Sermon on the Mount, that the Kingdom of God belonged to these children: the Meek, the Poor in Spirit – and he reiterated again to the disciples. The Kingdom of heaven belongs to these little ones.

Earlier, when asked who the greatest in the Kingdom was, Jesus had called a young child to Him and put him among the disciples saying, “unless you become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” This even stronger statement was followed by the lesson that, not only does the kingdom belong to children, but woe to anyone who should cause one of those children to stumble, for “they always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” Not only are children to be valued, they are to be nurtured and protected as well. Nowhere else do we see Jesus take such strong words and severe warnings. The disciples are never given such dire consequences if they don’t pay their tithes or fail to give enough money to the poor. There were no extreme measures taken when they couldn’t seem to stay awake long enough to pray for Jesus on the night He was betrayed, arrested, and eventually crucified. There was no punishment for the way they abandoned Him or denied Him… but don’t you mess with His kids, for He is the Good Shepherd that watches over and protects them.

Now, thus far, most of us probably are in full agreement with Jesus. Typically, we in the church today rationalize God’s love of children by saying that they are our future (i.e. a means to an end) the continuation of all that we work to maintain. While this may, or may not be true from a practical standpoint, God does not love kids just because He thinks there would be no church 50 years from now without them. He does not value them, or anyone else, for what He can get out of them, and neither should we. He loves them because He made each one of them and they are His.

It is the implications of this love that can be troubling for us. Certainly we would claim that we want the best for our children, but does that include bringing them to God, to opportunities for them to learn about, experience, and worship God? Are we so willing to bring them when we are struggling with God ourselves and do not feel like going ourselves? How do we deal with the world that tells us we should let children choose for themselves and Jesus command not to be a stumbling-block to them and their faith? What about when we take them to church where they learn about God and the life He has for us, but we do not demonstrate that life and love at home… are we causing them to stumble then? Oh this becomes a much more troubling teaching and our job so much more challenging. It means we have to actually live as a Christian witness 24/7 365 days a year, not just whenever we are ready to share our faith. This then is the really difficult part. Jesus gave this teaching to his disciples, who were not holding back their own children, but the children of strangers in the villages Jesus had visited. So our responsibility to show children God’s love is not just for parents who have children of their own, but to each and every one of us… to be shown to all children, everywhere. We are not to be stumbling-blocks for the faith of our neighbor’s children, who may not have anything to do with church at all. Each one of us, who holds the Holy Spirit within us, the Spirit of Christ is called to share that with all the children who cross our paths. You see, as important as Sunday School and Children’s Church programs are, God’s love for children extends far outside the walls of our church buildings. We are all called to share God’s love with the children in this world He loves so dearly.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.  All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. – 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 (ESV)

Christian life might be simpler if we stopped at forgiveness. If the end of our purpose in life was to accept the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as atonement for our sin there would be a lot less to learn about and grow into as a Christian. The Gospel does not end there though. Not only does God forgive our sin and free us from that guilt, He sends His Holy Spirit to dwell within us as we dwell in Him – both to protect us from the further influence of sin, but also to empower us to be a force, His force for good in this world. We come to Jesus as broken vessels, but through the power of His Holy Spirit, He transforms us into fountains of grace to be shared all around us.

The first Christians were very excited about this. Consider the 3,000+ people who gave their lives to Christ after seeing the apostles preach in tongues on Pentecost. Remember the 2,000 more that were converted the next day when Peter and John healed a lame man by the gate. All the fears and disappointments that had built up in the lives of these people (many of them Jewish immigrants living in foreign countries) were suddenly flying away in the wind of the Spirit that was moving through Jerusalem and then the Roman Empire. New fears might resurface in time, but for the moment God’s people were amazed by the new life and new power they were experiencing.

Paul reminds the Church to “consider the source” of this new power and these new experiences. While it is very appropriate to celebrate the grace of God in our lives, it is quite another to turn the focus upon ourselves, celebrating what we can do. Notice the difference between the instructions given to the churches in Rome versus the churches in Corinth. The Roman church was exhorted that everyone has something to share, as given to them by the Holy Spirit. In a city where Jews were considered vagrant minorities, inferior to the Roman citizens, Paul reminds them that through the work of the Holy Spirit we are “one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” He levels the social hierarchy that the church may have been importing from the culture around them, letting them know that each person, regardless of their social standing, has an important gift to bring to the Body. He reminded them that each person, no matter how important the world deemed them, played a vital role to the life and work of the Body of Christ.

Corinth, on the other hand, had more social diversity both in the present, and within its heritage. Being more of a merchant city than a political center, a person could gain as much influence with unique skills or commodities as they may have been able to obtain through political status. The church in Corinth knew they all had gifts. Their problem appears to have stemmed from competition developing between believers regarding whose gift was more publicly impressive. Paul reminds the Corinthians that all of the gifts come from the Holy Spirit, whether it is prophetic knowledge, miracle healing, or even simple faith in the face of adversity. Regardless of how flashy a person’s gift looks, they are all from the Holy Spirit, and they are all given for God’s purposes, not our own ambitions.

Paul tells both churches that every individual member is indispensible to the Body of Christ – not because of what they can or cannot do, but because they were created, redeemed, and chosen by God to show and share His grace with the world. He calls us to lift our gaze above ourselves and see that all of these gifts, including our own, belong to the whole Body. All of it belongs to us, because we belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God – as Paul wrote to the Corinthians (Chapter 3).

What a powerful and important truth for us to live today! In the Church today that so often vacillates between the Romans who may have reserved spiritual gifts for the “spiritual elite” and the Corinthians may have sought to use spiritual gifts for their own popularity and ambitions, let us remember that all of these gifts belong to us all as the Body and that we as individuals are not measured by the gift we have from God, but what we do with it. We are important, not because of what we have, but because God has chosen to “have” us.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:19-20 ESV

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. – 2 Peter 1:3-11 ESV

Education can be an intimidating word for many of us. Some of us feel limited academically and choose to stay close to what we are most familiar when discussing opinions (ex. Politics, Football, Survivor and American Idol…). Others (and I would include myself in this group) have spent quite a few years in school and still have nightmares about showing up to finals in college physics – completely unprepared and unable to even understand the questions on the test, let alone answer them. There may even be some of you who very much value education and simply wish you had the time or money to pursue more of it. Regardless of where you fit into the spectrum, mentioning the word “education” often has the effect of isolating us from one another as we mentally divide one another into those that have it, those that don’t – those that need it, and those we think could not handle it.

In Church, in Koinonia however, we have a command to be educated in the worship and way of God. Many, many institutions of Christian education point out the Scripture Luke 2:52 as an example of Jesus becoming educated himself as He grew from childhood to adulthood. They point out that, because Jesus did it, therefore we should as well. However, it can be dangerous to simply turn Jesus’ example into a direct command in our lives. For instance, Jesus spent his last few years homeless… should we all therefore give up our homes and wander from town to town? Jesus never married… should we all be single? No, Luke 2:52 does not translate well into a command in our lives, but it can stand for a commendation for education. In other words, Education generally is a good thing.

Part of the reason institutions of religious education feel the need to defend education of the Church, is that, for many years there has been a suspicion that the more a person was educated, the less faith they had. This fear has been reinforced over the years by young people who have been raised in Christian families with traditional Christian values who go away to college and several years later renounce their faith in Christianity because of what they learned, because of questions that were raised for them in college. Thus arose the need for “Christian” colleges – places of education that emphasized Scriptural truths and taught their students to combat the questions raised by “secular” educational institutions. The result is a war for truth between colleges, which is ironic because most of the large “secular” universities started out as Christian universities – often for training pastors.

There are distinctions in churches as well, regarding the value of education. Most churches would prefer to have pastors, teachers, and other leaders whom they consider intelligent and knowledgeable – particularly regarding God and the Scriptures, but many have preferences as to what kind of education they want them to have: Catholic, Protestant, Liberal, Conservative, etc. In other words, they have an idea of what the answers to their questions are and they want to be sure their leaders stay in line with those answers. Certainly there is room for opinion and flexibility in most cases, but there are usually set boundaries as well. If this seems a bit too complicated and a bit overwhelming, don’t worry, you are in good company. The Early Church for instance had nearly as many different types of leaders as we do today. They had Peter and John, who were described as illiterate, and yet who brought thousands to Christ, wrote parts of the New Testament, and they are traditionally viewed as the top of the church leadership ladder, just under Jesus Himself. However there was also Paul, who had something like a law and theology degree by today’s standards. Paul himself started or brought important teaching and leadership to many of the churches in the first century and he wrote more of the New Testament than any other individual and more than Peter and John combined. So which is better leadership: the educated or those who have to rely more on their faith and the power of the Spirit? The Early Church and particularly the churches in Corinth argued about this quite a bit so that Paul had to remind them that they were losing sight of the big picture: namely that Jesus Christ was the head of the Church – not Peter, Paul, Mary, John, or anyone else.

Looking across the scriptural canon, I believe we are first commanded to be good stewards of the gifts we have been given by God and the opportunities we have. While I do not believe more education automatically means you are a better Christian, squandering an opportunity for education will certainly not make you a better follower of Jesus. I really like what 2 Peter says about taking the faith you have and adding virtue, then adding knowledge to that, and then self-control… followed by steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and finally culminating in love. In other words, our spiritual growth begins in faith and ends in love – neither of which absolutely require a special degree in education, but knowledge is a part of that process – in whatever form our knowledge of God is given to us. Peter and John for example got much of their education from apprenticing themselves to Jesus when He walked the earth. That is likely where they learned to preach, teach, pray, heal, and minister. Jesus was their model, He critiqued their work, and He encouraged them in their pursuit of God in their lives. Paul did not have the luxury of three years working beside Jesus, but He had 20 some years studying the history of God’s will and work in Creation with his own teachers. He also learned the culture and laws of Rome so that he was more prepared to bring the Gospel to those who did not grow up Jewish and to help interpret what aspects of Jewish culture were necessary to hold on to in Christianity, as well as which ones were better left behind.

So, education is important… how much or of what type you have is a bit more flexible. We need to first focus on what we have rather than concern ourselves overmuch about opportunities that we do not have at present. Secondly though, we need to teach what we do know. Jesus commands all of us, not just pastors, priests, or paid staff of churches to go and make disciples in the world. Making disciples involves teaching. It means more than that as well… it means praying for them, loving them, supporting them when they are in need… but it also means teaching them what you know about following Jesus. Perhaps you can’t quite figure out how to explain the significance of Song of Solomon in the Bible, or perhaps you are not well-versed in the history of God’s work in the church through the last two millennia… could you teach someone how to pray though? Could you teach someone what to do when the stress of the world seems overwhelming? Could you teach someone just a piece of how you know God loves you, and how you know God loves them as well? Those are essential pieces of Christian education that ought to be found, not only in every church in the world, but wherever you can find a Christian to pull aside and ask for direction. God does not ask us all to be bible scholars or graduate-level theologians. He asks us to be good stewards of the gifts and opportunities He has given us, and to share them – to share what we know, with the rest of the world that is dying to learn it.

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. – John 4:24

Pilate said, “So you are a king?”   Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.” ”What is truth?” Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime.” – John 18:37-38

Some scholars have compared our post-modern societal trends with the pluralistic culture of the first few centuries A.D., particularly in the Roman Empire. They have shown that in both cultures their exists an relative acceptance of conflicting religious views and a general doubt about what is true and whether we can actually be sure of anything. Now, before I turn you off with something that sounds like dry, academic philosophy, let me make another comparison here. Rome created one of the first world markets and, had they been able to cross the Himalayas or spent more time crossing the Atlantic, they have become a truly global empire. They went out not just as conquerors, but with the intention of sharing their technology with the rest of the “backwater” nations of the world, and left the legacy of paved roads all through Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Northern Africa. In Rome, you were free to worship any way you wanted – provided you were patriotic and worshipped the Emperor first. Caesar was not a jealous god, he just wanted his dues. The Christians who were persecuted in Rome (as opposed to those persecuted by Jews in Jerusalem) were not charged with telling others about non-Roman gods. They were charged with telling others that Caesar and the Roman deities were not gods. From the height of this glory, Rome fell to rubble, much as Jerusalem had many years before it. The Goths from northern Europe burnt it to the ground, yet the fires started within the Roman people, the Roman leaders themselves. Their influence remains today, not for the city itself (which was reborn under Christian leadership), but largely due to their widespread cultural influence.

In this context, both then and now in our world today it seems, the word “worship” becomes emphasized, its importance emphasized over words like “faith”, “doctrine”, “creeds”, and so forth. This means we tend to pick our churches based on whether their worship elements live up to our expectations more than if we buy into their specific theology or religious beliefs. Whether or not, you think that is a good or bad thing, that is the hand we have been dealt and the reality in which we live. Therefore, the question of worship – and specifically how to worship “in spirit and truth” becomes all the more important to us today.

What is worship? Well, we can break it down into a list of activities that are generally accepted as being a part of worship:

• Singing or playing music, especially music that is related to God or spiritual themes
  
• Praying to God: for ourselves and/or for others
  
• Reading scripture
  
• Preaching or listening to preaching
  
• Spending time in silence and reflection
  
• Giving a material offering
  
• Celebrating the sacraments (particularly baptism and the Lord’s Supper)
  

Besides these generally accept elements, we may also participate in:

• Prophesying
  
• Speaking in tongues
  
• Dancing
  
• Shaking
  
• Shouting
  
• Laughing
  
• Crying
  
• Kneeling
  
• Rolling on the floor
  
• Anointing with oil
  
• Picking up snakes
  
• Burning incense
  
• Asking for spiritual commitments
  

You may laugh at some of these, but all of them have at least a slight basis in Scripture, even if they are only accepted in a very few churches. They also represent a wide variety of worship styles, so that I doubt there is any one particular church that uses all of these elements. Last week in church, I shared that true worship comes in Koinonia, in the spirit of unity as Jesus draws us up to God, and that this is God’s gift to us, not something we do to earn points with our Heavenly Father. That unity, and the true worship that follows does not come by all of us agreeing with one another about everything either, but by a willingness to set our own prejudices, opinions, and agendas (wonderful though they may be) aside and let Jesus lead us (not just me). As He draws us up to God, worship becomes as natural as breathing.

Using Christ-centeredness, or God-centeredness with God as Trinity, which of the activities then are involved in “worship in spirit and truth”? My gut tells me music, especially singing (don’t all worship services involve music?)… and prayer because worshipping God surely means communicating with Him, and probably Scripture reading and preaching if at all possible – because you can’t go wrong bringing in the Bible, right? Let’s pause just a moment though and try leading with our head instead of our gut… or better yet, let’s let God lead, looking at the Scriptures where He spoke about worship.

I realize that there are a lot of ideas about how worship in the Early Church was done, or even during the time that Jesus came in the flesh. However, the history of worship does not begin there, it begins in the Old Testament. When you go back to Genesis, you find worship of God done by creating altars out of uncut stone and offering up animal sacrifices. Prayers of promise and commitment were prayed as well. This worship act however, was not typically one done once per week, but, following the Scripture, seems to be done on an as-needed basis. Much of these acts were probably similar to the way pagan gods were worshipped during the time as well. However, before you throw animal sacrifice out the window entirely, remember that, on Mt. Sinai, it was God who specifically laid out the worship calendar for the Jews and who included animal sacrifices as an integral part of that service. Remember also, that God would not accept just any animal you happen to find on the road on the way to the temple or Tabernacle, but He specifically demanded offerings from the worshipper’s own livestock. Again, prayers were prayed, in some cases music may have even been involved, but not always. The sacrificial offering was the central, and perhaps most important part of Old Testament worship.

As the Early Church began to grow and hold their own worship services, they also incorporated customs from the various areas they were in, including Jerusalem, Samaria, as well as parts of modern day Turkey, India, Ethiopia, Greece, and Italy. However, Acts tells us that the common link between all these varied congregations with varied worship styles was prayer and celebrating the Lord’s supper. Before, the debates arise as to whether you use real wine or juice, or what kind of bread… let us remember that the Lord’s Supper, as first celebrated by Jesus, was a Passover meal – remembering the lamb that was slain so that death would “pass over” the Israelite slaves in Egypt as the nation was judged for their sin. Jesus, in saying “this is my body…” shows them that He is the Passover lamb that is slain so that our sins will be “passed over” or forgiven. So, here again, we have a sacrifice as the central part of worship.

The sacrifice Jesus made for the forgiveness of our sin is hard to conceptually move from 2000 years ago to today, since it was on the cross that the sacrifice was made, not in our church every Sunday mornings, and the Letter to the Hebrews tells us so reminding us that Jesus’ death covers all sin, not just the sin of people of His day, for as death came through one man (Adam) so shall sin be redeemed by one (Jesus). Leviticus helps us out a bit further. If you look closely at the sacrifices offered to God in Leviticus, each has its own particular purpose. One is for healing, one is for thanks, one is for forgiveness… but they all have a similar pattern. The worshipper almost always has to bring 2 separate sacrifices, regardless of the reason. The first sacrifice purifies the worshipper, allowing them access to the Holiness of God’s presence. The second offering is what they bring as their act of worship to the presence of God. Often, the first sacrifice is made at the Temple/Tabernacle door, and the second one is brought inside to the altar. Again Hebrews, and the Letter to the Romans as well, show us that Jesus is that first sacrifice for us, giving us entry into God’s presence by cleansing us from sin and giving us His own righteousness. But once we get there, what do we bring to the altar?

Look at what Paul writes in Romans 12:

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice–the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” – Romans 12:1 NLT

We are to bring our bodies, and I would suggest our lives themselves as an offering of worship to God. We truly worship God, not through music, prayer, even sacramental rituals (though these all have their place as well). We truly worship God by bringing ourselves and giving ourselves to Him. Now some may try to turn this around and say, yes, I completely agree… and that is why we should play Amazing Grace for every worship service, because I can only completely give myself to God when I’m singing that song – particularly when it’s being played on bagpipes. Let me remind the picky parishioner about where we are when we worship though. Because Christ gave his life as the first sacrifice for us, we are in God’s presence and when the Lord, upon His throne, looks upon us from heaven and asks you what you bring to Him as your act of worship… will you really make excuses and tell God the setting wasn’t quite right for you to “get into” worshipping Him. Even if the person on your right stands up and starts speaking in a strange language and the person on your left starts rolling on the floor… it is not our place to make excuses to God about why we refuse to bring anything, or particularly to bring ourselves (for that is what He truly desires) to the altar as a living sacrifice and as true worship. Worship is not a response to the music, preaching, prayers, or any other piece of the worship service. Worship is, at its core, a response to God’s love for us.

God loves you. What are you going to do about it?

“If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave, assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free; but he shall bring his compensation to the Lord, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering.  And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven for the sin that he has committed.

“When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten.  And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord.  But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the Lord your God.

“You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it.  You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes.  You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.  You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.

“Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity.  You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

“Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.

“You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.

“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.  You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

“You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity.  You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.  And you shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the Lord.”

• Leviticus 19:19-36
  

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other,  to keep you from doing the things you want to do.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

• Galatians 5:16-24
  

I don’t like needles. I know they help save lives in hospitals and doctor’s offices, but I would just as well avoid them if at all possible. I also do not particularly like pain. These things inform my reading of Scripture, so when I come across verses in the Old Testament like Leviticus 19:28 that says, “do not mark your bodies with cuts for the dead or tattoos”, you won’t get any argument from me. However, my understanding God’s Word is rarely most accurate when it is fueled by fear or predispositions. This particular verse is set in the middle of a chapter dealing with instructions on holy living for the Israelites as they set out to start a new community, a new Koinonia, as God’s people. Right along with this rule against tattoos are a series of others – some which I also have no objection, such as no eating blood, and others that do not seem quite as important. The forbidden fruit, for instance…

According to the law of Leviticus, if you plant a fruit tree, you are forbidden to eat its fruit until 3 years have passed, and in the fourth year, before we eat the fruit, we offer it all up as an offering to God. Only after 5 years is it permissible to eat that fruit. Now Bekah and I have not planted any fruit trees, but we did plant a small garden patch this year: tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkin, and strawberries, and we have no intention of waiting 5 years before enjoying the fruit of that labor. Now, I realize that, with trees, it makes sense to let them grow for awhile before harvesting them as opposed to garden vegetables, but then, vegetables are not really mentioned – which leaves us with a couple choices. Either we can assume that garden vegetables are fine since there is no Scripture regarding them, or we can choose to play it safe and wait 5 years before enjoying our garden.

What about verse 27 that tells us not to “round off the hair on our temples” or trim the edges of our beards? I am pretty sure this would at least put most guys I know in trouble – the same kind of trouble as the tattoo taboo mind you. Perhaps I need to choose my next barber with a bit more care than I have in the past. When confronted with laws like these, that go against the grain of our way of life, we often play the culture card and decide that shaving is acceptable for us because that law was just for Israel, for that specific time. We can look into their history and see that shaving heads and beards were often tied with religious practices, especially among the pagan nations, such as Egypt, and that although it was necessary for them to separate themselves from the pagan nations around them and those specific practices, we live in a different time and place and short hair and shaved faces on men does not mean the same thing today for us as it did for them… therefore it should be allowed. Why not tattoos then? This command is shared with a rule for not cutting marks in your flesh for the dead, as a pagan spiritual practice… why shouldn’t tattoos be allowed as long as they are not done for religious purposes? What is wrong with “I love Mom”, or a tattooed wedding ring, or a cross? Wouldn’t it be perfectly acceptable to tattoo something to remind us of God?

I the midst of similar cultural clashing over Scripture, the Apostle Paul wrote this:

“All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.” – 1 Corinthians 6:12

In other words, check your motive for whatever you are doing. If your conscience is not sure, then don’t do it… but don’t judge others who have clear consciences in what they choose to do. God reserves the right of judgment for Himself.

So God-honoring tattoos are acceptable then? Perhaps. Let me close with one short story. I thought crosses looked cool when I was a teenager, even before I became a Christian, and I wore a necklace with a cross on it for a number of years. After I became a Christian I continued wearing a cross necklace, although the reason had changed. Rather than look impressive, I wanted to remind people of Jesus by wearing it. However, my first week of college I met a fellow classmate who was a Christian but refused to wear crosses or any kind of Christian symbol. He told me his reason was that he wanted people to know He was a Christian by the way he acted, not by what he wore. I put away my own necklace that day and have not looked back. I have very few Christian t-shirts. I have not Christian tattoos (or any tattoos for that matter). Nor do I have Christian bumper stickers on my car. I want people to see Jesus in the way I drive, the way I act, and the way I treat them, not in something worn, painted, or etched into my appearance. It is not that I think those other things are sinful or wrong, it’s that I think they are missing the real “marks” of Christianity. Paul told the Galatians, the real marks of faith in Christ are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You cannot buy any of those things. You can only pray that God will call them out of you so you would live your life in such a way that the world would see them upon you as if they were etched in you in holy ink. The true marks are on the inside, working their way out.

“For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” – 2 Thessalonians 3:10

“For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.” – James 2:26

There are two types of teaching interwoven throughout the Bible, and the New Testament in particular. The first type of teachings, often referred to as theology, are lessons we learn about what to believe or how to understand God, ourselves, and the world around us. This type of teaching is often marked by sayings like “For the Kingdom of heaven is like…” and more often than not use non-literal language such as metaphor and allegory. It is difficult to find descriptive and accurate language to describe heavenly things, to which our own world is but a shadowy reflection. The second type of teaching is ethical teaching which tells us what to do and how to behave. These may come in general terms – such as “Do not lie” (Commandment #9) or in very specific terms (such as the purification rites in Leviticus), but these ethical teachings all use the literal language of imperative and instruction. While these two types of teaching are distinct in their forms, they are rarely found very far from each other in the Scriptures. Theology without ethics is simply a clever way of viewing things without any particular consequence on real life. Ethics without theology is an unjustified, arbitrary list of rules. One informs the other as we move back and forth between them.

Work is an underappreciated countermelody throughout the themes Scripture. Typically, we preach and teach about unconditional love, forgiveness, temptation and sin, and when planning out the budget: giving… but it is not all that often that we hear sermons about work. This is unfortunate because it has been a long time since the issue of work has been as influential in our lives as it is today. Amidst an economic recession, continuing layoffs, business foreclosures, and consequent unemployment – coupled with rising insurance, health, food, and gas prices, we live in turbulent and trying times. Politicians go back and forth between trying to provide federal assistance to help the unemployed and underemployed with a higher cost of living and freeing up the corporate tax burden in hopes that they will raise the overall economy with their profits and provide more employment again. It is a heated debate from both sides.

Many side with Paul, who told the Christians of Thessolanike, “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.” Many had lost the hope that Christ would return and began taking advantage of the generosity of those around them. The theology backing up Paul’s ethical command to them was to remember that Christ could come back at any minute and we want to caught doing well rather than being idle. He tells them along the lines of a very old adage – old even when the Philosopher Plato was teaching: “Mind your own business.” While we have taken that saying and warped it to mean, “stay out of my personal space”, it was originally used as a reminder that keeping your nose to the grindstone kept you out of trouble while idle hands were the mark of busybodies, gossips, and those who lived dishonorably and unproductively. To Plato, and to Paul, work was a responsibility of all people and a means of living a life of honor.

Others however, look to passages like the above from James. While it at first looks like James sides with Paul here, he writes in the context of seeing those in need and not helping them. James reminds the Jewish Christians that caring for the poor, for those whose needs are not met, is a primary work of Christians. In other words, if we work 50 hours a week at a job as a responsible person while neglecting the needs of the poor we pass on the street every day, makes us no better than the poor man who refuses to work and wants to live off what he can beg from others… it’s just another side of the same coin. Work from God’s perspective means more than putting in your hours so you can pay your bills – as important as that may be.

Jesus often used work in his descriptions of the Kingdom of God and in the passage from Matthew 20, I think Jesus speaks to both sides of this debate. He tells a story of a farmer who goes to the market to find farmhands during harvest season. He arrives at dawn and hires a crew of workers for a day’s wage. After three hours though, he decides he needs more help so he returns to the market at gets a few more recruits. Throughout the day, he returns and adds more workers to the crew, even up until the last hour of work and then, at the end of the day he has his servants pay the workers, starting from the last hired and ending with the first. Surprisingly though, the farmer pays his workers all the same wage, even though the first worker worked perhaps 10 hours more than the last one. When they question the farmer, as to why they were not paid more, he tells them that it is his money and he can do with it whatever he wants to… that if he wants to be generous with his money, he has every right to and that they should “mind their own business” (ironic, considering this is the crew that spent the day working instead of being idle in the marketplace). They, like the older brother in the story of the Prodigal Son, are indignant that their brothers who did not do the work and put in the time, should be treated the same as them.

Here then may be the moral to the story. Work is a gift. We don’t get to heaven by putting in a certain number of hours or by serving a certain amount of people. We will however look back with regret on time squandered away if we live our lives idly and selfishly. A life lived simply for self loses purpose and meaning quickly, whether we have a job or not. There are also types of work that may not provide a paycheck, but are more important in the Kingdom of God, than those jobs that do, and as Christians, we need to be sure we are not neglecting them. Certainly we should encourage those who are down and out to find gainful employment, and perhaps help them in that process ourselves, but to ignore them in their time of need is to be lazy in the things of God, neglecting the love of neighbor. What of our witness? We often wonder why so many people think that you get to heaven by being “good enough”, but what kind of Jesus do we show them when we look down upon them for not working. Certainly, we do no one any favors when we allow them to take advantage of generosity without the encouragement to pass on that generosity to others, but we cannot let a few bad apples prevent us from continuing to bear fruit ourselves. We don’t need to be judges of fairness, because God is not as interested in giving us what we deserve (thankfully), but rather what He desires us to have and what we need, and what is the value of five, ten, or even several hundred dollars compared with the value of a soul – a lost child returned to their Heavenly Father. That is our real job here: Bringing home our lost brothers and sisters. Whenever we let our earthly work, or lack thereof, prevent us from living out the true work we have been called into – we have missed the mark.