Sermon Notes for November 19th
November 19, 2006
“Lilies of the Field”
Mathew 6:25-33
1. If anything sets Methodists apart from others, at least in principle, it is the idea that one should not only believe … but also live the life which Jesus called us to live. In the old days, this was called holiness.
Holiness is not such a good word today … for it brings up images of people who are “holier than thou.”
Today, I prefer the word “wholeness” which means to strive to be more integrated in ones religious life so that ones mind, and heart, and actions, become more consistent and in harmony with one another … in other words, to come to “love the Lord with all ones heart, and mind, and strength.”
For many people, however, the whole object of religious life is largely to be “saved.” That is all there is to it … and for them the goal of the Christian is to try to save as many others as possible … and despite the fact that we live in a country where most people consider themselves Christians and believe that they are “saved” ---- there still seem to be all manner of people who take church rather lightly and who don’t really have much interest in the religious life. Let’s face it many in our country today are what we call “nominal Christians.” Or, as someone said recently, they are “submarine Christians” because they surface at Christmas and Easter. These people, some would say, need to be saved. Or, at least, to take the religion more seriously.
2. Now, while it is quite true that John Wesley, once he had found salvation himself, proved to be quite effective at bringing the message of salvation to others in England who, also, we rather nominal Christians. When Wesley preached on the highways and byways of England, as he often did, many came to repentance and eventually left the Church of England to become Methodists.
But, unlike some evangelists, Wesley did not stop at salvation but, instead, called people to go on to greater and spiritual depths. In short, to live a holy life – as he, personally, tried to do.
Wesley describe this process of Christian growth toward wholeness as occurring in three stages – repentance, faith, and holiness.
To put it simply, as often did, Wesley described salvation as like a house, To get into the house, you have to get on the porch (which is repentance) and then you have to go through the door (this, he called faith). But the house itself – which is one’s relationship with God – is what holiness is all about. To overemphasize the nature of salvation as beginning and ending in repentance -- is, literally, to get stuck on the porch.
Reminds me of the story of the evangelist who came to a certain town where he held big revivals and many were saved. The, some years later, he happened to be back in the same town and asked how things were going. To which some said, -- “we are all still saved!” In other words, "we are all still on the porch."
3. Now, it is true that Jesus means many different things to different people. Ask a variety of people what Jesus is all about and you may get a surprisingly different set of answers.
For many, Jesus is the savior of the world who dies for all mankind by being crucified – plain and simple. This was seen in the Mel Gibson movie – which, focuses almost entirely on the passion. And there is no problem for Methodists with accepting the idea of Christ’s death and resurrection with being integral to our accepting God’s love for us.
But, what gets left out in this account of salvation is the ongoing spiritual life of the believer. What also gets left out is the role of Jesus as the spiritual teacher – whose wise sayings and parables are meant to provide us with a way to grow toward wholeness in our relationship to God and Jesus Christ.
4. Consider scripture reading for today. It comes right after a long series of statements or commands by Jesus about how to fast, and how to pray (including the Lord’s prayer) and ultimately about the role of money and material things in a person’s life:
"No one can serve two masters, Jesus says. either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
That’s pretty clear isn’t it? No if buts or ands about it.
Then Jesus issues his command that we are not to worry about our life … or, as Gene Peterson put’s it --- don’t be always fussing about things.
What does it mean to fuss about things? The dictionary says it means to bother or worry unnecessarily, to make nervous.
Have you ever worked yourself up into a nervous state over something that maybe wasn’t all that important? We all have at some time or other until somebody told us to “settle down!”
5. Another word, we don’t use as much any more is “to fret.”
To fret means to “eat away, to gnaw at something – to wear away --- to become corroded, worn, frayed, annoyed …
I think, in a way, this gets at what Jesus meant … because it goes beyond the simpler word “worry” to imply a process which is eating away at a person. It is a spiritual condition … in which the soul … one’s healthy relationship to God … is eaten away … and replaced by something else … by worry … or money and possessions … or other desires …
As a spiritual teacher, Jesus warns us not to let things come between us and God. And then Jesus issues this famous statement:
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[a]?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
6. Now you may ask at this point, “What is going on here? What is Jesus really saying?” This is not realistic. I have to worry about things, about my job, about earning and income -- after all I have a family to support and, and, I have to plan for retirement … I can’t expect others to support me when I can’t work anymore.
This is good question.
In fact, back in my very first congregation I preached about Jesus words that we should not be anxious … not worry…and my choir director came up afterward and said, “If I wasn’t anxious, I would never get anything done!”
So, there!
Well, William Barclay points out that we should not take this passage literally, for, he writes that Jesus is not condemning ordinary, prudent foresight … but rather what Jesus forbids is becoming obsessed by worry over things we have no control over.
7. After all, I could become obsessed about dieing of cancer, for instance. But what good will it do me to lay awake worrying about it. Probably make me more anxious, lower my immune system and cause me to get sick.
What I can do is use prudence. You know, eat the right food, get exercise, avoid cancer causing substances, and get a regular check up. But, beyond that, you or I have no control over what happens to us. My father, for instance, lived prudently, saved his money, never smoked, never drank excessively, was of sound mind and in good health all his life and died of Alzheimer’s at age 70 after being ill for 3 or 4 years.
On the other hand, my uncle, who did none of the above … lived to be 83!
8. Now one of the things that Jesus, as a spiritual teacher, had great concern about was the natural tendency we all have to put too much emphasis on outward appearances. Earlier in this chapter he castigates the hypocrites for fasting in public and wishing to appear sorrowful and pious … instead, Jesus says, when you give alms … don’t let the right hand know what the left hand is doing.
In short, if you are doing good just to look good … your heart is in the wrong place. This is not wholeness.
Wholeness requires that the outside be consistent with the inside.
In Mathew Chapter 23 Jesus confront the religious leaders directly:
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
9. Over and over again – I could go on at great length – Jesus seems to be saying that we need to pay attention to what is going on inside us … in our hearts … in our souls … and not let outer things come between us and God.
Well, what about clothes? We all have to wear them!
I remember back in the 1980’s the fad for a while was a book called “Dress for Success.” My boss was big on that one. I don’t remember much except that it said that men should not wear brown suits – for some reasons. Black, Blue, or grey -- but not brown. At least white men. Because, for some reason, black men seem to do okay with brown. And at the Red Cross the head CEO was, at that time, a very large black man who had had a career in the military. He was a rather physically imposing person and he often wore a brown suit. And the joke around the department was … what color suit should Steve Bullock wear … Answer: Any color he wants!! Incidentally, what recent president often wore brown suits and actually looked good in them? Ronald Reagan.
10. Well, I think Jesus point is this … don’t let concern for outward appearances take precedence over how you look on the inside to God -- for while your friends and acquaintances may only be able to see how you look on the outside … God sees what is inside and you can’t fool God.
And sometimes –– you can’t even fool yourself.
For, as you know, I like to dabble from time to time in dream interpretation … and this past summer I participated in a seminar on dreams and dream interpretation at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley.
As a part of the class, we all broke up into groups of six people and each evening someone would share a dream they had had and then each person would offer their own ideas about what the dream meant to them.
10. And so I will share an amazing little dream which was shared by a woman from Korea. She was actually a Methodist and taught in a seminary in her home country and she was visiting her daughter in California and decided to take the class.
Without know a lot about her, she appeared to be a very kind gentle woman … a grandmother … and very reserved and quiet in demeanor. Also very polite. And, although she was causally dressed – her clothes were conservative and mostly in darker subdued colors. In short, she definitely did not stand out in a crowd.
Her dream, which was very short, was very surprising and interesting. She said that in the dream she was teaching her class and that she was wearing a very bright peach colored blouse! In other words, her blouse was totally out of character. But, upon being questioned as to how she felt about this … she said she really liked wearing the blouse. End of dream.
Oh, yes, later on, she revealed that since coming to America to visit … she had purchased some peaches at the supermarket which were very good … and delicious to eat.
11. Okay, pop psychologists, what do you make of this story?
Well, I am not going to take a lot of time trying to analyze this dream … mainly because I can only guess what is going on … and, as we learned in the class, only the dreamer really understands the dream … all others can do is make suggestions. Which we did, of course, but, since she didn’t have to answer … she just smiled and said she would think about.
But, on the surface one could easily conclude that her is an older rather conservative woman who comes to California, sees all the different clothing styles … bright colors … and thinks … hey, I think I would like to wear something like that … and then realizes it would never go over back in Korea … and represses the thought … which promptly pops out of the unconscious in the dream. True – I don’t know. Will this woman go out and buy a pink blouse someday? Who knows? What do you think? What would you do if that was your dream?
12. Or, as I thought about it further … is this dream, on a deeper level … a spiritual realization … is it about her inner life … does it reveal that inside she is a very warm and loving person … despite her outward appearance? … Which I suspect she is.
Is the dream and revelation to her … about her inner self? One which is very positive … just as the peach is both pleasant and colorful on the outside … but also sweet and delicious on the inside.
Well, it’s only a guess which is all one can do in most cases unless you know someone very well.
But, my point is this … we all have an inside and an outside.
There is what we appear to be and who we really are.
13. So we must understand that Wholeness or holiness … in the mind of John Wesley is to bring the outer and inner into balance … to pay due attention to our spiritual inner life … to counterbalance the worry, the fear, the obsessions of the out world which work to wear away, gnawing at our spiritual underpinnings, undermining our need to have a healthy relationship with God and Jesus Christ.
No, we are not supposed to throw caution to the wind … and live a shiftless, thriftless, reckless, thoughtless, improvident life.
But, at the same, Jesus is saying … “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will come to you in addition.”
14. This week we beginning our descent into Christmas … starting with Thanksgiving … and then, that greatest of all days … the day after Christmas … known as the biggest shopping day of the year.
And so, once again, I make my appeal … to keep things in perspective … in balance … don’t let the outer take over the inner spiritual life … don’t let all the obsession with gifts, parties, and all the rest … rob you of the true meaning of Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Remember to take time out for God … and to help those who are less fortunate … and those who are ill and troubled and whose Christmas is less than joyful …
And lastly, remember to be thankful … and not to worry too much about our life … for all things are in God’s hands.
Let us pray
“Lilies of the Field”
Mathew 6:25-33
1. If anything sets Methodists apart from others, at least in principle, it is the idea that one should not only believe … but also live the life which Jesus called us to live. In the old days, this was called holiness.
Holiness is not such a good word today … for it brings up images of people who are “holier than thou.”
Today, I prefer the word “wholeness” which means to strive to be more integrated in ones religious life so that ones mind, and heart, and actions, become more consistent and in harmony with one another … in other words, to come to “love the Lord with all ones heart, and mind, and strength.”
For many people, however, the whole object of religious life is largely to be “saved.” That is all there is to it … and for them the goal of the Christian is to try to save as many others as possible … and despite the fact that we live in a country where most people consider themselves Christians and believe that they are “saved” ---- there still seem to be all manner of people who take church rather lightly and who don’t really have much interest in the religious life. Let’s face it many in our country today are what we call “nominal Christians.” Or, as someone said recently, they are “submarine Christians” because they surface at Christmas and Easter. These people, some would say, need to be saved. Or, at least, to take the religion more seriously.
2. Now, while it is quite true that John Wesley, once he had found salvation himself, proved to be quite effective at bringing the message of salvation to others in England who, also, we rather nominal Christians. When Wesley preached on the highways and byways of England, as he often did, many came to repentance and eventually left the Church of England to become Methodists.
But, unlike some evangelists, Wesley did not stop at salvation but, instead, called people to go on to greater and spiritual depths. In short, to live a holy life – as he, personally, tried to do.
Wesley describe this process of Christian growth toward wholeness as occurring in three stages – repentance, faith, and holiness.
To put it simply, as often did, Wesley described salvation as like a house, To get into the house, you have to get on the porch (which is repentance) and then you have to go through the door (this, he called faith). But the house itself – which is one’s relationship with God – is what holiness is all about. To overemphasize the nature of salvation as beginning and ending in repentance -- is, literally, to get stuck on the porch.
Reminds me of the story of the evangelist who came to a certain town where he held big revivals and many were saved. The, some years later, he happened to be back in the same town and asked how things were going. To which some said, -- “we are all still saved!” In other words, "we are all still on the porch."
3. Now, it is true that Jesus means many different things to different people. Ask a variety of people what Jesus is all about and you may get a surprisingly different set of answers.
For many, Jesus is the savior of the world who dies for all mankind by being crucified – plain and simple. This was seen in the Mel Gibson movie – which, focuses almost entirely on the passion. And there is no problem for Methodists with accepting the idea of Christ’s death and resurrection with being integral to our accepting God’s love for us.
But, what gets left out in this account of salvation is the ongoing spiritual life of the believer. What also gets left out is the role of Jesus as the spiritual teacher – whose wise sayings and parables are meant to provide us with a way to grow toward wholeness in our relationship to God and Jesus Christ.
4. Consider scripture reading for today. It comes right after a long series of statements or commands by Jesus about how to fast, and how to pray (including the Lord’s prayer) and ultimately about the role of money and material things in a person’s life:
"No one can serve two masters, Jesus says. either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
That’s pretty clear isn’t it? No if buts or ands about it.
Then Jesus issues his command that we are not to worry about our life … or, as Gene Peterson put’s it --- don’t be always fussing about things.
What does it mean to fuss about things? The dictionary says it means to bother or worry unnecessarily, to make nervous.
Have you ever worked yourself up into a nervous state over something that maybe wasn’t all that important? We all have at some time or other until somebody told us to “settle down!”
5. Another word, we don’t use as much any more is “to fret.”
To fret means to “eat away, to gnaw at something – to wear away --- to become corroded, worn, frayed, annoyed …
I think, in a way, this gets at what Jesus meant … because it goes beyond the simpler word “worry” to imply a process which is eating away at a person. It is a spiritual condition … in which the soul … one’s healthy relationship to God … is eaten away … and replaced by something else … by worry … or money and possessions … or other desires …
As a spiritual teacher, Jesus warns us not to let things come between us and God. And then Jesus issues this famous statement:
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[a]?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
6. Now you may ask at this point, “What is going on here? What is Jesus really saying?” This is not realistic. I have to worry about things, about my job, about earning and income -- after all I have a family to support and, and, I have to plan for retirement … I can’t expect others to support me when I can’t work anymore.
This is good question.
In fact, back in my very first congregation I preached about Jesus words that we should not be anxious … not worry…and my choir director came up afterward and said, “If I wasn’t anxious, I would never get anything done!”
So, there!
Well, William Barclay points out that we should not take this passage literally, for, he writes that Jesus is not condemning ordinary, prudent foresight … but rather what Jesus forbids is becoming obsessed by worry over things we have no control over.
7. After all, I could become obsessed about dieing of cancer, for instance. But what good will it do me to lay awake worrying about it. Probably make me more anxious, lower my immune system and cause me to get sick.
What I can do is use prudence. You know, eat the right food, get exercise, avoid cancer causing substances, and get a regular check up. But, beyond that, you or I have no control over what happens to us. My father, for instance, lived prudently, saved his money, never smoked, never drank excessively, was of sound mind and in good health all his life and died of Alzheimer’s at age 70 after being ill for 3 or 4 years.
On the other hand, my uncle, who did none of the above … lived to be 83!
8. Now one of the things that Jesus, as a spiritual teacher, had great concern about was the natural tendency we all have to put too much emphasis on outward appearances. Earlier in this chapter he castigates the hypocrites for fasting in public and wishing to appear sorrowful and pious … instead, Jesus says, when you give alms … don’t let the right hand know what the left hand is doing.
In short, if you are doing good just to look good … your heart is in the wrong place. This is not wholeness.
Wholeness requires that the outside be consistent with the inside.
In Mathew Chapter 23 Jesus confront the religious leaders directly:
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
9. Over and over again – I could go on at great length – Jesus seems to be saying that we need to pay attention to what is going on inside us … in our hearts … in our souls … and not let outer things come between us and God.
Well, what about clothes? We all have to wear them!
I remember back in the 1980’s the fad for a while was a book called “Dress for Success.” My boss was big on that one. I don’t remember much except that it said that men should not wear brown suits – for some reasons. Black, Blue, or grey -- but not brown. At least white men. Because, for some reason, black men seem to do okay with brown. And at the Red Cross the head CEO was, at that time, a very large black man who had had a career in the military. He was a rather physically imposing person and he often wore a brown suit. And the joke around the department was … what color suit should Steve Bullock wear … Answer: Any color he wants!! Incidentally, what recent president often wore brown suits and actually looked good in them? Ronald Reagan.
10. Well, I think Jesus point is this … don’t let concern for outward appearances take precedence over how you look on the inside to God -- for while your friends and acquaintances may only be able to see how you look on the outside … God sees what is inside and you can’t fool God.
And sometimes –– you can’t even fool yourself.
For, as you know, I like to dabble from time to time in dream interpretation … and this past summer I participated in a seminar on dreams and dream interpretation at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley.
As a part of the class, we all broke up into groups of six people and each evening someone would share a dream they had had and then each person would offer their own ideas about what the dream meant to them.
10. And so I will share an amazing little dream which was shared by a woman from Korea. She was actually a Methodist and taught in a seminary in her home country and she was visiting her daughter in California and decided to take the class.
Without know a lot about her, she appeared to be a very kind gentle woman … a grandmother … and very reserved and quiet in demeanor. Also very polite. And, although she was causally dressed – her clothes were conservative and mostly in darker subdued colors. In short, she definitely did not stand out in a crowd.
Her dream, which was very short, was very surprising and interesting. She said that in the dream she was teaching her class and that she was wearing a very bright peach colored blouse! In other words, her blouse was totally out of character. But, upon being questioned as to how she felt about this … she said she really liked wearing the blouse. End of dream.
Oh, yes, later on, she revealed that since coming to America to visit … she had purchased some peaches at the supermarket which were very good … and delicious to eat.
11. Okay, pop psychologists, what do you make of this story?
Well, I am not going to take a lot of time trying to analyze this dream … mainly because I can only guess what is going on … and, as we learned in the class, only the dreamer really understands the dream … all others can do is make suggestions. Which we did, of course, but, since she didn’t have to answer … she just smiled and said she would think about.
But, on the surface one could easily conclude that her is an older rather conservative woman who comes to California, sees all the different clothing styles … bright colors … and thinks … hey, I think I would like to wear something like that … and then realizes it would never go over back in Korea … and represses the thought … which promptly pops out of the unconscious in the dream. True – I don’t know. Will this woman go out and buy a pink blouse someday? Who knows? What do you think? What would you do if that was your dream?
12. Or, as I thought about it further … is this dream, on a deeper level … a spiritual realization … is it about her inner life … does it reveal that inside she is a very warm and loving person … despite her outward appearance? … Which I suspect she is.
Is the dream and revelation to her … about her inner self? One which is very positive … just as the peach is both pleasant and colorful on the outside … but also sweet and delicious on the inside.
Well, it’s only a guess which is all one can do in most cases unless you know someone very well.
But, my point is this … we all have an inside and an outside.
There is what we appear to be and who we really are.
13. So we must understand that Wholeness or holiness … in the mind of John Wesley is to bring the outer and inner into balance … to pay due attention to our spiritual inner life … to counterbalance the worry, the fear, the obsessions of the out world which work to wear away, gnawing at our spiritual underpinnings, undermining our need to have a healthy relationship with God and Jesus Christ.
No, we are not supposed to throw caution to the wind … and live a shiftless, thriftless, reckless, thoughtless, improvident life.
But, at the same, Jesus is saying … “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will come to you in addition.”
14. This week we beginning our descent into Christmas … starting with Thanksgiving … and then, that greatest of all days … the day after Christmas … known as the biggest shopping day of the year.
And so, once again, I make my appeal … to keep things in perspective … in balance … don’t let the outer take over the inner spiritual life … don’t let all the obsession with gifts, parties, and all the rest … rob you of the true meaning of Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Remember to take time out for God … and to help those who are less fortunate … and those who are ill and troubled and whose Christmas is less than joyful …
And lastly, remember to be thankful … and not to worry too much about our life … for all things are in God’s hands.
Let us pray
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