Playing With Fire

Proper 15C

In the Name of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Every once in a while, the list of prescribed lesson and readings for each Sunday that we call the Lectionary, throws us a curve by setting forth a particularly difficult passage from which to prepare a sermon. That is no less true in what we have set before us in today’s lessons.

The lessons that we have read this morning, especially the Gospel Lesson appear to be hard and direct lessons. We heard from Jeremiah how the Word of God is like a fire – how the Word of God is like a hammer that shatters the stones. Jesus tells us in this morning’s Gospel how he came to be fire upon the earth – and how he wishes it were already here! He also uses some particularly harsh words like hypocrites and division even among families. So these lessons appear to be hard and harsh and filled with all kinds of doom and warnings.

What gives these lessons this appearance is how we in this modern world perceive ourselves and how we perceive Church. We have subscribed to the notion that Church is supposed to be all warm and fuzzy, and where this gathering on Sunday’s that we call Mass is nothing more than a support group. Many today feel that the Gospel of Christ is supposed to be all about love and joy and peace; and where preachers are supposed to write nice little sermons about sunshine and flowers and pleasant little thoughts for pleasant little people, who are content in their nice little worlds, doing the same little things, with little or no expectation for change; nor is there room in many of our modern churches for a message that includes such elements as fire, hypocrisy, and division. We want to feel good when we come to Church; want to be patted on the back and told “we’re doing a good job”; and we want to leave Church, reinforced in the notion that we’re “Okay.”

Now… you who know me, know that I am not normally given to preaching fire and brimstone; know that I normally am not given to the spectacular or emotional when it comes to my homilies and sermons and teachings.

Yet, when confronted by a Gospel reading like todays, I am faced with a dilemma: either dive into these fire and hypocrites and division lessons with both feet, or avoid them all together in order to conform to the modern model for preaching.

In my preparations and considerations for today’s homily, I went on-line and referenced different sermons taken from today’s lessons; and do you know what I discovered? That nearly all of them deliberately avoided the using these texts entirely; they tried to paint a pink and rosy picture, and come up with enough sunshine and flowers so as to avoid anything that might upset or offend anyone, even to the point of changing the words of the Scriptures in order to preserve the warm-and-fuzzy, garden club, support group mantra of modern Church.

There was a deliberate attempt to avoid any shred of truth related to these passages, and there was a grotesque lack sincere attempt to see what is really being said here. In short, most of today’s liturgical preachers are afraid of passages which might make them examine their own motives in order to prepare a sermon filled with facts and truth, and which, in the end may end up as an “In Your Face” homily of the realities of true Christianity. Jeremiah even warned us about that in today’s lesson, when he says, “…but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully...”

So as I sat there and while these sunshine and flower sermons I had read were reeling around in my head, I began to pray. As I continued my meditations, I became aware of the need to be honest with myself, and to help me change my approach to these lessons… to really see what God is trying to say to us today.

No sooner had the words of this prayer come form my lips, when I could sense some seed of truth beginning to germinate in my heart concerning these lessons. So instead of avoiding the truth, instead of reaching for sunshine and flowers, and instead of some emotional and flashy presentation designed to scare the Hell out of people - here is what came to my heart as I prayed and meditated on these elements of Fire, and Hypocrites, and Division.

First, this idea of Fire: Fire is found all through the Scriptures. It is seen as a symbol of God’s wrath. It is the image we have of Hell and damnation and judgment. These images of fire are indeed, accurate portrayals of fire; for we know that in the end, when the judgment of all mankind is at hand, fire will be that element that purifies the works of the righteous and consumes souls of the wicked.

But my friends, fire is more than that; for the Scriptures also show us that God revealed himself to Moses in the bush that was on fire. God led the Children of Israel out of Egypt by a pillar of fire. God used this same pillar of fire to put a wall of protection between Israel and the Egyptians at the Red Sea. Fire is that prescribed element which is used to present sacrifices and offerings on the altar at the Temple. Fire is what makes the incense burn as a symbol of our prayers. Elijah called down when confronting the false Prophets of Baal and it consumed his offering right in front of their eyes. And fire is what came in with that rushing mighty wind and touched each of the Disciples on the Day of Pentecost.

In short, there is a much more powerful and meaningful message and application concerning fire in the Scriptures, than that simply of judgment and wrath and damnation. When Jesus says in today’s Gospel Lesson that he came to bring fire upon the earth, and how he wishes it were here already, I don’t think he is talking about hell and judgment…. But rather, I think he is talking about the Fire of God… a Fire of passion for the word of God, and the things of God. A fire of passion for the Gospel message… a fire of passion for the Kingdom of God… and a fire of passion and true love for God himself from those who call upon his Name.

I think Jesus is talking about a passion for God that burns so hot, so bright, so powerfully, that it cleanses us and consumes us of all our own selfish aims and ambitions, all our sinful passions and tendencies, and all our indifferences and apathies. In short, Jesus is talking about our response to the things of God… are we on fire or are we not. That is why he says, “…how I wish it were already kindled…”

I think this application makes more sense than attempting to turn it into some fire and brimstone – turn or burn message, especially when you consider these words Jesus speaks to Saint John the Divine in Revelation 3:15 when he says, “I know your works, and you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were either hot or cold. So because you are just lukewarm, I will vomit you out of my mouth…” Jesus wants us to be on Fire for God, passionately in love with God, passionately in love with the things of God, passionately in love with the Word of God, and passion in love with those whom God came to save – which is EVERYONE! A fire so hot it consumes us completely and transforms us into real followers of Jesus…. Just like the what happened to the disciples on the Day of Pentecost. Because once we’ve allowed that kind of fire to be kindled in our lives… the fire of the burning bush, the fire of Elijah, the fire of Pentecost, then we can be really be the people of God who can love him with all our hearts, and love our neighbors as ourselves – an never have to fear the Fire of Judgment. Wit this kind of fire, nothing else becomes more important than our love and passion for God, and it burns bright within us.

To parrot the words of Jesus – Oh how I too wish that this fire were here already! Amen! Imagine a world of Christians, so on fire for God that they really could love others as they are, accept everyone for who and what they are, and share the Gospel of Christ with anyone and everyone – not with words, but with works; Works that would stand the test of fire on that Day of Judgment. What a different Church and world we would see today. Amen.

Listen, I’m not talking about fanaticism; because a fanatic is someone who may understand some small portion of truth, and then get all excited about that one aspect of truth, and then goes around pointing fingers and yelling and screaming about judgment and godliness and holiness - and how if people don’t change they’re gonna burn in Hell for ever and ever. In short, fanatics are folks who think they are the only ones who are right, and that everyone else is wrong. My friends, Fanaticism and Fanatics are dangerous when it comes to matters of faith. Just look at all the different cults and crazies out there who got started by some fanatic. Fanatics are toxic and caustic and corrosive and dangerous to the true cause of Jesus Christ and to his Church. Fanaticism is not fire and passion for God, but rather it is fire and passion for self…. Motivated by a self-righteous pride and sanctimonious arrogance that judges others, condemns others, and even abuses the message and the love of God, because it has absolutely true no love for others… just for themselves and their sanctimonious and tenuous grasp of what they perceive to be the “Truth.” We do not need more fanaticism, nor even more Fundamentalism, but rather, we need a passion for God, for his word, and for his kingdom… and a passion for others that burns so warm within us that people are drawn to its warmth, rather than repulsed by its consuming heat.

Now, there is always a danger when one starts playing with fire, that someone will get burned; and that is no less true for us who seek to be on fire for Christ. Jesus even points this out in his talk about Fire. He indeed does mention the word division and the word hypocrites. And just what is a hypocrite? Someone who knows the truth, and even may pretend to live the truth, but in reality, is living a lie about that Truth. In short, they’re nothing but a phony. No real passion for God, no real zeal for God, no real fire for God. They are the cold and lukewarm folks who fill churches week after week, who don’t want to be bothered with truth… don’t want to make any changes in their lives… and who delude themselves into thinking that they’re okay, they don’t need to change, they don’t need to be more faithful or devout or pious. It’s enough for them to sit comfortably, sing beautifully, and shake hands warmly, convinced that they are good enough for God already. But it’s all a fantasy. And while it may be true that they haven’t killed anyone, or robbed anyone, they are still somewhat impassive and unimpressed by this whole idea of religion and a true life of faith.

Hypocrites talk about the love of God, whilst harboring resentments, hatreds, and prejudices. Hypocrites talk about salvation, but do nothing to reach out with hands of love to the lost, the lonely, the desperate, the discouraged. Hypocrites may even talk about heaven, but are content to let the rest of the world go to hell. Hypocrisy – like fanaticism – is dangerous the faith, for it looks like one thing and lives like another. It is similar to the difference between a warm fireplace with a real fire, and one of those little electric fireplaces with cellophane flames that rise up with a little hot air. Look great but with little real impact.

Jesus also talks about division, especially in families where faith and passion for him are concerned. A Christian who seeks to be genuinely on Fire for God is going to encounter some difficulties, even from those whom they love. On the one hand, the hypocrites around you will simply ignore you, and distance themselves from you. They don’t want to get burned by your passion. On the other hand, the Fanatics and Fundamentalists will seek to convert you and convince you that you’re still wrong and still going to go to hell. So you can’t win. It’s frustrating and even heart breaking, but it’s the truth. So what can we to do?

First of all, we have to remain true to our faith, and our passion for God. We cannot allow the criticisms or the fanaticism of others to dampen our fire for God. Hypocrites will be quick to point out that there’s no need for all this Church and God business… that you don’t need to be in church week after week, you don’t need to read your Bible or pray regularly, that all the Church wants is your money and time. They will try to discourage you in your journey of faith.

The Fanatics and Fundamentalists around you will be quick to point out all your mistakes and the things they like to call “sin” in your life. They love to say things like, “You do that and you call yourself a Christian!” They spend all their time picking on you because you may smoke , or enjoy a beer, or even are human enough to say “Damn” when you hit your thumb with a hammer.

So between the hypocrites and the fanatics, what is a true, spirit-filled, passionate, on-fire Christian supposed to do? Well… here is the answer – Keep your eyes of the Cross of Jesus, rely on his grace and goodness and forgiveness, and keep kindling that fire of passion, that fire of Moses, that fire of Elijah, that fire of Pentecost in your heart and life. You may never convince those close to you of your sincerity; but then, you don’t really have to, do you? It’s God we must convince… so while it may be difficult, and sometimes even unpleasant, we know that we can endure it and triumph over it, if we will simply, quietly, passionately love God and love others… and let our actions speak on our behalf.

So there it is… fire and hypocrites and division… all from today’s Gospel lesson, which may have been difficult to preach from, but in reality, is not so difficult to live by if we allow the Fire of God to fill our lives and motivate us to be all that we can be for God… and thus avoid the fire of judgment. Amen.

Is All This a Waste of Time?

Proper 13C

In the Name of God –

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

There’s a quote I read from a calendar many years ago, which says, “The harder I work, the behinder I get!” Have you ever had that feeling… that no matter how hard you work, no matter how much effort you make, no matter how many hours you spend working and trying and striving and stressing about all you have to do, that you just can’t seem to get it all done… can’t seem to even get caught up? Does it ever feel like all you do, no matter how much, that in the end, it’s just been a waste of time?

I mean, you go to work, and there’s your in box… chocked-full of work to be done, projects awaiting your attention, jobs that need to be organized and completed. You have deadlines to meet, schedules and appointments to keep. Your boss – even it that happens to be yourself – just seems to keep piling it on. You get one things finally done, and here comes three more. My personal favorite are those recurring tasks that have to be done week after week, month after month.

On my computer, I use Microsoft Outlook for my calendar, tasks, and appointments. I have all my recurring tasks entered in to remind me to do them. There’s the weekly deposit, the news article for the Progress-Index, the monthly fire-inspection, the monthly news letter, the quarterly tax returns, the annual reports. One of the most frustrating and aggravating things about the Outlook Task Panel, is that when you complete one of these recurring tasks and click on the little box that lets the program know you’ve done it, Outlook immediately loads the same task for next week, or next month, or next year. I no more than give a huge sigh of relief that I finished the newsletter, and lo-and-behold, Outlook reminds me that it’s due again in 30 days! Its very frustrating… and I sometimes come away with the sense that the harder I work, the behinder I get! I even sometimes get that feeling that it’s been a waste of time and effort even trying to get it all done. Yes, even Pastor’s get frustrated sometimes by the work they have to do.

But isn’t that really how life is? Each day, we get up, get dressed, have our coffee, and go to work or school. We go through the same routine, day after day… trying to get our work done, day after day… only to come home tired, exhausted, even frustrated day after day… only to get up the next morning and do it all again. Makes you wonder what it would have been like if Adam and Eve hadn’t been so stupid… I mean, they had it made!

Today’s Scripture Lessons speak to this idea of working and striving; and the question that begs to be answered from today’s lesson is “What Good is it all?” Is it all just a waste of time?

In the first lesson, King Solomon – the wisest man who ever lived – is expressing this sense of “What Good is it all?” He uses the word Vanity to sum up all the work and effort one makes in life. That word Vanity, means futility, emptiness, uselessness, pointlessness. It’s a good word for describing exactly how Solomon felt, and how we sometimes feel about the work we have to do, the recurring tasks, the Outlook Reminders, the overstuffed in-box, the never ending chores and housework that all needs doing. To sum it up, I think of when Chris was little, around 5 or 6 years old, and I was trying to teach him to make his bed every morning. One day, while struggling to make his bed, he looked up at me and said, “Dad, this is a waste of time… I’m just going to mess it up again tonight when I go to bed!” You know what? He still has trouble, as does Nikki, in making their beds every day.

Solomon, in writing this passage in Ecclesiastes is frustrated by the apparent emptiness, the pointlessness, futility – vanity – of all efforts and work we do in life. He even goes so far as to point out that ever after one has worked their whole life long and achieved some degree of success, has amassed some degree of money and comfort, that in the end, you die, and someone else gets it all in the form of an inheritance… and they will probably just fight over it and waste it all anyway!

In the Gospel Lesson, Jesus is dealing with this very issue, when someone comes to him complaining that he hasn’t received his fair share of the family fortune and inheritance. He tells the story of a man – a rich man – a very rich man – who planted a crop, had a super harvest, then tore down his barns and built new ones so that he could store all this surplus grain. He had worked hard, and honestly, doing his job and gaining his reward. But in the end, what good did it do him; because God said to him that very night he would die. Yes, this man had worked hard…. Yes, this man could now retire… yes, this man was rich… and yes… this man was dead. So, what good did it do him? None whatsoever! It was all empty, all pointless, all meaningless, and all vanity… Because now he had to stand before God and face the great Judgment in which his soul – not his fortune – hung in the balance. His bank account was full… but his soul was empty. His barns were full… but his eternal destiny was in doubt. He worked hard making a life for himself, but hadn’t worked towards making Eternal Life for himself. It was indeed… all Vanity.

Now, it would usually be at this point in the homily, that many preachers and most televangelists would begin to wax lyrical about how evil it is for you have any money and that you should give it all to them, so that God would bless you. But to do is a perversion of both the First Lesson and the Gospel Lesson which we have read. When Jesus says, “So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God…" he is not talking about tithing or offerings or giving all your money to God. As I said, to attempt to twist this passage into an appeal for more money is simply a perversion of the text, and an abuse of the true message that lies therein.

So what is the true message of these texts? Is life just a waste of time? Is all our effort and work and saving and striving all just empty, pointless, meaningless vanity? Is life nothing more than just working yourself to death? No! The true meaning of this week’s lessons can be found in what we have read from the Second Lesson today. Paul gives the point of our existence in Colossians, chapter 3 – and in this passage, we can find the true meaning of life, the real purpose of our lives, and the real work we should be striving at. Paul is telling us that our lives are not a waste of time if our focus is on spiritual things and not what we can consume, that loving each other, serving God in true sincerity, living a life of praise and worship before him, and sharing all that we have and are in Christ with those around us are the things that give our vain, empty, pointless existence any meaning at all. In short, Paul is telling us what it means to be rich towards God, in answer to Jesus’ last statement about the rich man.

It’s not a bad thing, nor is it evil, to work hard, to try to earn more money, to save for college or retirement, or to by that boat, or take that trip. Our work, despite it’s frustrations and the sometimes apparent waste of time really are important, and we should strive to be our best and do our best in everything we do. And, it is important to plan for the future, to be prudent about college and retirement and debt and savings. These things are not evil in and of themselves. But in order to give all these things any meaning at all… to give our lives and miserable existences any real meaning at all, we must place God first in our lives… and then do all that we do with an eye towards honoring Him… not just getting rich or comfortable. We can indeed have it all… but we need to guard against having it all at the expense of our souls.

Let me ask you this… Is your faith and relationship with God so full of the riches of his grace, so full of the riches of his joy, so full of the riches of his love, and so full of the riches of heaven, that if you got up tomorrow morning, and went to work… and your boss had to let you go… and you went home only to find that your house had burned to the ground… and you called your bank to get some help only to discover that they had called in your loans and seized your assets… so you called your broker to cash in your 401K only to find that your investments were bankrupt… so that now you are completely penniless, homeless, helpless, and destitute… is your faith and relationship with God so real, so rich, so powerful, and so important to you, that you could still find some joy, some peace, so hope, and some meaning in your life? Would you call out to God for grace and strength, or would you shake your fist at God and blame him for destroying your life? When we stand before him, we will not have our job, our home, our assets, or our investment portfolio… we will have only our souls and what we’ve done to show our love for God and for others… to present as any defense of our selves…

Remember this: Some of the most pious, spiritual, righteous people that ever walked the earth were also some of the poorest, most destitute people that ever walked the earth… but they had peace where they had no money… they had hope where they had no home… they had joy where they had no riches… and today, they walk around in rich in Heaven with God. Remember this too… that some people are so poor, that all they have is money. That describes the rich man in today’s Gospel lesson. Does that describe you?

Life without God is indeed vanity. But life with God is wonderful and has true meaning. Solomon eventually learned this, and even wrote it later in Ecclesiastes… he came to realize that a life focused on self…. Is vain… but a life focused on God and others is a life full of meaning.

This week, let each one of us take a look at our lives, our work, our goals, and our priorities; and see out they match up in our relationship with God and with others; and then let us work towards making God first in our lives, and sharing who and what we are with those around us. Let that be our legacy, the inheritance we pass on to those who will come after us. Let our focus be our relationship with God because in the end… that’s all we really have to save us. Let us pray…

O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy and grace; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.