Deuteronomy 4: 1 – 9;  Psalm 15

I’ve had a very similar set of conversations over the years with a number of different people, and every time these conversations takes place, it leaves me a little bit sad.  It just happened again this past week, and as I read the lectionary readings for this weekend, that conversation and quite a few of the others came back to me. 

See, I’ll be talking to someone about life as a believer (kind of an occupational hazard!), and the subject will move to trying understanding why Christian people will sometimes behave in … let’s say, unexpected ways – i.e., disappointing ways.  And then the words come that make me cringe: “Well”, they’ll say, “I guess we’re not really any different than anyone else.”

Many times (including last week) the person saying this will then add: “I was very disillusioned when I first realized that.” 

*****

I want to talk with you this morning/ evening from my heart – more than my head, perhaps – meaning, that I’m probably going to say some things that could be misinterpreted. But I’ll take that chance, because this is a communion service, and I want us all to have a solid understanding of what we’re doing when we come here to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion…

You know what bothers me when I hear someone – someone with high standards, someone who is not saying this as a sort of mantra, rant against the church (you know, ‘the church is full of hypocrites, etc. – the kind of stuff we see so often on TV) – when a thoughtful believer says “I guess we’re not really any different than the rest of the world”, I want to say, “You may be right…but we should be!”

That is not a ‘politically correct’ subject, I realize.  And I’m probably running the risk of people thinking that this is some sort of ‘holier-than-thou’ kind of sermon.  Which, actually it is, if you want to get technical about it!  But it’s not about the ‘thou’ part – the other guy. Its about the holier part…it’s about us… and who we are. And who we are supposed to be as children of the King.

A few years ago, back when bumper- sticker evangelism was more popular than today (don’t you miss that?)  there was one bumper sticker that I would see quite often.  I’m sure you’ve seen it, and maybe you’ve even quoted it.  It said, “Christians aren’t perfect…just forgiven.”  Now, if you have that one on your car, please forgive me, but I have to say, I really don’t like it! 

Not because it’s not true… it is true.  Kind of… But you see, I don’t think it is the truth. Now, to me that makes a difference. Something ‘true’ is like a fact.  Truth is the ‘bigger picture’, it’s fitting a lot of facts together.  It’s deeper… it is often troubling in ways that simple true things are not.

That bumper sticker theology has invaded the church in the West for a couple of generations, and I believe that it has hurt us deeply.  It has drawn us off center, it has diluted our witness – especially in this skeptical world. It’s true, but it is not the truth.  To say that Christians are not perfect, but forgiven is true, but if that sums up the entirety of the Christian message for you, then your faith is woefully shallow, and biblically lacking in substance.

If you remember the three colors that we talked about in this summer’s sermon series, we might say that that bumper sticker is totally ‘blue’. It is totally about grace, but it ignores the red and the green.  It says nothing to us about God’s law, and our responsibility to live the life of Christ. It says nothing about commandments, or expectations, and it completely ignores quite a lot of Scripture – both Old and New Testaments.

Take a look at the Deuteronomy passage that we read earlier, and look at the powerful words that are used in it: 

¹And now, Israel, listen carefully to these laws and regulations... Obey them so that you may live

² Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you from the Lord your God. Just obey them.

⁵You must obey these laws and regulations

A good question that we need to chew on a bit is to ask ourselves whether God has changed his mind about wanting to create a people who are righteous. Not just righteous in a legal sense – i.e., that our sentence has been cancelled (which is what that bumper sticker is about). But righteous as in people who are obedient, people who know and do the commands and requirements that God has laid out before us.

“O, but Jesus came to set us free from the Law”, you might say.  Yes, but what does that really mean?  Jesus pointed out many times that the best sign of our belief in him is our obedience to the things he tells us to do.  He gave new commands to us. He said, “Love each other as I have loved you.” 

It’s interesting that in Deut. 6:6 Moses says:

If you obey them [i.e., the commandments] carefully, you will display your wisdom and intelligence to the surrounding nations. When they hear about these laws, they will exclaim, `What other nation is as wise and prudent as this!' For what great nation has a god as near to them as the LORD our God is near to us whenever we call on him?”

He says, if you obey these commands, people will notice, and recognize that God is among you. That is very similar to Jesus’ own words to his disciples, when he said that if we love each other then the world will recognize that he himself is among us.  When we do what he told us to do.

The Apostle Paul more than any other of the Biblical writers has defined the essence of God’s grace for us.  Paul wrote so many great verses about grace, like Ephesians 2:8

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—
and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

It is through Paul that we know that we all have access to God, not based on our own righteousness, but on the merits of Jesus Christ. This is the heart of the Good News – truly – but there is more to the Gospel than Grace!

The same writer, Paul, in the same book (Ephesians 5:8), also wrote these words:

“For though your hearts were once full of darkness, now you are full of light from the Lord, and your behavior should show it! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.

I don’t think that you can find a book in the New Testament that doesn’t have something to say, powerfully, about the effects of grace in a person’s life.  Not just the effect of feeling relieved that our sins are not going to be held against us; but the effect of a changed life.  The effect of becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. Because we are intentionally walking on a road of discipleship.  Paul often used athletic terms to illustrate what this walk is like. 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 he says, 

So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I am not like a boxer who misses his punches.

 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should.
 Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified

I get the feeling that if Paul saw a chariot riding by with a bumper sticker on the back that said “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven” – I think he would have a word or two to say about that.  Like asking, “what do you mean by the word …just”.   Because thanks to God – my life as a Christian is much more than just being forgiven!  It is a new life, a life of finally being able to do what God wants me to do. A life of glad obedience to Christ; learning to love others as I am loved.  Knowing that when I don’t do this, when I miss the mark, that I’m still a child of God -- but who wants to live in disobedience? Who wants to be “Just forgiven?”  

When someone is seeking ordination as an elder in the UM church, at a session of the Annual Conference the candidates are brought before the body and they are asked the ‘Historical Questions”. These are the same questions that John Wesley asked the circuit riding preachers before he would send them out to share the Good News back in the 1700’s. They are practical questions about faith and life, ranging from belief in the Trinity, and in the Sacraments, to “Are you in debt so as to embarrass yourself and inhibit your work?”  (A question that recent seminary graduates are having a tough time answering ‘no’ to these days!).

One of those questions elicits a rather soft-spoken response from many.  “Are you going on to perfection?”  This is a question that cuts right to the heart of what John and Charles Wesley taught. ‘Perfection’ is a word that has changed in meaning from then ‘til now… but substitute ‘maturity’ and you’ll come pretty close to it’s meaning.

“Are you going on to maturity in the faith?” This question was the motivation behind the ‘holy clubs’ that the two Wesley brothers formed (really politically incorrect language for today, isn’t it? Anybody want to join a ‘Holy Club?’), but quite the opposite of intending arrogance, these holy clubs were simply small accountability groups.

Each week the members would meet together with other like-minded believers – like-minded in their common desire to be more than ‘just forgiven’ – but to actually wanting to put into practice the life that Jesus taught.  To live it. To that end they would examine each other, ask for evidence of their faith (can you imagine?), and they would confess their sins – their failings - to each other, and determine how they could do better in the future.  And then they would do it all again the next week! 

They were so committed to this that, as you likely know, that they were ridiculed by others. And the most common name they were called was… Methodists. 

The same name that is on our sign out front. And on this bulletin. We’re Methodists, too. What doest that mean today?  Does it still mean that we are people with a plan – and not just a very bureaucratic organization, but people with a plan for holy living? A plan – an actual plan, with actions to be taken, and self-examinations, and accountability built in -  a plan to make sure that we’re not the same people today that we were a year ago, or ten years ago?  Are we – as Methodists in 2006 - people who know that being a Christian is more than just being forgiven? That it is maturing in Christ… in ways that are noticeable?

What did you think when you read this morning’s prayer of Confession?  Glenn and Karen read this on a paper that I left in the office for the bulletin this week, and suggested that I consider putting ‘smiley faces’ at the end of each line to soften it a bit – they were just kidding, of course, but recognizing that this is a difficult prayer.  But it is the kind of thing that we need to consider, the kind of questions that we need to ask ourselves when our goal is not simply to ‘get to heaven…’ but to be fully functioning disciples of Jesus Christ.

The second Lectionary reading for today is Psalm 15.  Again, what do you think when you hear these words?

¹   Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord?
      Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?

²    Those who lead blameless lives
       and do what is right,
       speaking the truth from sincere hearts.

³    Those who refuse to slander others
       or harm their neighbors
       or speak evil of their friends.

⁴   Those who despise persistent sinners,
       and honor the faithful followers of the Lord
       and keep their promises even when it hurts.

⁵  Those who do not charge interest on the money they lend,
       and who refuse to accept bribes to testify against the innocent.

    Such people will stand firm forever.

We hear King David’s opening questions:  “Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord?  Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?”  Who can come to church? Who can truly call themselves a disciple? Is the proper response to that to say, “Good message, Dave. Well, thank goodness I’m forgiven! Don’t have to worry about that! OK, what’s the closing hymn?” 

Again, has God changed his mind?  Or is the Lord still looking for people who will actually lead blameless lives and who do what is right?  Is God still seeking people who speak truth from sincere hearts, and who refuse to slander others, or harm their neighbors, and who keep their vows even when it hurts to do that?  I think, surely, that he is.

Think about the 12 disciples on the night of the Last Supper.  They are sitting around the table in that upper room, their heads are spinning over the words that Jesus just shared with them as he broke the bread and passed the cup… “This is my body, broken for you…This is my blood, shed for your sins.”

In the Gospel of Luke, immediately after sharing the cup, Jesus again startles the group with these words:  “Here at this table” he says, “sitting among us as a friend, is someone who will betray me”.  There is someone here who is going to leave this place and turn against me. What is the response of the disciples to that?  Do they say, “Well thank the Lord for that bread and cup thing!  We’re not perfect, we’re just forgiven!”  Of course not!  What they do is – from Luke and Mark – they start asking each other, and they look at Jesus and ask him:  “Me, Lord?”  Am I the one? 

In that terrible moment, they all looked inward, and they realized that they all had the capacity to do this thing. And all (minus one?) thought long and hard about how they would live once they left that room.

Where are you heading in your walk with Christ? Do you have a direction – a plan for maturing in your faith? Are you being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ?  Not satisfied with the status quo?  Are you a ‘Methodist’ in the original sense of the word?  Not the denomination but the spirit – do you have a plan for your discipleship?  Are you going on to maturity?  Isn’t that what God is looking for?