Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC on 10/19/14
This week the Vatican
and Pope Francis made an announcement that seemed to have sent ripples through
the Catholic Church. Pope Francis said, that homosexuals may have “gifts and
qualities to offer” the church. This small statement has both liberal and conservative
Catholics in a tizzy. Conservative Catholics believe that the church are
falling away from their stances and are letting sin enter into the church,
Liberal Catholics cry out that this statement does not do enough to fight the
injustice done to homosexuals by that hands of the Church. Nevermind that this
statement did not change the doctrine of the church, nevermind that Pope
Francis was just commenting on the sacred value of all life; this small short
phrase has the Catholic church divided.
But let’s not act like the Catholic church is the only
denomination that has to deal divisions on ideology. As we all know our own
United Methodist church struggles with divisive issues all the time, including
this issue of homosexuality. But it’s not just this issue but a long list of
both social and theological issues. Abortion, Stem Cell Research, War, Health
Care, Uranium Mining, Itineracy, apportionments, worship music, liturgy; get
people talking about these issues at Annual Conference and just watch the arguments
begin. How are we supposed to be the Church, how are we supposed to be the arms
and legs of God when we find ourselves so often in disagreement with one
another?
One of our biggest problems is that we as Christians
today act as if this is the first time the church has ever faced these types of
issues. We can look all throughout history to see the Church struggling with
many of the same types of things, but more importantly we can even look back to
the Bible and see it happening within the pages of this Holy book. In fact, when we stop to really think about
it, Almost all of Paul letters that we have in our Bible are a response to some
conflict that is going on in the Church. 1 Corinthians deals with different
leaders believing their gift is the greatest, Thessalonians deals with a group
who is getting restless in waiting for the second coming, Galatians deals with
Jewish and Gentile relations, and here Philippians deals with…. Well
what does Philippians deal with?
This whole time we’ve been talking about becoming a
disciple of Christ, about becoming more like Christ. We have talked a lot about
the attitude of humility that was in Jesus, and should be in us as well, but
one thing we have not mentioned is why it is that Paul is writing this letter in
the first place. Why would he take his time while in jail awaiting trial, to
write this letter to the Philippians? Honestly the first three chapters of the
book do not give us much of a clue to the reason for this letter, which is a
little odd for Paul. As we turn to the final chapter of this letter however it
begins to make a little more sense. Paul writes, “I
urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I
ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled
beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my
co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.”
We finally start to see why Paul is writing; two leaders
of the church Euodia and Syntyche seem to be having some sort of disagreement.
Just a side note, but if you need proof of women in the ministry in the Bible
here is just another example, because these two women are important enough in
this church that the disagreement between has
drawn the attention of Paul. And yet it seems as though this
disagreement between the two women is not necessary that severe. This is not
the full blown catastrophe that was the church in Corinth, this is not the
hostile, divisive battle that we find in Galatia. This seems to just be a disagreement
of some sort. Usually when Paul is lashing out against leaders of a church he
is kind enough not to name names, so
Paul naming these women kind of tells us
that neither of them have done anything really wrong, that he still considers
them faithful servants, and yet he is trying to address a disagreement.
Humans disagree; I
guess that’s just part of our nature, maybe it part of our free will. You and I
will not see eye to eye on everything, we will disagree on some issues, some of
which will be close to our hearts. The real question is, in the midst of these
disagreements, when we have these conflicting opinions, how can we still be the
Church?
This seems to be the issue that Paul has really been
addressing throughout this whole letter, without our even realizing it. Instead of some treatise about the importance
of love and spiritual gifts like he gave the Corinthians, here Paul follows a
simpler route. This whole letter has been talking about having the mind that
was in Christ, but when we say mind we don’t mean knowledge, but rather more
like the attitude that was in Christ. Hopefully you have caught on to this
message, but the attitude of Christ that we are supposed to have is an attitude
of (let them answer) humility. We can be the church in the midst of disagreements and disputes when we take on
this attitude of humility. When in our differences we are still of one mind in
Jesus Christ.
Sadly this attitude of humility is something that seems
to be foreign to many Christians. This attitude of humility has even become
counterintuitive to the ways in which many Christians and church function
today. Too often instead of acting like
people on a journey striving to grow closer to God, we act more like people who
have it all figured out and have to prove we are right to those who
disagree. I am not excluding myself from
this list, as I know that I fall into this trap far too often as well. So many
times now our differences and our disagreements become such a divide for us
that our egos and our pride stop us from any true form of transformative
ministry.
Sometimes our disagreements become so ridiculous that I
imagine to the rest of the world we look a little something like the Twix
commercials that have been playing recently. If
you haven’t seen these commercials, well the general premise is that
Twix used to be one long chocolate bar made by two brothers, until one day both
brothers refused to let go of their end of the bar and the Twix broke into two
pieces. This created a divide between the brothers and so they go off making
their own version of the candy; one brother making Left Twix, and the other brother
making Right Twix. And let me tell you
these two companies were vastly different. Left Twix flowed caramel on cookie,
whereas Right Twix cascaded caramel on cookie. Left Twix bathed in chocolate,
while Right Twix cloaked in chocolate. Other commercials have followed, one has
a kid who compares the cookie bar to the other factories bar he gets his mouth
sealed with packing tape. Another commercial shows a co-worker asking his
colleagues why they’ve never tried the other side’s cookie, and as he goes to
eat that Right twix, a huge vacuum comes and sucks him up and shoots him out of
the factory. My favorite however is the one where an aid comes and presents an
idea to one of the brothers who is now much older. He says that the two bars
are practically made in the same what and suggests a merger of the companies.
After correcting the aid that the two bars are not made the same, the brother
simply says, “I just don’t like the way they carry themselves.” What is great
about these commercials is the ridiculousness of the division. Both companies
think and view themselves and what they do as being different, but in the end
they are producing the same product.
In the midst of all of our disagreements and divisions as
Christians have we forgotten that what we offer the world is same thing? Lost
in all of the arguments about church polity and structure, arguments of
theology and scriptural interpretation, lost in all of the arguments in social
justice and holiness is the fact that what we have to offer the world is a God
who willingly emptying himself and became human, dying on the cross for our
sins. What we all have to offer is a God who can wash us clean from our guilt
of sin and offers us the hope of eternal life. What we have to offer the world
is the Holy Spirit whose power can feed sick, comfort the afflicted, heal the sick, and give strength and hope to
those who feel as though they have nothing to live for. When we have all of
this to offer to the world, then why do we get caught up in whether we bathe or
cloak, whether we cascade or flow. Why instead of working together to offer the
grace of God to the world that needs it so bad, do we say about our brothers
and sisters, “I don’t like the way they carry themselves.”
It all starts up here (point to the head). We have failed
to have the mind that was in Jesus Christ, that attitude of humility. We hear
that we are to have the mind of Christ and we act like that means we are
supposed to know all that Christ knows. We take it to mean that we are to have
a perfect understanding of God, of the world, of salvation, and even of heaven.
Instead of becoming humble servants of Christ, we have become know it alls. We
trust not in the mind that was in Christ, but rather our own minds. Now do not
get me wrong, learning and studying about God and about our beliefs is not a
bad thing. Paul even writes to the people of Rome saying, “Be transformed by
the renewing of your mind.” I’m sure most of you have noticed about me that I
love to learn, especially I love to learn about God. I love to think through
the meaning of Communion, the meaning of grace. I love to read about different
interpretations of what Heaven is like or what the Kingdom of God will be like
in its fullest. I love to see what our own tradition says about Baptism our the
communion of the saints. Studying all of these things is important, but there
has to be something more. These beliefs are only important if it points me back
towards God. We like to take all of these things that we believe and wrap them
up with a nice little bow and call it faith, but this is not faith. Faith is
not acknowledging that God exists, faith is trusting that God will lead you.
Faith is not a perfect understanding of the Gospel, faith is as Paul puts it,
living a life worthy of the Gospel of Christ. When we begin to trust to much in
our own mind and not the mind that was in Jesus Christ, then we can begin to
confuse ourselves with God.
When we are able to shift our faith away from a pride in
our knowledge, and put our trust in Christ and take on that mind, that attitude
of humility that was in Jesus Christ, then even with our differences, we as
Christians can be the church; we can offer the world something of true
value. For we hear in our scripture that
there is a peace that passes all understanding, and it will guard our hearts
and our minds. This peace through humility allows us to disagree and yet still
be one in Christ.
This doesn’t diminish the seriousness of our
disagreements, in fact some of the disagreements that we have as Christians are
pretty fundamental disputes. Should
infants be baptized or not? Does the
bread and wine or juice physically become the body and blood of Christ, and who
is able to receive it? Should
homosexuals be ordained as clergy in the church? These are some fundamental disagreements that
Christians have with one another, and simply having an attitude of humility
doesn’t make these disagreements go away. Having an attitude of humility
doesn’t even necessarily mean that we should change our beliefs, though I do
believe we should always allow room for the Holy Spirit to work. Having the mind that is in Christ, having
that attitude of humility means that as John Wesley says, “Though we cannot
think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are
not of one opinion? Without all doubt, we may.” Although we as Christians may disagree, can we not remember that all of
us are simply trying our best to serve a risen Lord? Instead of focusing on
whether the chocolate is cascading or coating, instead of simply looking at our
brothers and sisters and saying, “I don’t like the way they carry themselves”
let us look at them as those who are offering to the world, the God of love.
When we do this we may truly find that peace that surpasses understanding, for
though we may not think alike, we can love alike. We can be of one heart, and
of one mind, the mind that was in Christ Jesus.
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