PENTECOST 21 PROPER 24 2007
October 21, 2007
(Genesis 32:3-8 & 22-30; Ps. 121; 2nd Timothy 3:14-4:5;
Luke 18:1-8a)
The Rev. Ken Kroohs
EVEN IN BAD TIMES –
EQUIPPED FOR EVERY GOOD WORK
St. Christopher’s,
MAY THE WORDS OF MY MOUTH ... AND THE
MEDITATIONS OF ALL OUR HEARTS ... BE ALWAYS ACCEPTABLE TO YOU --- OUR STRENGTH
AND OUR REDEEMER AMEN
This week we are faced with three very important lessons to
discuss. I tried VERY hard to merge them
into a single sermon – you can decide how well I did !
In 2nd Timothy we heard one of two most often quoted
passages by people who say every word in the Bible must be understood as you
would a good newspaper account about the stock market. That is, no metaphors. Just clear data. .... “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for reproof, for
correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be
complete, equipped for every good work.”
The second such passage comes from the end of the book of Revelation. It says (paraphrase) If anyone adds
to the words of this book God shall add to them the plagues mentioned in the
book and if anyone removes any words God will remove them from the holy city. —
What’s fascinating about that quote is that it clearly is speaking about the
Book of Revelation and not the entire Bible!
So extending it to the entire Bible violates the teaching!! But I will anyway just to be consistent with
those other preachers — for once.
Usually these two passages are blended together to say that all
scripture is inspired by God and no one should add to it or remove anything
from it. .... Actually I have no problem with that statement! I believe God is responsible for all
scripture and we should not add to it or take away from it.
But ... that very important word “but” I am fairly literalistic
and sincere about that so I get upset when people mis-use those statements!
Let’s look at what is said.
Not what people tell us is said but what the Bible says. “All
scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction,
and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete,
equipped for every good work.”
Notice what it says ... more importantly what it does not
say. If we examine the quote as we would
in English class we discover that the end of it is important to understanding
the purpose. It says ... scripture says
... and as the Book of Revelation says, let’s not add anything to what is
written .. It says scripture is for “training in righteousness that the man of
God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
Now I know that some people want to stretch that a very long way
and add lots of things which are not actually mentioned. I believe that conflicts with the Revelation
teachings. (I drive some of the self
proclaimed fundamentalists crazy!!) It
says that the purpose is to equip the person for every good work – end of
quote.
It says NOTHING about science.
It says nothing about history. It
says nothing about geography. It speaks
only of training people to do good works.
End of story.
That’s made even clearer if we stop taking passages out of
context and notice that the discussion in the preceding verses is about how we
conduct ourselves: patience, faith, love, steadfastness and endurance —
especially in times of persecution.
THAT’S what the profitable teaching is about.
OK — try to hold that off to the side for a moment. Let’s not forget those teachings but turn to
the psalm. 2nd Timothy spoke
about patience, faith, love, endurance in times of persecution and psalm 121
asks: from where is my help to come?
When faced with persecution, from where is my help to come?
I don’t believe I am adding to scripture when I say the 2nd
Timothy teaching includes persecutions well beyond simply the Roman army
shutting down the church meeting. I
believe scripture intended us to include under the umbrella term of
“persecutions” the loved one with a heart attack or stroke, joblessness,
addiction, depression, marriage problems and many others situations.
In those circumstances, from where is my help to come?
Remembering my belief that all scripture is inspired by God ....
can you honestly say you believe God will not let your foot be moved? Have you never been in a situation where
psalm 22 feels more accurate: “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Or within this psalm, have you never been in a
situation where, at best,
you felt as if God has been asleep? Ever
wondered why this God did not preserve you from all evil?
If you have never felt those doubts and concerns and worries —
stop right now and thank God !! I sure
know I have felt those emotions.
So how do we reconcile the life we have lived with the promises
made in this psalm — and other places?
I have found something interesting in my ordained time. I have discovered that for many people ...
not everyone, but for many people when they are ready to ask these questions —
they are really ready to grow closer to God.
When they are ready to ask these difficult questions they are coming to
terms with their relationship with God.
People who ignore these questions .... In short: “why does God allow bad things to happen?” ..
People who ignore that question frequently – not always but frequently have not
really struggled with their faith.
So ---- how do I answer that?
For me this was a major issue and I found a book by C.S. Lewis, “The
Problem of Pain” extremely helpful. You
will need to think about this so feel free to take a few notes!
Lewis says that God ... for whatever reason .... God created us with
free will. That is, we have the ability
to make choices.
Here is the key, central point ... if we are not able to make BAD
choices then we really are not free to make choices. If the only decisions we could make are to do
good things that God likes, then we really do not have free will. We really cannot make meaningful choices.
If the menu gives you the choice between chopped up broccoli and
broccoli spears — that’s not much of a choice!
If God did not allow us to make bad – evil decisions, we would not
really have options.
Lewis goes on to point out ... and I find that it fits pretty
well .... that what we call evil almost always is the direct result of
decisions made by human beings — although not always the obvious person.
You might argue that the drug addict may not have a choice
because of biology, but someone has the choice whether or not to make the drug
- don’t blame God.
We may want to mention hurricane Katrina, but for hundreds of
years people have been warned not to live there – don’t blame God.
When the earthquake sends
During our service, over 100 people will die around the world
from easily corrected lack of clean water – God is not to blame.
Call me if you want to struggle with these questions
further. We can also discuss how
scripture is fairly community oriented and much less individualistic than we
westerns like.
Point is that God does
look after us ... we just don’t always pay attention. God does not slumber or sleep — but does
allow us to make fools of ourselves.
Our help does come from God, the maker of heaven and earth — but
we have to be willing to accept that help.
OK – now the more difficult part.
What about the drunk driver who runs over the little child? What did the child do?
Nothing ! And God did not
“plan” on this in the sense that God sent the drunk driver down that road. No, I believe God must allow the drunk driver
to do an evil action BECAUSE God allows choices. BUT, God does not want that to happen. God does not want the person to drink and
drive.
So where is God for the family?
I believe God is there, holding them, comforting them, as much as they
will accept. Many times God’s primary
role is to allow their anger to be directed at Him ... without
retribution. But God is with us, even
when we are angry, hurt, doubting. God
does watch over our going out and our coming in .... even if we don’t see it.
Unfortunately it is at times like that, when we have the most
doubts that we need the most faith.
That’s why it is so important to practice ... to help our faith grow ...
to live into the Christian practices even if we are only taking tiny steps.
That’s part of what 2nd Timothy is discussing: to be trained
for a right relationship with God.
Training that helps us grow with patience, faith and endurance.
In times of persecution, maybe the more important lesson from
today is not the faithful psalm 121, but the gospel which tells us to
continually cry out to God — tell God, and know that, if we are willing to
listen, God will not delay long in coming to us.
AMEN
We have
previous sermons on our website. To read
an earlier recent sermon just enter: www.st-christopher.org/sermon.html.
CLICK HERE TO RESPOND: I would enjoy reading your comments about this sermon. Please feel free to discuss content or presentation. (If you wish to use another email system send your comments to: ken@st-christopher.com)