Living Faith-fully 7-24-22
Living Faith-fully
Gen 18:20-32; Col 2:6-15
Gen 18:20-32
Then the Lord said, “How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me; and if not, I will know.” So the men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham came near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.” Abraham answered, “Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” Again he spoke to him, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” Then he said, “Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” He said, “Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” Then he said, “Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.
Col 2:6-15
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.
Prayer – As we begin yet another week of life, O Lord, we pray that you will keep us rooted deeply in your love and faithfulness. We are faced with so many options to give our attention – it is hot here in Texas, some days unbearably so; yet another variant is threatening our health as individuals and communities; and then there is the backdrop of democracy and politics and the Ukraine/Russia conflict. Keep us grounded – living faithfully in him who showed us faithful living – we pray, as our world needs it – amen.
We are a people obsessed with securing ourselves in any and every way possible. We protect ourselves and our possessions in more ways than we can count – we have gated communities, alarms on everything from our cars to our laptops, and even software on our cell phones that if stolen can lead police to the thief! We really don’t like the notion that we human beings are vulnerable. We don’t want to be hurt; we want to fend off tragedy and pain and sorrow as long as possible. And yet, it seems that what we fear the most is change. We live under the illusion that if we take just the rights steps, if we are careful enough, if we make a thorough plan, we can keep things pretty much the way we want them. We tend to attach ourselves to ideas and notions that may give us a false sense of security that the status quo is safe.
But the idea of nothing ever changing is not a new notion. It is a myth that’s been around for eons. You can even cite chapters and verse from scripture – “there’s nothing new under the sun” (Eccl 1:8). What we don’t realize in our techno-secured world is that living as if ‘nothing ever changes’ is a way of life that keeps us from experiencing freedom, and joy, and love, and in a very real sense keeps us from living faith-fully. I imagine that the people of Paul’s day understood that on some level. The gentile community of Colossae was torn much as our world is today between the powers of the divine and the powers of world. Like today, the Colossians were living life on ‘eggshells’, trying to appease both sets of powers with rites always trying to predict which side might overturn the other.
With all of the rhetoric today being tossed around by different factions of the faith, it reminds me of what was happening some 2000 years ago when Paul, or one of his disciples, wrote this letter to the church at Colossae. The church at that time was facing all kinds of teachings. Some of those teaching reflected the life and ministry of Jesus while other teachings were as far from Jesus’ message as can be. At the core of Jesus’ movement 2000 years ago was a personal invitation to follow him in the ways of empathy, mercy and justice. It was at its heart, an appeal to the voluntary orientation of the heart of each human being he crossed paths with. It was something to be embraced or rejected without fears of repercussions or judgment – or in other words, it wasn’t about walking on eggshells.
Living faithfully 2000 years ago as modeled by Jesus was never about holding power. It was never about control or brute force or dictating the laws of the land or imposing itself on people’s lives. It was never intended to be a political or religious institution, but a chosen community of life-hearted people working together for the common good.
Actual followers of Jesus, then and now, understand that spirituality is the most intimate of expressions, wholly and deeply personal and made by a human being for themselves alone. Actual followers of Jesus, then and now, aspire to a life tangibly emulating Jesus in the world and perpetuating the compassion they find there, but they would never pile those expectations on anyone else. Actual followers of Jesus, then and now, believe their personal faith shouldn’t dictate the laws other people live under because they know he preached a kingdom that transcended the system and paradigm of this place. Actual followers of Jesus, then and now, want world where people’s most intimate of relationships and decisions are not the jurisdiction of any faith tradition, because they recognize that choosing or rejecting a spiritual path is a sacred and singular decision. Actual followers of Jesus, then and now, want no part of any political party’s brand of Christianity – rather they want something resembling Christ.
Then as now, there’s nothing more dangerous than professional Christians who have no real interest in Jesus – how he lived and what he stood for. Then as now, professional Christians who most loudly claim religious liberty as long as it resembles their particular beliefs while methodically swallowing up personal freedoms and elemental rights of everyday people is not the Jesus who lived and walked among people 2000 years ago. Then as now, professional Christians who broadcast their devotion to God on their bumper stickers while living antithetically to the compassionate heart of Jesus actually found in scripture is not the Jesus who lived and walked in 1st century Palestine. Then as now, professional Christians whose spirituality is largely performative – a showy fireworks display of culture war talking points and religious buzzwords that distracts from the truth that their lives are yielding almost nothing truly loving to anyone but people who agree with them on everything. Most telling though, is that the theology of far too many professional Christians today is built on an idea that Jesus fully rejected – compulsion – i.e. to live as I say or you aren’t living faithfully.
In our Pauline passage this morning, the author is reminding the early church as well as us today that our conduct as people of faith is reflective of whom we dwell, which is Christ, by continuing to be rooted in and built up by following faithfully, by faithfully living the path of Jesus. God’s fullness dwelled divinely in Jesus, just as it dwells in us, as we follow Jesus’ path. This is an ongoing divine reality and activity that was initiated with Christ’s life and continues today in our lives and will continue to thrive/survive into the future as well. This is something that will never change.
The reality is that our world today is changing just as quickly as Paul’s world was changing 2000 years ago. It can be scary, it can be overwhelming for us just as it was for the early church long ago. And even though change is and can be scary, there are a few things that never change – we are God’s beloved and God’s love doesn’t change, for you, for me, for anyone, no matter how good, bad or indifferent one may be. Another truth that doesn’t change is that God’s faithfulness is steadfast. Your faithfulness, my faithfulness may change minute to minute, hour to hour, day to day, week to week, month to month, year to year. And yet, God’s faithfulness cannot, will not change for the God who dwelled in Christ, who dwells in you and me, is constantly faithful – present, loving, forgiving and patient.
Our Pauline passage this morning is a reminder to us that God knows that we might unconsciously, as well as intentionally, may become rooted in other things. Even in the midst of having received Jesus, we might get distracted by ideas and worldviews that don’t reflect the kingdom of God. There is a large amount of deceit in our human traditions, our rulers and authorities whether of the world or of the faith.
Just as it was in Paul’s time, the role of politics in the church reflected how it was becoming more and more common for our political identity to rival our Christian identity. It is hard to imagine how a ‘true Christian’ could have voted for this candidate or that candidate, for this policy or that policy. Just as it was in Paul’s time, we are becoming more and more deeply rooted in our political identities, to such an extent that it causes division among Christians and as such, is more primary than our Christian identity, from a practical sense and it seems as if we have lost our rootedness in Jesus’ life and practices.
And yet, I’m reminded that Jesus called Matthew, the former tax collector for Rome, and Simon, the Zealot, who presumably believed that any means necessary was justified against Rome, even violence. It’s hard to imaging two such diverse political points of view more in opposition, and, they were both part of Jesus’ twelve disciples.
The church, even in the midst of all the differences of her members then as now, is to be united – united as followers of Jesus, living faithfully as Jesus lived. The church is a community born out of communion with Jesus. This, too, is central to Paul’s thought and to our passage this morning. As individuals and as a faith community we ‘have died’ to these other ways of living through our communion with Jesus in his baptism. We are buried with him in our baptism and we have been raised to new ways of living – ways that leave us deeply rooted and built up in him.
This gentle reminder of that reality may be critical if Christianity has any chance of faithfully living out its call today, tomorrow and into the future. We need to set aside all of those things that distract us from faithfully living as Jesus lived, lives and will live into eternity – focusing on compassion, mercy and justice – loving God, loving one another – just as Jesus did. That is what living faithfully means, now, just as it did so long ago – may we do so – thanks be to God – amen.