Text: Matthew 22:34-46
Theme: “7UP: Lust” (8th in a series)
19th Sunday after Pentecost
October 23, 2011
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[c] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”
“The son of David,” they replied.
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,
44 “‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.”’[e]
45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
A few years back, during the halftime show of the Super Bowl game, popular singer Janet Jackson had what has been called a “wardrobe malfunction.” Something happened there on that stage with Justin Timberlake that caused quite a ruckus across the fruited plain – such a ruckus, in fact, that it was discussed in the halls of the United States Congress. In one week, our lawmakers spent more energy discussing over Janet Jackson’s exposure on TV than it did with American involvement and activity in the war with Iraq. America is at war, but leadership at our highest civic level is apparently more interested in discussing a matter not unrelated to the last of the seven deadly sins that we consider today. I’m talking about lust.
Dictionary.com defines lust as “an intense sexual desire or appetite”, a “passionate or overmastering desire or craving,” and “an ardent enthusiasm, zest, or relish for life.”
Once again, we learn – as we have in considering all the deadly sins – that lust has positive aspects. Remember the motion picture, a few years back, by Roberto Begnini? It was called Life is Beautiful. It was evident, at the Academy Awards and on other occasions, that Mr. Begnini had a lust for a life, a zest for living if you will, that was really something to see.
But there is, of course, that dark side to every one of these sins. Jesus picked up on it, as it relates to lust, in his famous Sermon on the Mount. He said to the crowd: “You have heard it said: ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that if you even look at a woman with lust in your heart, you have committed adultery with her.” That’s pretty intense. Jesus had a nagging tendency to stiffen the legal and moral code of the old covenant that was already impossible to keep.
In the Song of Solomon, an Old Testament book, you have a celebration of that intense desire and passionate craving of the lover for the beloved. There are sections of that book that if they don’t qualify as being erotic, then they should. But we Christians, at least publicly amongst ourselves, tend to be rather puritanical about lust as it relates to things erotic or sexual. I have yet to see a selection from the Song of Solomon as a lectionary reading during the church year, and I’ve preached on the lectionary for years.
When it comes to sex, which is in some ways connected to lust, the Bible really doesn’t have a whole lot to say. The fact is, some Christian denominations – our own included – have discussed it at far greater length than it is due given the attention paid to it in Holy Scripture. Maybe we’re just mimicking our culture in a thirty year attempt to be “relevant”; I don’t know. The subject of sex, and, yet more specifically, sexual orientation, has buffeted and beat up Christian denominations for decades. For over thirty years, the PCUSA, among other denominations, has played theological and political ping-pong with the subject of sex. We’ve had discussions on all kinds of levels – General Assembly level, synod level, presbytery level, session level and on. Presbyterian parachurch newsletters have weighed in with their various points of view pretty much all claiming to be the right one. But meanwhile, as debates regarding sex and sexual orientation go on (formal or otherwise), something else has been happening for the last thirty to fifty years or more.
It’s my considered view, looking back over the span of years so far allotted to me, that the church has been so distracted with other matters that it has all but overlooked the obvious. And the devil (or the “power of evil in the world”, or whatever you wish to call it) is sitting back and saying, “Okay, let’s just watch them shoot themselves in the foot!”
Let me put it this way. The arguments over sex, which in some ways has ripped at the seams of the church and tore it open, are little more than a thunderstorm compared to the religious “tsunami” that is starting to hit our nation. And I’m not sure, given how distracted the church has been, that we’ve even seen it coming. Sadly, in and of ourselves, we are not equipped to deal with it.
Christianity is being faced with a new form of religion. It is so pervasive that it has wriggled its way into our own churches. Dr. Michael Horton is onto it. In his writings, he is persuaded that we nearly have come to the point of having a “Christ-less” Christianity. Another author, thinker, writer, and youth worker by the name of Kenda Creasy Dean has published a book called Almost Christian: What the Faith of American Teenagers is Telling the Church. American teens, she claims, have a faith. They’ve picked up on it from their parents, their churches, their youth groups, and their friends. She has named this religion. She calls it “moralistic, therapeutic, deism,” and it’s as simple as it is sinister. It comes down to the following: 1) be kind; 2) take care of one another; and 3) believe that there is a force for good in the world (your conception of God) that is greater than yourself.
Now who could argue with that? At first blush, it sounds pretty good to me. But do you see what is missing? Better yet, do you see Who is missing from that? That’s right. There is no Jesus. And if there is no Jesus, then there is no church which is His body. You don’t need Christ or Christianity to be a kind person. One of kindest people I’ve met since coming to Denton lives right across the street from me. He’s a wonderful parent, too. Their family is not Christian. They are practitioners of the Bahai’ religion.
Likewise, you don’t need Christ or Christianity in order to know that it’s important to care for one another. Join Rotary or another service club. Last week, at Rotary, I learned that the world-wide organization, with the help of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has eradicated 99% of polio throughout the world. The 1% where it is not eradicated is in areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan where, apparently, some leaders think that anything that comes from western civilization, including vaccine, is evil. In any case, this attempt by Rotary to care for people is writ large and it’s great! But my point is that you don’t need Christ and His church for that.
As far as a power greater than yourself is concerned, even the most brash atheist would likely claim that he or she has laid awake at nights wondering if there is, in fact, some kind of rhyme or reason behind the life we lead and the world and universe we live in. You don’t need Christ and the church to believe that there may just be a power greater than yourself.
The thing about “Be kind, take care of one another, and believe in a power greater than yourself” (which is to say, moralistic, therapeutic deism) is this: it’s like a recreational drug. It can make people feel better for the moment, but it does not reconcile sinners to God. You can even find churches – many of which are packed to the rafters, some of them even Presbyterian – that can make you feel better for the moment, but they won’t reconcile sinners to God. For that, my friends, it takes not you, not me, not the Presbyterian Church, not our cherished points of view on lust or sexual sin or any sin for that matter, it takes Jesus Christ alone! For hundreds of years, we reformed Christians have talked about grace alone and faith alone and Scripture alone – the great “solas”, we call them in tones of polished, Protestant, piety. It’s time to bring back the “sola” that tops them all: Solus Christus --“Christ alone!”
Whether it knows it or not, it is my view that the world is crying out for it. A few years back, there was an incredible scene on the NBC TV program ER. A retired police officer was lying in a hospital bed dying from cancer. He confessed to the chaplain his long-held guilt over allowing an innocent man to be framed and executed for a crime that he didn’t commit. He asks the chaplain, “How can I even hope for forgiveness?” The chaplain replies, “I think sometimes it’s easier to feel guilty than forgiven.” “Which means what?” replies the dying man. The chaplain continues: “That maybe your guilt over his death has become your reason for living. May you need a new reason to go on.” The man said, “I don’t want to go on. Can’t you see I’m dying? The only thing that is holding me back is that I’m afraid – I’m afraid of what comes next.” “What do you think that is?” the chaplain inquires. Growing impatient, the man answers, “You tell me. Is atonement possible? What does God want from me?” The chaplain paused and then went on: “I think it’s up to each one of us to interpret for ourselves what God wants.” The man stared at her in amazement. “So people can do anything? They can rape, they can murder, they can steal – all in the name of God and it’s OK?” “No, that’s not what I’m saying,” the chaplain responds. “Then want ARE you saying?” asks the man. “Because all I’m hearing is some new Age, God-is-love, have-it-your-way crap! … No, I don’t have time for this now.” “You don’t understand,” the chaplain went on. “No, YOU don’t understand,” the dying man said. “I want a real chaplain who believes in a real God and a real hell!”
Missing the point of this man’s entire struggle, the chaplain collects herself and says in that familiar tone of condescension disguised as understanding, “I hear that you’re frustrated, but you need to ask yourself –“ “No,” the man interrupts, “I don’t need to ask myself anything. I need answers and all of your questions and all your uncertainty are only making things worse.”
The chaplain then tried to encourage calm. She said, “I know you’re upset,” she says. That provoked the man’s final outburst: “God, I need someone who will look me in the eye and tell me how to find forgiveness, because I am running out of time.”
It is at this point – please, dear God! -- that the church can become Christian again. God has a message that is given us to deliver to human beings and to a world all of which are dying and running out of time. That message is the Gospel, the good news that there is that blood-bought forgiveness of Jesus Christ. It is the message of reconciliation in Christ alone which declares to us that our sins – amid all their damning variety and the confusion and despair that they create – are forgiven.
It is time to close this series on the seven deadly sins by borrowing a leaf from the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament. The passage is only two verses and it fits best in Advent, the season before Christmas, which is only two months away. Isaiah says:
“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
“Double for all her sins!” Our Lord, crucifed on Calvary’s cross and risen victorious from the grave, has twice as much forgiveness as the world has sins.
Thanks be to God!
Amen.
THE STRAIGHTFORWARD PULPIT
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
7UP: Gluttony
Text: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Theme: “7UP: Gluttony” (7th in a series)
18th Sunday after Pentecost
October 16, 2011
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
1 Paul, Silas[a] and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you.
2 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
4 For we know, brothers and sisters[b] loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
At least two people, during the past few weeks, asked about what Sunday the sermon on gluttony was to be given. They hinted, with a smile and chuckle, that they might not be there for that one. Now, I really didn’t want to be here either for the sermon on gluttony. Gluttony hits a smidge closer to home than I care to admit, and talking about it might make me a tad uncomfortable. I’ll just come right out and say it. You remember Lays Potato Chips? The advertisements used to say that no one could eat just one. Well, Lays potato chips do not hold a candle to the Zappo’s brand Cajun/Crawfish flavored potato chips that they sell at Rudy’s barbeque. I confess to eating an entire bag in one sitting, and I’ve done that more than once. Whenevever I eat just one, immediately my taste buds send a signal to my brain with the mandate to eat more and more and more! In a gesture of consideration, I’ve often bought two bags so that my family can share the first and I can keep the second to myself. And Cajun/Crawfish flavored chips aren’t the end of it. They make these little crackers with cheese and they put six of them in a little package. Then they sell them in a package of six of the little packages with six cheese crackers. One afternoon, not long ago, it was discovered in our pantry that one of the packages containing the six little packages was entirely gone. Now who was the glutton who raided the pantry and snarfed down all those crackers that, I am reliably told, are loaded with fat? That’s right! It’s Rev. Glutton here!
There’s nothing in today’s New Testament reading, First Thessalonians 1:1-10, about gluttony. For that matter, there’s not much in the Bible at all about the subject of gluttony. But when it does pop up, it’s rather dramatic. Start with the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament. Chapter twenty three begins as follows: “When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony. Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.” This passage seems to suggest that good manners are the order of the day. Gluttony and good manners don’t fit together very well, but the whole knife to the throat thing seems a bit harsh. Perhaps the author was exaggerating for effect. Later in the same chapter we read: “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.” This seems to be saying that if you eat and drink too much, you will be physically tired because your body is working overtime to digest all that food and drink. And thus, being so tired, you won’t be productive. Enter the 5-Hour Energy Drink! As Thomas a’Kempis said in his Imitation of Christ: “When the belly is full to bursting with food and drink, debauchery knocks at the door.”
That all sounds reasonable. But then we turn back the pages from Proverbs to the book of Deuteronomy. The subject of gluttony is addressed here as well. Hang on because this is going to freak you out. I cite Deuteronomy 21:18-21: “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. They shall say to the elders, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.” Yes, my friends, it says it right there in the Bible.
To our twenty-first century sophisticated ears, the notion that gluttony is a capital offense strikes us as absurd. We’ve all heard about “tough love”, but execution as punishment is entirely out of line. To take someone’s life for being a glutton and a drunkard would be a permanent reaction to what should only be a temporary problem. It’s not that big a deal. And, besides that, we all have to eat and drink. We can be excused for overdoing it a bit, right? We tend to do that at Thanksgiving and Christmas! I wonder what percentage of new year resolutions are made that relate to losing the weight brought on by chowing down so much during the holidays!
Thanksgiving and Christmas, of course, have religious roots. In fact, a great many of the religious observances, holidays, festivals, and feasts revolve around food. The Passover meal in the Old Testament certainly did. At the center of our togetherness as Christian believers is – drum roll please! – a meal: the Lord’s Supper! And food is nothing short of a family value! At family birthday get-togethers and such, the issues often revolve around who is bringing the meats, the side dishes, the drinks, and the desserts.
What else does the Bible say? Well, Jesus Christ Himself was accused of being a glutton. In Matthew chapter eleven, while speaking to a crowd, our Lord mentions his cousin, John the Baptist: “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.” The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners”’.” Just as an aside, one of the most beautiful titles for our Lord Jesus Christ came from the lips of His enemies. It’s one of the great ironies of history. It’s the best evidence there is: positive evidence from a hostile source. The enemies of Jesus, derisively, called him a “friend of sinners.” And, indeed, He is! To paraphrase that old Billy Joel song, Jesus would rather laugh with the forgiven sinners than cry with the self-centered saints.
The Thessalonian Christians appear to have gluttony, or any other problem for that matter, nipped in the bud. The apostle Paul, in his letter, raves about them. He thanks God for them and their “work produced by faith”, their “labor prompted by love”, their “endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” The report is a glowing one, and they get high marks. They are, says Paul, a “model to all believers… .” And they have “turned from idols”, we are told, to worship the true and living God.
What is the opposite of such faith, love, endurance, and true worship? In his letter to the Philippians, Paul describes the ugly flip-side: “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.” He says much the same to the Christians at Rome. Consider Romans 16:17: “Now I beseech you brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine you have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such served not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.”
Here in both references the stomach – or belly -- is mentioned as a god, and it gets us right to the heart of gluttony. To say that someone’s god is their stomach is to say that one is living by little more than instinct, and the whole purpose for life and living – the whole nine yards, as they say – is to satisfy that instinct and craving.
On the silver screen, Academy Award winning actor Al Pacino played the role of the devil in the movie, The Devil’s Advocate. In the closing monologue, the devil, played by Pacino, says, referring to God: “He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift, and then what does He do? For his own amusement, for his own cosmic gag reel, he sets the rules in opposition. It’s the goof of all time! Look, but don’t touch. Touch, but don’t taste. Taste, but don’t swallow. And while you’re jumpin’ from one foot to the next, He laughs.”
Instincts. Cravings. Once the craving is satisfied, instinct redoubles its efforts and demands more and more. Why is instinct acted on so often? Stated differently, why is gluttony so real?
John Cougar Mellencamp, the “Hoosier rocker”, put gluttony in lyric form when he wrote:
I’ve got seven of everything and more in the till
But I ain’t ever satisfied
You think this is dangerous stuff
It ain’t even a thrill
I ain’t ever satisfied
Oh, I am never
No, I am never
I don’t know why I ain’t ever satisfied.
If you don’t like all the double-negatives, try Dave Matthews on for size. In his song “Too Much”, he puts it this way:
I'm no crazy creep, I've got it coming
To me because I'm not satisfied
The hunger keeps on growing
I eat too much
I drink too much
I want too much
Too much
If Rock and Roll alludes to gluttony, so does country music. Think of all the ballads touting the benefits of bourbon. Willie Nelson’s “Whiskey River” comes to mind. Jerry Jeff Walker, who is Texas through and through, spoke more generally of gluttony with the following:
Too far and too high and too deep ain’t too much to be
Yeah, too much just ain’t enough for those old five and dimers like me.
We’ve got a nation and a culture loaded with five and dimers for whom too much is not enough. Our country is obsessed with food and drink. Is it any surprise that one of the most watched TV programs, watched by a larger proportion of viewers than nearly every other channel – is the Food Channel? As one scholar asks, “When does concern about good food become too much concern?”
Still, we over-indulge – we “super-size” our “combo meal” -- and then wonder why we have to face the dismal statistics related to obesity. We occasionally abuse alcohol and drugs; the occasional can become the regular, and, for some people along the line, the regular abuse crosses over into alcoholism and addiction. This spawns its own set of abysmal statistics. Then there are the eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. The national dieting craze rakes in billions of dollars each year as people learn to count their calories, cut their carbs, and discover the joys of polyunsaturated fats! We spend more on dieting each year than the gross national product of the country of Ireland! We’ve become a society not of Bible readers but of label readers, all the while taking note of how many grams of this goes into that and what percentage of whatever meets our minimum daily requirement! This, we have convinced ourselves, makes us feel healthy, makes us look healthy, and provides that patina of sophistication that we so desperately crave.
Medieval theology, which gave us the listing of the seven deadly sins, considered gluttony a moral problem. Writers considered it to have five main branches: eating too soon, too much, too avidly, too richly (meaning expensively), and too daintily. And gluttony was more than stepping up to the table at a hot dog eating contest. It was also a matter of being overly concerned about food, fixated on food, rather than the amount of food. Gluttony, overindulgence, was considered an outrage against God, but not anymore.
In our day, gluttony is an outrage against something else: the idol, the false god, of our ideal body image. It has nothing to do with faithfulness to God or the lack thereof. For the modern mind, any “sin” involving gluttony relates to the resulting ugliness and ill health. It’s not a moral problem; it’s an aesthetic one. And here in America we’re far more concerned with externals (how things look) than internals (how they really are). We’re more impressed with what words evoke than what they mean. We’re all about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And happiness involves, at times, catering to our pleasures – as long as those pleasures do not harm us or our neighbor. We still speak of “safe sex” between “consenting adults”, of course. We are told, by Madison Avenue alcohol marketers, to “drink responsibly.” And do consider buying the low-fat devil’s food cake!
The columnist William Raspberry once gave a talk on “the most detrimental point in human history.” To the surprise of all, he claimed that the most detrimental point was when humanity learned to refine sugar. Why? Because it instantly satisfied cravings.
Do we Presbyterian Christians take gluttony seriously as a sin? Are there times when, we have to confess, that our god is our stomach, our belly? Are we given to gluttony?
It’s easier to moan and groan about evil that is larger than our own occasional excesses. A case could be made that we like our consideration of evil to be systemic and more universal. That’s easier than making it personal, a matter of the gut! Talk, instead, about the evil that is done to us by these evil politicians, by these wicked institutions and unjust economic systems such as big government and big Wall Street. That’s where the problem lies. It’s not because we ate one too many enchiladas.
Jesus Christ – distressingly and yet wonderfully – was not so cosmic about our notions of evil. He was far more personal – man to man and woman to woman. We are all filled with instincts and cravings that we respond to –in ways, at times, that bring us, our neighbor, and God to grief. We are sinners not only by our own design but by nature.
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. His blood-bought gift to us is the forgiveness of our sins. He, the one accused of being a glutton and a winebibber, is, indeed, the friend of sinners!
It is as forgiven sinners, then, that we consider what we eat or do not eat, what we drink or do not drink. We no longer live for ourselves -- or live too indulgently or too daintily. We live for Him who died and rose for us.
This understanding is powerful for what it enables: not gluttony, but work produced by faith; not overindulgence, but labor prompted by love; not self-centeredness, but endurance inspired by hope. We are turned from the idol of the belly, the false god of stomach, to serve the true and living God who bids us to eat and to drink with Him and in whose presence is fullness of joy.
Amen.
Theme: “7UP: Gluttony” (7th in a series)
18th Sunday after Pentecost
October 16, 2011
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
1 Paul, Silas[a] and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you.
2 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
4 For we know, brothers and sisters[b] loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
At least two people, during the past few weeks, asked about what Sunday the sermon on gluttony was to be given. They hinted, with a smile and chuckle, that they might not be there for that one. Now, I really didn’t want to be here either for the sermon on gluttony. Gluttony hits a smidge closer to home than I care to admit, and talking about it might make me a tad uncomfortable. I’ll just come right out and say it. You remember Lays Potato Chips? The advertisements used to say that no one could eat just one. Well, Lays potato chips do not hold a candle to the Zappo’s brand Cajun/Crawfish flavored potato chips that they sell at Rudy’s barbeque. I confess to eating an entire bag in one sitting, and I’ve done that more than once. Whenevever I eat just one, immediately my taste buds send a signal to my brain with the mandate to eat more and more and more! In a gesture of consideration, I’ve often bought two bags so that my family can share the first and I can keep the second to myself. And Cajun/Crawfish flavored chips aren’t the end of it. They make these little crackers with cheese and they put six of them in a little package. Then they sell them in a package of six of the little packages with six cheese crackers. One afternoon, not long ago, it was discovered in our pantry that one of the packages containing the six little packages was entirely gone. Now who was the glutton who raided the pantry and snarfed down all those crackers that, I am reliably told, are loaded with fat? That’s right! It’s Rev. Glutton here!
There’s nothing in today’s New Testament reading, First Thessalonians 1:1-10, about gluttony. For that matter, there’s not much in the Bible at all about the subject of gluttony. But when it does pop up, it’s rather dramatic. Start with the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament. Chapter twenty three begins as follows: “When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony. Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.” This passage seems to suggest that good manners are the order of the day. Gluttony and good manners don’t fit together very well, but the whole knife to the throat thing seems a bit harsh. Perhaps the author was exaggerating for effect. Later in the same chapter we read: “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.” This seems to be saying that if you eat and drink too much, you will be physically tired because your body is working overtime to digest all that food and drink. And thus, being so tired, you won’t be productive. Enter the 5-Hour Energy Drink! As Thomas a’Kempis said in his Imitation of Christ: “When the belly is full to bursting with food and drink, debauchery knocks at the door.”
That all sounds reasonable. But then we turn back the pages from Proverbs to the book of Deuteronomy. The subject of gluttony is addressed here as well. Hang on because this is going to freak you out. I cite Deuteronomy 21:18-21: “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. They shall say to the elders, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.” Yes, my friends, it says it right there in the Bible.
To our twenty-first century sophisticated ears, the notion that gluttony is a capital offense strikes us as absurd. We’ve all heard about “tough love”, but execution as punishment is entirely out of line. To take someone’s life for being a glutton and a drunkard would be a permanent reaction to what should only be a temporary problem. It’s not that big a deal. And, besides that, we all have to eat and drink. We can be excused for overdoing it a bit, right? We tend to do that at Thanksgiving and Christmas! I wonder what percentage of new year resolutions are made that relate to losing the weight brought on by chowing down so much during the holidays!
Thanksgiving and Christmas, of course, have religious roots. In fact, a great many of the religious observances, holidays, festivals, and feasts revolve around food. The Passover meal in the Old Testament certainly did. At the center of our togetherness as Christian believers is – drum roll please! – a meal: the Lord’s Supper! And food is nothing short of a family value! At family birthday get-togethers and such, the issues often revolve around who is bringing the meats, the side dishes, the drinks, and the desserts.
What else does the Bible say? Well, Jesus Christ Himself was accused of being a glutton. In Matthew chapter eleven, while speaking to a crowd, our Lord mentions his cousin, John the Baptist: “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.” The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners”’.” Just as an aside, one of the most beautiful titles for our Lord Jesus Christ came from the lips of His enemies. It’s one of the great ironies of history. It’s the best evidence there is: positive evidence from a hostile source. The enemies of Jesus, derisively, called him a “friend of sinners.” And, indeed, He is! To paraphrase that old Billy Joel song, Jesus would rather laugh with the forgiven sinners than cry with the self-centered saints.
The Thessalonian Christians appear to have gluttony, or any other problem for that matter, nipped in the bud. The apostle Paul, in his letter, raves about them. He thanks God for them and their “work produced by faith”, their “labor prompted by love”, their “endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” The report is a glowing one, and they get high marks. They are, says Paul, a “model to all believers… .” And they have “turned from idols”, we are told, to worship the true and living God.
What is the opposite of such faith, love, endurance, and true worship? In his letter to the Philippians, Paul describes the ugly flip-side: “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.” He says much the same to the Christians at Rome. Consider Romans 16:17: “Now I beseech you brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine you have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such served not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.”
Here in both references the stomach – or belly -- is mentioned as a god, and it gets us right to the heart of gluttony. To say that someone’s god is their stomach is to say that one is living by little more than instinct, and the whole purpose for life and living – the whole nine yards, as they say – is to satisfy that instinct and craving.
On the silver screen, Academy Award winning actor Al Pacino played the role of the devil in the movie, The Devil’s Advocate. In the closing monologue, the devil, played by Pacino, says, referring to God: “He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift, and then what does He do? For his own amusement, for his own cosmic gag reel, he sets the rules in opposition. It’s the goof of all time! Look, but don’t touch. Touch, but don’t taste. Taste, but don’t swallow. And while you’re jumpin’ from one foot to the next, He laughs.”
Instincts. Cravings. Once the craving is satisfied, instinct redoubles its efforts and demands more and more. Why is instinct acted on so often? Stated differently, why is gluttony so real?
John Cougar Mellencamp, the “Hoosier rocker”, put gluttony in lyric form when he wrote:
I’ve got seven of everything and more in the till
But I ain’t ever satisfied
You think this is dangerous stuff
It ain’t even a thrill
I ain’t ever satisfied
Oh, I am never
No, I am never
I don’t know why I ain’t ever satisfied.
If you don’t like all the double-negatives, try Dave Matthews on for size. In his song “Too Much”, he puts it this way:
I'm no crazy creep, I've got it coming
To me because I'm not satisfied
The hunger keeps on growing
I eat too much
I drink too much
I want too much
Too much
If Rock and Roll alludes to gluttony, so does country music. Think of all the ballads touting the benefits of bourbon. Willie Nelson’s “Whiskey River” comes to mind. Jerry Jeff Walker, who is Texas through and through, spoke more generally of gluttony with the following:
Too far and too high and too deep ain’t too much to be
Yeah, too much just ain’t enough for those old five and dimers like me.
We’ve got a nation and a culture loaded with five and dimers for whom too much is not enough. Our country is obsessed with food and drink. Is it any surprise that one of the most watched TV programs, watched by a larger proportion of viewers than nearly every other channel – is the Food Channel? As one scholar asks, “When does concern about good food become too much concern?”
Still, we over-indulge – we “super-size” our “combo meal” -- and then wonder why we have to face the dismal statistics related to obesity. We occasionally abuse alcohol and drugs; the occasional can become the regular, and, for some people along the line, the regular abuse crosses over into alcoholism and addiction. This spawns its own set of abysmal statistics. Then there are the eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. The national dieting craze rakes in billions of dollars each year as people learn to count their calories, cut their carbs, and discover the joys of polyunsaturated fats! We spend more on dieting each year than the gross national product of the country of Ireland! We’ve become a society not of Bible readers but of label readers, all the while taking note of how many grams of this goes into that and what percentage of whatever meets our minimum daily requirement! This, we have convinced ourselves, makes us feel healthy, makes us look healthy, and provides that patina of sophistication that we so desperately crave.
Medieval theology, which gave us the listing of the seven deadly sins, considered gluttony a moral problem. Writers considered it to have five main branches: eating too soon, too much, too avidly, too richly (meaning expensively), and too daintily. And gluttony was more than stepping up to the table at a hot dog eating contest. It was also a matter of being overly concerned about food, fixated on food, rather than the amount of food. Gluttony, overindulgence, was considered an outrage against God, but not anymore.
In our day, gluttony is an outrage against something else: the idol, the false god, of our ideal body image. It has nothing to do with faithfulness to God or the lack thereof. For the modern mind, any “sin” involving gluttony relates to the resulting ugliness and ill health. It’s not a moral problem; it’s an aesthetic one. And here in America we’re far more concerned with externals (how things look) than internals (how they really are). We’re more impressed with what words evoke than what they mean. We’re all about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And happiness involves, at times, catering to our pleasures – as long as those pleasures do not harm us or our neighbor. We still speak of “safe sex” between “consenting adults”, of course. We are told, by Madison Avenue alcohol marketers, to “drink responsibly.” And do consider buying the low-fat devil’s food cake!
The columnist William Raspberry once gave a talk on “the most detrimental point in human history.” To the surprise of all, he claimed that the most detrimental point was when humanity learned to refine sugar. Why? Because it instantly satisfied cravings.
Do we Presbyterian Christians take gluttony seriously as a sin? Are there times when, we have to confess, that our god is our stomach, our belly? Are we given to gluttony?
It’s easier to moan and groan about evil that is larger than our own occasional excesses. A case could be made that we like our consideration of evil to be systemic and more universal. That’s easier than making it personal, a matter of the gut! Talk, instead, about the evil that is done to us by these evil politicians, by these wicked institutions and unjust economic systems such as big government and big Wall Street. That’s where the problem lies. It’s not because we ate one too many enchiladas.
Jesus Christ – distressingly and yet wonderfully – was not so cosmic about our notions of evil. He was far more personal – man to man and woman to woman. We are all filled with instincts and cravings that we respond to –in ways, at times, that bring us, our neighbor, and God to grief. We are sinners not only by our own design but by nature.
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. His blood-bought gift to us is the forgiveness of our sins. He, the one accused of being a glutton and a winebibber, is, indeed, the friend of sinners!
It is as forgiven sinners, then, that we consider what we eat or do not eat, what we drink or do not drink. We no longer live for ourselves -- or live too indulgently or too daintily. We live for Him who died and rose for us.
This understanding is powerful for what it enables: not gluttony, but work produced by faith; not overindulgence, but labor prompted by love; not self-centeredness, but endurance inspired by hope. We are turned from the idol of the belly, the false god of stomach, to serve the true and living God who bids us to eat and to drink with Him and in whose presence is fullness of joy.
Amen.
7UP: Greed
Text: Psalm 106:1-6
Theme: “7UP: Greed” (6th in a series)
17th Sunday after Pentecost
October 9, 2011
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
1 Praise the LORD.[a]
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
2 Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD
or fully declare his praise?
3 Blessed are those who act justly,
who always do what is right.
4 Remember me, LORD, when you show favor to your people,
come to my aid when you save them,
5 that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones,
that I may share in the joy of your nation
and join your inheritance in giving praise.
6 We have sinned, even as our ancestors did;
we have done wrong and acted wickedly.
The name of our series is 7UP: A Refreshing Look at the Seven Deadly Sins, and today we focus on greed. Greed, according to dictionary.com, is defined as “an excessive or rapacious desire for wealth or possessions.” Long ago, John D. Rockefeller, a famously wealthy American, was asked when he was most content. His reply didn’t skip a beat; he said: “When I have more money than I have right now.” His thoughts are certainly in keeping with fictional character Gordon Gekko, portrayed by Michael Douglas, who gave us that memorable line from the 1987 motion picture Wall Street: “Greed is good.” Here’s the full text: “The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed – for lack of a better word – is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms – greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge – has marked the upward surge of mankind.”
King Solomon, writing in the Old Testament book of Proverbs, would have taken issue with Gekko’s comment. In Proverbs 15:27 we read: “A greedy man brings trouble to his family.”
At any rate, life can imitate art, and it certainly can imitate the Proverb I just read. Some years ago, authors Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind co-authored a book titled The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron. Enron, that massive corporation based in Houston, Texas, eventually fell apart like a house of cards. When all was said and done, many of Enron’s employees lost their jobs, benefits, and retirement portfolios in one big swoop. At the heart of the problem were mergers, acquisitions, and shoddy accounting principles. Enron would buy a company and then list the projected profit – say, over a ten year period – as actual profit for the current year. With the help of their accounting firm, Arthur Anderson (which also came tumbling down in the aftermath), these mark-to-market accounting procedures went on over and over again. It helped to inflate – indeed, overinflate – the stock price. But the profits were no more realized than fly. The whole greedy scheme ended in disaster. Indeed, the book begins with one of the chief financial officers of Enron driving off in the middle of the night just down the road from his home in a wealthy neighborhood. And there he took his own life.
More recently, think of stockbroker and investor Bernie Madoff who is now serving a one hundred fifty year prison term. In March of 2009, he plead guilty to eleven federal felonies involving the largest ponzi scheme in history. He defrauded investors, according to government estimates, of over eighteen billion dollars. Some time after his imprisonment, Madoff’s son took his own life.
Solomon says: “A greedy man brings trouble to his family.” I would say so. But still, there’s that tantalizing rationale of greed that Gordon Gekko proffered: “Greed is good…Greed is the essence of the evolutionary spirit…Greed…marks the upward surge of mankind.”
The comment was uttered in the context of a business seminar that featured Gekko, the Wall Street entrepreneur that everyone loved to hate. He spoke to a packed house.
Jesus Christ Himself was no stranger to large crowds. Some hated Him. Others loved Him. All were fascinated with him and hung on His every word. One day, in the context of a large crowd, He was interrupted – perhaps even heckled – by someone. The person said, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Back then, as a general rule, the greatest share of the inheritance – when a parent died – went to the eldest sibling. Maybe this was a younger sibling who had yet to be paid; maybe he wanted more than his allotted share. We don’t know. What we do know is that Jesus was quick with His reply and read the heckler’s intentions like a cheap dime store novel. He said: “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then He said to the entire crowd: “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” So I guess we have to bid farewell to that old saw: “He who dies with the most toys wins.”
As if to illustrate the point, our Lord went on to tell a little story:
The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, “What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.” Then he said, “This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’” But God said to him, “You fool!” This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself.” This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.
When it comes to riches and wealth, we tend to think quantitatively. We even use accounting principles! In other words, how many millions or billions of dollars does this person, group, or business have at hand to spend as they want? Jesus Christ, however, looked at riches and wealth not quantitatively, but directionally. In other words, what direction is the wealth going? Is it going to the self – as in new barns for the bumper crop? Or is it going to God? Stated differently, is it understood as a gift from God to be used for God’s purposes?
Probing deeper, Jesus is saying that there’s more to wealth than large amounts of dollars and cents. There are spiritual riches as well. You can be rich towards God and not have a whole lot of money. Similarly, you could be poor toward God and have tons of it.
Where does that put us? Recently, Andy Rooney stepped down from having the last word on TV’s 60 Minutes. He would conclude each week’s show with witty observations covering a range of topics. I’ll never forget one comment he made during the course of the years. He said: “It’s not that I want to be rich. I just don’t want to be poor. I want to stay even.”
I suspect that most folks, publicly, are a-okay with that sentiment. It keeps them at a comfortable spiritual distance from the pains of both poverty and wealth.
But maybe there’s more to this matter than just staying even.
The late Dr. Oswald Hoffmann, a great spokesman for Christ and a huge influence on me, once told the story of a young girl who came home after spending some time with a friend after school. The youngster told her mom that her friend had so many nice things. She had a room full of toys and a closet full of the latest clothes. She had a new bike. The family had a swimming pool. They had a huge house with a playground. They had a home on a lake that they went to every weekend.
The little girl looked at her own surroundings, meager in comparison, and was rather sad. Picking up on this, her mother said: “Why don’t you make two lists. On one list, write down all the things your friend has that you don’t have. On the other list, write down all the things that you have that your friend doesn’t have.” The daughter took her mother up on that. She wrote down all the things her friend had that she didn’t have. Once that was done, she listed everything she had that her friend did not have. She listed things such as this: “We do things together…we go on picnics together…we laugh with one another…we love each other.” After she was done writing, the mother said: “Compare the two lists.” It didn’t take long to see the difference. In one family, as Dr. Hoffmann described it, there was a lot of fluff but little stuff. In her own family, the daughter discovered, there wasn’t a great deal of fluff, but there was a lot of stuff, real stuff that makes for real life.
Where are we at this morning? Are we after the fluff or the stuff? Are we zealous to accumulate things that we one day will have to part with, or are we zealous for life, real life? Jesus says: “I have come that people might have life – and that they might have that life to the full!”
Jesus Christ was zealous alright, but it wasn’t for money or possessions. That was not His interest. Rather, His interest was – and is! – in you and me. And the interest was not in passing. The Gospel is not a spiritual ponzi scheme. Instead, the Gospel is this: Jesus Christ invested His life in you and me. He offered His entire being on Calvary’s cross for all those sins of ours – including the greedy ones. In His resurrection from the grave on Easter Sunday, He ushered in the new Kingdom that is not ruled by wealth but rather by righteousness. The forgiveness of our sins is a sure thing. All of of life – even the parts of it that we yearn for and work for – is a gift. We are now driven not by scheming or greed but rather by the Spirit of Jesus Christ who endlessly dishes out those spiritual riches of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. Life is not about climbing a totem pole and, by hook or by crook, leaving others in the dust. Life is about living with God and God’s people.
Today’s Psalm captures it so well:
Remember me, LORD, when you show favor to your people,
come to my aid when you save them,
that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones,
that I may share in the joy of your nation
and join your inheritance in giving praise.
Amen.
Theme: “7UP: Greed” (6th in a series)
17th Sunday after Pentecost
October 9, 2011
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
1 Praise the LORD.[a]
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
2 Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD
or fully declare his praise?
3 Blessed are those who act justly,
who always do what is right.
4 Remember me, LORD, when you show favor to your people,
come to my aid when you save them,
5 that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones,
that I may share in the joy of your nation
and join your inheritance in giving praise.
6 We have sinned, even as our ancestors did;
we have done wrong and acted wickedly.
The name of our series is 7UP: A Refreshing Look at the Seven Deadly Sins, and today we focus on greed. Greed, according to dictionary.com, is defined as “an excessive or rapacious desire for wealth or possessions.” Long ago, John D. Rockefeller, a famously wealthy American, was asked when he was most content. His reply didn’t skip a beat; he said: “When I have more money than I have right now.” His thoughts are certainly in keeping with fictional character Gordon Gekko, portrayed by Michael Douglas, who gave us that memorable line from the 1987 motion picture Wall Street: “Greed is good.” Here’s the full text: “The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed – for lack of a better word – is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms – greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge – has marked the upward surge of mankind.”
King Solomon, writing in the Old Testament book of Proverbs, would have taken issue with Gekko’s comment. In Proverbs 15:27 we read: “A greedy man brings trouble to his family.”
At any rate, life can imitate art, and it certainly can imitate the Proverb I just read. Some years ago, authors Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind co-authored a book titled The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron. Enron, that massive corporation based in Houston, Texas, eventually fell apart like a house of cards. When all was said and done, many of Enron’s employees lost their jobs, benefits, and retirement portfolios in one big swoop. At the heart of the problem were mergers, acquisitions, and shoddy accounting principles. Enron would buy a company and then list the projected profit – say, over a ten year period – as actual profit for the current year. With the help of their accounting firm, Arthur Anderson (which also came tumbling down in the aftermath), these mark-to-market accounting procedures went on over and over again. It helped to inflate – indeed, overinflate – the stock price. But the profits were no more realized than fly. The whole greedy scheme ended in disaster. Indeed, the book begins with one of the chief financial officers of Enron driving off in the middle of the night just down the road from his home in a wealthy neighborhood. And there he took his own life.
More recently, think of stockbroker and investor Bernie Madoff who is now serving a one hundred fifty year prison term. In March of 2009, he plead guilty to eleven federal felonies involving the largest ponzi scheme in history. He defrauded investors, according to government estimates, of over eighteen billion dollars. Some time after his imprisonment, Madoff’s son took his own life.
Solomon says: “A greedy man brings trouble to his family.” I would say so. But still, there’s that tantalizing rationale of greed that Gordon Gekko proffered: “Greed is good…Greed is the essence of the evolutionary spirit…Greed…marks the upward surge of mankind.”
The comment was uttered in the context of a business seminar that featured Gekko, the Wall Street entrepreneur that everyone loved to hate. He spoke to a packed house.
Jesus Christ Himself was no stranger to large crowds. Some hated Him. Others loved Him. All were fascinated with him and hung on His every word. One day, in the context of a large crowd, He was interrupted – perhaps even heckled – by someone. The person said, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Back then, as a general rule, the greatest share of the inheritance – when a parent died – went to the eldest sibling. Maybe this was a younger sibling who had yet to be paid; maybe he wanted more than his allotted share. We don’t know. What we do know is that Jesus was quick with His reply and read the heckler’s intentions like a cheap dime store novel. He said: “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then He said to the entire crowd: “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” So I guess we have to bid farewell to that old saw: “He who dies with the most toys wins.”
As if to illustrate the point, our Lord went on to tell a little story:
The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, “What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.” Then he said, “This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’” But God said to him, “You fool!” This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself.” This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.
When it comes to riches and wealth, we tend to think quantitatively. We even use accounting principles! In other words, how many millions or billions of dollars does this person, group, or business have at hand to spend as they want? Jesus Christ, however, looked at riches and wealth not quantitatively, but directionally. In other words, what direction is the wealth going? Is it going to the self – as in new barns for the bumper crop? Or is it going to God? Stated differently, is it understood as a gift from God to be used for God’s purposes?
Probing deeper, Jesus is saying that there’s more to wealth than large amounts of dollars and cents. There are spiritual riches as well. You can be rich towards God and not have a whole lot of money. Similarly, you could be poor toward God and have tons of it.
Where does that put us? Recently, Andy Rooney stepped down from having the last word on TV’s 60 Minutes. He would conclude each week’s show with witty observations covering a range of topics. I’ll never forget one comment he made during the course of the years. He said: “It’s not that I want to be rich. I just don’t want to be poor. I want to stay even.”
I suspect that most folks, publicly, are a-okay with that sentiment. It keeps them at a comfortable spiritual distance from the pains of both poverty and wealth.
But maybe there’s more to this matter than just staying even.
The late Dr. Oswald Hoffmann, a great spokesman for Christ and a huge influence on me, once told the story of a young girl who came home after spending some time with a friend after school. The youngster told her mom that her friend had so many nice things. She had a room full of toys and a closet full of the latest clothes. She had a new bike. The family had a swimming pool. They had a huge house with a playground. They had a home on a lake that they went to every weekend.
The little girl looked at her own surroundings, meager in comparison, and was rather sad. Picking up on this, her mother said: “Why don’t you make two lists. On one list, write down all the things your friend has that you don’t have. On the other list, write down all the things that you have that your friend doesn’t have.” The daughter took her mother up on that. She wrote down all the things her friend had that she didn’t have. Once that was done, she listed everything she had that her friend did not have. She listed things such as this: “We do things together…we go on picnics together…we laugh with one another…we love each other.” After she was done writing, the mother said: “Compare the two lists.” It didn’t take long to see the difference. In one family, as Dr. Hoffmann described it, there was a lot of fluff but little stuff. In her own family, the daughter discovered, there wasn’t a great deal of fluff, but there was a lot of stuff, real stuff that makes for real life.
Where are we at this morning? Are we after the fluff or the stuff? Are we zealous to accumulate things that we one day will have to part with, or are we zealous for life, real life? Jesus says: “I have come that people might have life – and that they might have that life to the full!”
Jesus Christ was zealous alright, but it wasn’t for money or possessions. That was not His interest. Rather, His interest was – and is! – in you and me. And the interest was not in passing. The Gospel is not a spiritual ponzi scheme. Instead, the Gospel is this: Jesus Christ invested His life in you and me. He offered His entire being on Calvary’s cross for all those sins of ours – including the greedy ones. In His resurrection from the grave on Easter Sunday, He ushered in the new Kingdom that is not ruled by wealth but rather by righteousness. The forgiveness of our sins is a sure thing. All of of life – even the parts of it that we yearn for and work for – is a gift. We are now driven not by scheming or greed but rather by the Spirit of Jesus Christ who endlessly dishes out those spiritual riches of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. Life is not about climbing a totem pole and, by hook or by crook, leaving others in the dust. Life is about living with God and God’s people.
Today’s Psalm captures it so well:
Remember me, LORD, when you show favor to your people,
come to my aid when you save them,
that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones,
that I may share in the joy of your nation
and join your inheritance in giving praise.
Amen.
Friday, October 7, 2011
7UP: Wrath
Text: Matthew 21:33-46
Theme: “7UP: Wrath” (5th in a series)
16th Sunday after Pentecost
October 2, 2011
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’[h]?
43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”[i]
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
How’s the weather working for you? After a summer which included a record-setting number of days with stifling temperatures of over a hundred degrees, yesterday’s mid-80s and low humidity was mighty nice. The WeatherBug elite phone app also is forecasting that the rest of this week is going to be mighty nice.
We like it when everything is “mighty nice.” And we’re okay if “mighty nice” begins with the weather. But somewhere in the back of our minds is the thought that Mother Nature isn’t always “mighty nice.” Even with Dopplar radar, Mother Nature can be rather unpredictable. Sometimes it gets very quiet before a storm. All you see is dark clouds gathering. You have no control over what is happening. The thunderheads bunch together; the temperature drops precipitously. Back where I come from, they used to say: “The sky looks angry.” Needless to say, the sky isn’t the only thing that looks – or gets! – angry.
People get angry; groups get angry; workers get angry; employers get angry; nations get angry. Even Jesus Christ – who has been described in one instance of traditional hymnody as “gentle” and “meek and mild” – gets angry. I’ll mention more about that later, but, at this point, I think it important to point out that if anyone’s out looking for a god who is some sort of invisible, benign, and passive force – a kind of “Grandpa” or “Grandma” god, that person is going to be sorely disappointed when they read the Bible.
As with many points in Holy Scripture, God just comes right out and says it. Upon delivery of the Ten Commandments, for example, God says: “I, the Lord, thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments.”
Dig into the Scriptures to any degree, and one conclusion that is truly inescapable is that God is personal and passionate. If you believe that and can handle that, you’re in for the ride of your life. You’ll discover that all the drama that is out there – fictional, non-fictional, personal, corporate, or otherwise – is actually pretty dull compared to the words, actions, and determinations of the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace! There’s this marvelous picture making the rounds on Facebook. Jesus appears sitting on a park bench talking with a late teenage or twenty-something man. Jesus says: “No, I’m not talking about Twitter. I literally want you to follow me.”
But before you jump right in, would you really want to follow a man who had such a propensity to get mad, to really get angry? Folks, lets contrast something in our minds. Picture Jesus sitting on a grassy hillside with a flowing white robe. He’s gesturing at the lilies of the field scattered in extravagant profusion. He asks you to consider them in their tenderness, vulnerability, and beauty. “Ah, that’s mighty nice,” we might say. Now, advance your mental PowerPoint software to another picture in presentation. You see Jesus sitting alone with a look of grim determination. His teeth are grinding; His jaw is set. Feverishly, He’s working with materials in His hands. Here’s the Bible passage that underscores this mental image; it’s from John chapter two: “When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and other sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said: “Get these out of here! How dare you t urn my Father’s house into a market.”
This is the Jesus we’re not accustomed to hearing about – the Jesus who looks like a prime candidate for an anger-management class. Anger is on the list of the seven deadly sins. Was Jesus, therefore, sinning? No, say Christian theologians of one accord, this was justified anger, righteous anger. Okay.
So now we click on the next slide in our mental PowerPoint presentation and take a look at ourselves when we get angry. Some good questions to ask might include but not be limited to the following: is anger something to be managed? If so, how well do we manage it? Do we manage anger or does anger manage us? When we get angry, what is our rationale? Is it that we felt justified? That’s the popular if not immediate reasoning. Probing further, what kind of actions does anger produce in us? Do we, at first, quiet down – like the calm before a storm – only to blow up later? Do we “lose it” immediately? Do we follow the dictum of “Don’t get mad, get even”? Do we, to use a popular psychological term, “stuff” the anger? The experts today tell us that anger turned inward is depression. Depression, as we noted last week, is in cahoots with sloth. These dadgum deadly sins are starting to appear to be all interconnected. What will deliver us – better yet, who will deliver us – from these sins? “Don’t let the sun go down on your anger,” the Bible says. On some days, that’s easier said than done.
There is far more to proclaiming the Gospel than offering suggestions, but I will suggest this much: when you’re angry, at the nearest opportunity, ask yourself why you are angry. Why are you mad? In my own experience, I get mad when I’ve lost patience. I have a real and serious problem with patience. It’s one of the spiritual gifts that I covet the most. The next question is obvious: why am I impatient? The answer is as humbling as it is true. I’m impatient because I’m not getting what I want when I want it. Then I conclude that I’m being selfish, and I get mad at myself. This is a caustic spiritual and mental soup that I’ve gorged myself on for years. I’m sick of it. I’m angry for being angry.
Then I ramp it up even moreso. I start to do something called gunny-sacking. I’m angry at motorists; I’m angry at our politics; I’m angry at our economy; I’m angry at the world; I’m angry at the world; I’m angry at the Presbyterian Church; I’m angry at the terrorists; I’m angry at being taken advantage of; I’m angry at the banks; I’m angry that the neighbor won’t pay his portion of the fence repair bill; I’m angry that I’m getting forgetful; I’m angry that my beloved Cornhuskers got beat so bad last night; I’m angry at others’ success; I’m angry at my own failure; I’m angry at the telephone company; I’m angry that I didn’t save money.
And don‘t stop there! I’m angry at almighty God. Why did my daughters have to be autistic? Why did cancer have to take my mother? Why did cancer take my father-in-law before I had the chance to meet him? Why does alcoholism and chemical dependency destroy so many people? I’m angry at God. I’m angry at myself.
Don’t talk to me about Jesus as an example because then I’ll get angry for having not followed it. Examples make me angry. I’m sick and tired of them.
Instead, show me something else. Show me mercy. Show me forgiveness. Show me love. Show me a God that is strong enough to be present, to hold me, and, most of all, to save me. Show me the Savior who subsumes that anger, and, with His nail-marked hands, has the last word: “I will never leave you or forsake you.”
In the good news of Jesus Christ, we learn that this is the God we have.
Amen.
Theme: “7UP: Wrath” (5th in a series)
16th Sunday after Pentecost
October 2, 2011
First Presbyterian Church
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
IN THE NAME OF JESUS
33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’[h]?
43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”[i]
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
How’s the weather working for you? After a summer which included a record-setting number of days with stifling temperatures of over a hundred degrees, yesterday’s mid-80s and low humidity was mighty nice. The WeatherBug elite phone app also is forecasting that the rest of this week is going to be mighty nice.
We like it when everything is “mighty nice.” And we’re okay if “mighty nice” begins with the weather. But somewhere in the back of our minds is the thought that Mother Nature isn’t always “mighty nice.” Even with Dopplar radar, Mother Nature can be rather unpredictable. Sometimes it gets very quiet before a storm. All you see is dark clouds gathering. You have no control over what is happening. The thunderheads bunch together; the temperature drops precipitously. Back where I come from, they used to say: “The sky looks angry.” Needless to say, the sky isn’t the only thing that looks – or gets! – angry.
People get angry; groups get angry; workers get angry; employers get angry; nations get angry. Even Jesus Christ – who has been described in one instance of traditional hymnody as “gentle” and “meek and mild” – gets angry. I’ll mention more about that later, but, at this point, I think it important to point out that if anyone’s out looking for a god who is some sort of invisible, benign, and passive force – a kind of “Grandpa” or “Grandma” god, that person is going to be sorely disappointed when they read the Bible.
As with many points in Holy Scripture, God just comes right out and says it. Upon delivery of the Ten Commandments, for example, God says: “I, the Lord, thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments.”
Dig into the Scriptures to any degree, and one conclusion that is truly inescapable is that God is personal and passionate. If you believe that and can handle that, you’re in for the ride of your life. You’ll discover that all the drama that is out there – fictional, non-fictional, personal, corporate, or otherwise – is actually pretty dull compared to the words, actions, and determinations of the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace! There’s this marvelous picture making the rounds on Facebook. Jesus appears sitting on a park bench talking with a late teenage or twenty-something man. Jesus says: “No, I’m not talking about Twitter. I literally want you to follow me.”
But before you jump right in, would you really want to follow a man who had such a propensity to get mad, to really get angry? Folks, lets contrast something in our minds. Picture Jesus sitting on a grassy hillside with a flowing white robe. He’s gesturing at the lilies of the field scattered in extravagant profusion. He asks you to consider them in their tenderness, vulnerability, and beauty. “Ah, that’s mighty nice,” we might say. Now, advance your mental PowerPoint software to another picture in presentation. You see Jesus sitting alone with a look of grim determination. His teeth are grinding; His jaw is set. Feverishly, He’s working with materials in His hands. Here’s the Bible passage that underscores this mental image; it’s from John chapter two: “When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and other sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said: “Get these out of here! How dare you t urn my Father’s house into a market.”
This is the Jesus we’re not accustomed to hearing about – the Jesus who looks like a prime candidate for an anger-management class. Anger is on the list of the seven deadly sins. Was Jesus, therefore, sinning? No, say Christian theologians of one accord, this was justified anger, righteous anger. Okay.
So now we click on the next slide in our mental PowerPoint presentation and take a look at ourselves when we get angry. Some good questions to ask might include but not be limited to the following: is anger something to be managed? If so, how well do we manage it? Do we manage anger or does anger manage us? When we get angry, what is our rationale? Is it that we felt justified? That’s the popular if not immediate reasoning. Probing further, what kind of actions does anger produce in us? Do we, at first, quiet down – like the calm before a storm – only to blow up later? Do we “lose it” immediately? Do we follow the dictum of “Don’t get mad, get even”? Do we, to use a popular psychological term, “stuff” the anger? The experts today tell us that anger turned inward is depression. Depression, as we noted last week, is in cahoots with sloth. These dadgum deadly sins are starting to appear to be all interconnected. What will deliver us – better yet, who will deliver us – from these sins? “Don’t let the sun go down on your anger,” the Bible says. On some days, that’s easier said than done.
There is far more to proclaiming the Gospel than offering suggestions, but I will suggest this much: when you’re angry, at the nearest opportunity, ask yourself why you are angry. Why are you mad? In my own experience, I get mad when I’ve lost patience. I have a real and serious problem with patience. It’s one of the spiritual gifts that I covet the most. The next question is obvious: why am I impatient? The answer is as humbling as it is true. I’m impatient because I’m not getting what I want when I want it. Then I conclude that I’m being selfish, and I get mad at myself. This is a caustic spiritual and mental soup that I’ve gorged myself on for years. I’m sick of it. I’m angry for being angry.
Then I ramp it up even moreso. I start to do something called gunny-sacking. I’m angry at motorists; I’m angry at our politics; I’m angry at our economy; I’m angry at the world; I’m angry at the world; I’m angry at the Presbyterian Church; I’m angry at the terrorists; I’m angry at being taken advantage of; I’m angry at the banks; I’m angry that the neighbor won’t pay his portion of the fence repair bill; I’m angry that I’m getting forgetful; I’m angry that my beloved Cornhuskers got beat so bad last night; I’m angry at others’ success; I’m angry at my own failure; I’m angry at the telephone company; I’m angry that I didn’t save money.
And don‘t stop there! I’m angry at almighty God. Why did my daughters have to be autistic? Why did cancer have to take my mother? Why did cancer take my father-in-law before I had the chance to meet him? Why does alcoholism and chemical dependency destroy so many people? I’m angry at God. I’m angry at myself.
Don’t talk to me about Jesus as an example because then I’ll get angry for having not followed it. Examples make me angry. I’m sick and tired of them.
Instead, show me something else. Show me mercy. Show me forgiveness. Show me love. Show me a God that is strong enough to be present, to hold me, and, most of all, to save me. Show me the Savior who subsumes that anger, and, with His nail-marked hands, has the last word: “I will never leave you or forsake you.”
In the good news of Jesus Christ, we learn that this is the God we have.
Amen.
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