Today we
come to the end of our sermon series, “United Methodism 101”. We’ve looked at the history of the United
Methodist church. We’ve looked at how
the church is organized. We’ve talked
about how the United Methodist church allows for disagreements on theology, as
long as we believe in God and believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior. We’ve talked about the method by which we
decide what we believe. We’ve talked
about how salvation is a process that takes place throughout our lives, and how
it’s something that we receive only by the grace of God through our faith in
Jesus. We’ve also talked about how one
of the ways we receive God’s grace is through the sacraments, baptism and holy
communion.
So today, we’re going to talk about
what we’re supposed to do now that we’ve talked about all this stuff. Today, we’re going to talk about
holiness. As United Methodists, we are
supposed to live lives of holiness.
Now, when I say that word, holiness,
I’ll bet an image comes into your mind, maybe more than one. Maybe you think of someone like the Dalai
Lama or Mother Teresa. Maybe you think
of some famous evangelist. Maybe you
think of a monk, spending his days in a monastery reading scripture. Maybe you think of someone like the
Pharisees, who thought they were holy even though they may not have been.
But you know, when we think of that
word, holiness, we should think of two images.
One of them is Jesus himself, the most perfect example of holiness there
will ever be on this earth. And the
other one is of ourselves, you and me.
We’ll come back to ourselves. Let’s talk about Jesus first. When we think about Jesus being holy, what
do we think of? Well, probably a lot of
things. We think of Jesus’ birth. We think of him talking with the rabbis at
age twelve and stunning them with what he said. We think of Jesus’ baptism.
We think of his death and resurrection.
But when we think of Jesus’ actual life on earth, what are the two
things we think of? We think of his
teaching, and we think of his miracles.
Those are the things that make us consider Jesus holy during his life on
earth.
So what does that tell us about
holiness? I think it tells us that
there are two things that are important in living a holy life. One of them is to stay close to God. The other is that we go out and help people
whenever and wherever we can.
The two are equally important. If we want to be holy, we cannot do one
without the other. If we spend our days
reading scripture and praying, but don’t do anything to go out and help anyone,
how is that holy? That’s what the
Pharisees did, right? They knew
scripture backwards and forwards. They
followed all the rituals. They said all
the right prayers at the right times.
But they never did anything to help anybody. In fact, they made life harder for people, giving them so many
detailed rules and regulations that they could never even remember them all,
much less try to follow them all.
And if we spend our days helping
people, but don’t stay close to God, that really does not work, either. It can be done—there are people who we would
consider “good people” who do not have God in their lives. But it does not lead to anything we would
call a holy life. Just by definition,
if for no other reason, it’s not possible to live a holy life without God.
One of the reasons Jesus performed
the miracles he did was to show us that holiness is not just something to
be. It’s something to do. When Jesus was on the earth, he helped
people as much as he could, not just spiritually but physically. That’s what we’re supposed to do, too. It takes both. We’re supposed to both spread the gospel of Christ and also go
out and help our neighbors, showing God’s love to them in actual, physical,
concrete ways.
Now, let’s go back to you and
me. How many of us here think of
ourselves as holy? I’d guess not very
many. In fact, I suspect that when I
said you and I were the images that should come to mind when we think of
holiness, some of you wondered what that was all about. Most of us here would just think of
ourselves, as common, ordinary people.
Sometimes we do good things, sometimes we do bad things. Sometimes we’re aware of God’s presence in
our lives, sometimes we just go about our business. We’re just regular, common, ordinary folks. How could we be holy?
Well, think of it this way. Who were the disciples? They were just regular, common, ordinary
people, too. They were not the smartest
people around—think of all the times Jesus tried to explain things to them and
they did not understand. They were not
the richest people around. They were
not the most skilled craftsmen, or the smoothest talkers, or the most educated
people. They were just people.
The disciples came from all walks
of life. There’s nothing in the gospels
to indicate that any of them were thought of as remarkable or special. Had Jesus not called them, we would not even
know their names. They’d have just been
a few of the billions of people who’ve walked the earth in the past and whose
lives have long since been lost to history.
Jesus took these common, ordinary,
everyday people and used them as the foundation for the Christian church. How did he do it? Listen again to what Jesus tells them in the gospel of John: “Very truly I tell you, all who have faith
in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things
than these.”
No one would have looked at any of
the disciples and thought of them as particularly holy. In fact, no one would have looked at any of
the disciples and thought of them as particularly anything. They were made holy by their faith in Jesus
Christ and by their willingness to do the work that Jesus wanted them to do.
That’s how you and I become holy,
too. It’s not because we’re so
great. No one can become holy because
they’re so great. Again, that’s the way
the Pharisees tried to do it. We don’t
become holy because we’re so great. We
become holy because God is so great.
God’s Holy Spirit works through us and enables us to be holy and live
holy lives.
That’s why, in Paul’s letters, he
kept encouraging people to do good works.
Remember, Paul’s the one who said we’re saved through faith alone and
not by works. But still, he kept
encouraging works. Listen to what he
said to the Colossians in our reading for today: “We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his
will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that
you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in
knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious
might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful
thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his
people in the kingdom of Light.”
It all comes from God. Knowledge of God’s will comes from God
through the Holy Spirit. We get
strengthened by God’s power so we can do good works. God gives us endurance and patience to do what God wants us to
do. It all comes from God.
In our reading from Second
Corinthians, Paul says, “God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all
things and at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every
good work.” Again, it’s not because
we’re so good. It’s because God is so
good. It all comes from God.
The only way to live a holy life is
to get involved. Get involved in your
community. Get involved in
society. Get involved in the world. That’s something United Methodists have always
emphasized, from the time John Wesley got involved in issues like slavery,
poverty, prison reform, war, and education.
It’s something United Methodists still emphasize today.
Does that cause controversy
sometimes? It sure does. Some of the things Jesus did and said were
controversial, too. When we get
involved in our communities, when we get involved in society, when we get
involved in the world, we will sometimes be led to do things that not everyone
agrees with. That’s true as individuals
and it’s true as a church. If you’ve
paid attention to the positions the United Methodist Church takes on a national
or international basis, I’m sure there are times it took stands you disagreed
with. There are times it took stands I
disagree with, too.
But that’s okay, because as we’ve
talked about before, there is room for disagreement within the United Methodist
Church. In fact, not only is it okay,
it’s inevitable. The only way to avoid
controversy is to not do anything and not be involved with anything. That’s not the way Jesus lived. That’s not the way the disciples lived. It’s not how Jesus wants us to live, either.
That’s why, again, holiness takes
staying close to God. If we stay close
to God, we can disagree in love. We can
come together to help people despite our disagreements and not let our
disagreements keep us from doing God’s work in God’s world.
Jesus was the perfect example of holiness on
earth. The thing is, though, we don’t
need to be Jesus in order to be holy.
All we need to do is open our hearts to God’s Holy Spirit. All we need to do is allow God to work
through us. If we stay close to God, if
we want to please God, and if we truly want to go out and serve other people,
God will help us find ways to do it.
Then, we will be living holy lives.
That’s not just what we’re supposed to do as United Methodists. That’s what we’re supposed to do as
Christians and as God’s children.
No comments:
Post a Comment