If It's To Be, it's Up to WHO?!?

THE TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME—C

September 22, 2013

THE OLD TESTAMENT

Jeremiah 8:18-9:1

^18.         My cheerfulness is turned to depression.  My heart is languishing.   

^19.         Behold, the sound of the cry for help of the daughter of my people from a far land!

            “Is there no Lord in Zion?  Is there no king there?

                        Why do they vex me with their idols, in their stupid useless things?

^20.         The harvest is passed, the summer is done, and we are not saved!

^21.         On the shattering of the daughter of my people I am shattered!  My grief has taken me.

^22.         Is there no medicine in Gilead?  Are there no doctors there?

                        Why is the healing of the daughter of my people not arisen?

^23.         I wish my head were made of water and my eyes a fountain of tears.

              Then I could cry day and night for the sufferings of the daughter of my people.

^9:1.        I wish I had a place to stay in the wilderness, a hotel.

              Then I would desert my people and leave them alone;

                        for all of them are adulterers, a congregation of traitors.

THE PSALTER

Psalm 79:1-9

^1.          A Psalm of Asaph

            God, the nations have invaded your heritage.  They have defiled your holy temple.

                        They have turned Jerusalem into a junkpile.

^2.          They have given the corpses of your servants to the birds of the skies to eat,

                        the flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth.

^3.          They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, with no one to bury!

^4.          We have become a joke to our neighbors,

a laughingstock and an insult to those around us.

^5.             How long, Lord?  Will you be angry forever?  Will your indignation burn like fire?

^6.          Pour out your rage on the nations who do not know you,

                        and on kingdoms where they do not call on your name.

^7.          They have consumed Jacob, and laid waste his pastures.

^8.          Do not hold our first iniquities against us.  Let your mercies go before us quickly,

                        for we are terribly weakened.

^9.          Remember us, God of our salvation, according to the fame of the glory of your name.

            Deliver us and forgive our sins, for the sake of your name.

 or

Psalm 4

^1.          To the Music Director, on Strings, a Psalm of David:

^2.          When I call, answer me, God of Jacob.

            When I am in a tight place, enlarge it for me.  Be gracious and hear my prayer.

^3.          Human children, how long will you abase my glory, love useless things, and seek lies? 

Selah.

^4.          Know that the Lord’s saints are precious to him.  The Lord will hear when I cry to him.

^5.          Be angry and do not sin.  Speak in your heart in your bed and be silent. 

Selah.

^6.          Sacrifice righteous sacrifices and trust in the Lord.

^7.          There are many who will say, “Who will show us any good?”

            Turn the light of your face on us, Lord.

^8.          You have put more joy in my heart than in the time of plentiful grain and new wine.

^9.          In complete peace I will lie down and I will sleep, for you alone, Lord, keep me safe.

THE EPISTLE

I Timothy 2:1-7

            ^2.1I insist therefore first of all that there be requests, prayers, intercessions, thanksgiving for all people, ²for kings and all in authority, that we might lead quiet, peaceful lives in all godliness and sobriety.  ³This is excellent and acceptable before our Savior God, ⁴who wants everyone to be saved and to come into the knowledge of truth.  ⁵For God is one, and there is one mediator between God and humanity, the man Jesus Christ, ⁶who gave himself a sacrifice for all, the witness to his own times.  ⁷I was made a preacher and apostle for this (I tell the truth.  I do not lie) a teacher of nations in faith and truth.

THE GOSPEL

Luke 16:1-13

            ¹He said to his disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager who, he learned, was embezzling.  ²He summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you?  Hand in your ledgers.  You’re fired!’

            ³“The manager said to himself, ‘What can I do?  My boss has fired me!  I’m not healthy enough to dig ditches, and I’m too ashamed to go on welfare.  ⁴I know what I’ll do, so that somebody else will hire me!’

            ^5“He called everyone who owed his company anything, and he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my company?’

            ⁶“He said, ‘Six hundred gallons of oil.’

            “He said to him, ‘Take your contract, tear it up, and write 300.’

            ⁷“He said to the next one, ‘How much do you owe?’

            “He said, ‘Six hundred bushels of wheat.’

            He said to him, ‘Take your contract and write one for 500.’

            ⁸“His boss commended the dishonest manager for being clever.  The children of this realm are better at conducting themselves in this world than the children of the Light are.

            ⁹“I tell you, make friends for yourselves with the mammon of unrighteousness, so that, when they fail, they may receive you into their homes.

            ¹⁰“If you are honest with little, you will be honest with much.  If you are dishonest with little, you will be dishonest with much. ¹¹If you are dishonest with the mammon of unrighteousness, who will trust you with real wealth?  ¹²If you are dishonest with others’ things, who will give you your own?  ¹³You cannot serve two masters.  You will either hate the one and love the other, or hold to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon.”

IF IT’S TO BE, IT’S UP TO…WHO?!?

A SERMON FOR THE 20^TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME—C

September 22, 2013

by William F. Thomas II

            “The children of this realm are better at conducting themselves in this world than the children of the Light are.”—today’s Gospel reading, Luke 16:8.

            “The folly of my people is that they do not know me.  They are foolish children, without understanding.  They are skillful at doing evil, but they do not know how to do good.”—last Sundays Old Testament reading, Jeremiah 4:22.

            C. S. Lewis quoted Charles Kingsley:  “Be good, sweet maid, and let who can be clever.”  Then he rephrased it:

The proper motto is not Be good, sweet maid, and let who can be clever, but Be good sweet maid, and don't forget that this involves being as clever as you can. God is no fonder of intellectual slackers than any other slackers. (Mere Christianity )

It turns out when we give ourselves to God, we give all of ourselves to God, we place at his service our bodies, and our minds.  It turns out he wants us not to check our minds at the door, but to educate them, to exercise them, to hone them, to make them the best tools for his service that we can.

            It turns out being a Christian is not like joining the Kiwanis Club.  It’s more like joining the Marines.  That’s not intense enough.  It’s more like getting married!  God has expectations, like a newlywed.  And, like a good marriage, it’s hard work, it’s expensive, it’s time-consuming, and it’s worth all it takes and more.  If you don’t put much into it, you can expect to get about that much out of it.  

            God doesn’t want infants, at least, not past the time where infancy is appropriate.  God doesn’t want sheep.  God wants friends, loved ones, family.  He wants us to grow into his likeness and his image.  Which begs the question:  WHAT IS GOD LIKE?

            Is he a wimp?

            Is he a fool?

            Is he an ignoramus?

            Is he a king?

            Is he wise?

            How much does he know?

            Is he powerful?

            Back in my seminary days, I drove out to spend some time with my family, while my wife was taking some time with hers.  There my parents and I sat around the kitchen table, drank coffee together, and talked.  We must have gone through three pots of coffee!  It was the first conversation I ever had with them, not son-to-parents, but adult-to-adult!  And it was wonderful!  We got along so well!  We had so much in common!

            To the day my daddy died, he was my go-to guy, the guy who had been there and done that, the guy who understood what I was going through.  He was never a pastor, but he had been a supervisor in cotton mills, with people under his authority and under the authority of others.  What he understood about my situation was almost telepathic!

            Forever and ever, he will always be Daddy to me.  I can never imagine allowing myself to be his equal.  But the closest we came to being equals was one of the best things in my life.  And, I think, one of the best things in his.

            What if that’s what God wants?  What if he wants us to grow to be as much like him, as God-like, as we can be?  What if the King of kings and Lord of lords has chosen us to be the kings over whom he is King, the lords over whom he is Lord?  What if he wants us to be royal, divine, autonomous, powerful, wise, decisive?

            And what if it is a constant frustration to him that so many of his children will not put out one tenth the effort on his kingdom that they do to make it in the world?  What if it drives him nuts that the evils of this world perpetuate themselves and the evil-doers celebrate their pupils in finding newer and better ways to be evil?  Could it irritate God to tears that the very gifts and graces he put in us for the betterment of others and the promotion of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Peace and Prosperity for All, get used to hurt people, the victimize people, the oppress people, the hold people down?

            How much does it hurt God that the Children of This World are wiser in their age than are the Children of Light?  How much does it hurt God that his followers are wise to do evil, but fools in doing good?

            God will not make us obey.  He will not make us love him.  He will not make us build his kingdom.  It turns out a vital part of the mission is for us to want it, and to figure out how best we can serve it.

            Furthermore, so many times when I pray for help, for knowledge, for wisdom, I get no answer whatsoever!  It turns out he has already given me everything I need to accomplish what he wants!  It’s almost like I’m sitting in a car, with the keys in it, gassed up and ready to go, and I’m praying for transportation!  God just looks at me, waiting for me to figure it out.

            “Make friends for yourselves with the mammon of unrighteousness…”  In other words, be wise with everything you have!  Seek every opportunity, watch out for every tool to use for God’s advantage!  How can your education advance the Kingdom of God?  How can your past advance the Kingdom of God?  How can what you have, or what you owe, advance the Kingdom of God?  What do you have?  What do you need?  What do you lack?

            God has done everything for us that we could not do for ourselves in order that we might be saved.  God will do nothing for us that we can do for ourselves in order that we might be grow into his likeness.