Getting Down and Dirty

It has been a wild week, watching the scenes from Kabul in Afghanistan. The members of the Army have done a fine job in their rescue mission, bringing out  twenty times their number of Americans and Afghan allies in the last couple of weeks. Of course, those men and women in the Army had been to boot camp and learned the basics of being an American soldier. They had further training. They could look to their left and look to their right and see men and women who would guard their backs when they went into danger. And they have been committed to getting everyone out they can possibly get out. It makes me very proud, how about you?

This couldn’t be done from home, it couldn’t be done from the safe Pentagon. No, the soldiers had to actually get down and dirty in Kabul, at the airport, mixing with the people. And they have been successful in accomplishing their mission.

But soon, the mission will end and there will be people in Afghanistan who will decide in a week, a month, a year that they should have taken the opportunity to get out. And it may be too late. And that’s sad, for the opportunity is there now, today, and the last flight out of Kabul will come soon...

And so we come back to our life here…to our safe, secure life.

When I was a math teacher at Parkersburg Catholic High, I had a certain number of students arrive in my Algebra I classroom who were convinced – and their parents were convinced – that they were wonderful at mathematics. You see, when they were in third grade, they had memorized the basic multiplication tables quickly, while other students had difficulty in memorizing those same tables. Therefore, for the next few years, until they hit Algebra I, those who memorized the tables quickly were known as good in math, while those who didn’t memorize those 81 math facts were “poor” at math. The good students were proud of their ability to do mental math quickly – while the “poor” students had difficult with mental math. The good students – and their parents – were immensely proud of their mental math ability. They were math snobs! The so-called poor math students were convinced that they could never learn math – and it was all because of their ability or inability to quickly memorize those 81 multiplication facts. And then, they all came into my Algebra class.

In Algebra, the emphasis is upon learning a system that will allow us to solve any problem, no matter how complex. Usually starting in mid-August, by early September the good students were having trouble while the poor students were doing okay. You see, the good students just tried to use mental math to solve the problems. They were too good to get their hands dirty by putting down the intermediate steps on paper.

Meanwhile the so-called poor students actually put pencil to paper and laid out the intermediate steps like I showed them. They were surprising themselves with how well they were doing.

Eventually, all the so-called good students encountered math problems with so many steps they got confused, while the so-called poor math students continued to trudge along and get the right answers. For in the real world, we all encounter problems that are so complex no one can keep all the stuff in our heads. We have to solve those problems step-by-step, writing down the results of each steps and then working the next step. But these so-called good students had been taught and praised and rewarded for mental math to the point that they considered it a failure to get down and dirty by putting a pencil to paper. I had to break that snobbishness before they could go forward.

For success in algebra and higher math doesn’t depend on a few memorized addition and multiplication facts, but on learning that system of solving problems that will get the right answer, always get the right answer, will allow anyone to get the right answer if they will follow the system faithfully. Using that system requires getting down and dirty, putting pencil to paper, erasing, writing down step after step until the answer finally pops out. A mental math snob will not go far unless they get dirty with pencil and paper.

In the same way, many people in this world, indeed in the world even in the time of Moses, have strong ideas in their minds as to what is right and good – and what is wrong behavior. And we transfer those ideas about right and wrong behavior to say that some people are good and others are bad. And most of the time, even with people who have been raised in church – perhaps most especially with people who have been raised in church – a certain pride develops. “I am not like THEM” pointing to outsiders. The specific ideas about right and wrong vary depending upon the family, the church, and the teachers who have raised the child to adulthood. But the situation is the same as those math students who thought they were good at math – they were praised for certain things which turn out to not be very important, yet become important in the child’s mind simply because they were repeatedly praised for their mental math, their cleanliness, their neat dress and haircut, their coordinated clothing. They had the use of a functioning car as teenagers, enough money to buy gas, to go out with friends, to belong to the football team, the band, the cheerleaders.

In the same way, other children grew up convinced that they were not behaving well, because they didn’t memorize their multiplication tables, they weren’t always clean, their hair wasn’t cut neatly, their clothing was a bit older, maybe dirty, or didn’t coordinate. They didn’t have use of the barely running car their parents had, forget money for gas, going out with friends, they were clearing tables when the members of the football team, the band, the cheerleaders came in after the game.

But God has a different idea as to what constitutes good behavior – and it doesn’t depend upon what we learned as children and teenagers. And God has still other ideas about who is good – and who is not.

The Israelites had been in the desert wilderness of western Arabia a little over forty years. They were there because most of their parents who left Egypt had not trusted God to guide them. Now that generation was mostly gone, and Moses is giving one of his final sermons to the people before they enter the Promised Land under the guidance of Joshua. Moses spoke:

4 Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.

6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” 7 What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?

9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.

Notice this last verse. “Be careful…so that you do not forget…Teach them to your children and to their children.”

We’ve all played the game of “Telephone” or “Gossip”. One person whispers a sentence such as “All fire engines are red” to another, and the phrase is passed around the group until we get to the other end, where the last person says, “Our star in grins are dead.” The same thing happens with people throughout history when we don’t go back and check what God’s commandments truly are. We have to get down and dirty and actually read the Bible to know what is commanded – and what is not commanded. Here’s an example:

In the late 1800’s, it was common for traveling salesmen in the Midwest to ride from town to town on the trains together. They’d stop at a town and, depending upon the trains, either make a quick sale and get back on the train while it took on coal and water, or catch the next train a few hours later. But these salesmen would travel as a pack, and while they were traveling they played cards – poker and whist and euchre – for money. They gambled. And, of course, they often lost. And then they played with friends at home because they often lost their sales jobs.

So gambling card-playing became a social problem a hundred and fifty years ago. And so preachers began to preach against it because of the gambling and the effect upon families. But as new generations grew up, the preaching stopped being against “gambling with cards”, and it became just against “card-playing”. In fact, in many churches and homes, any sort of card-playing was looked upon as devilish, whether or not money was involved, or whether or not the game was a game of chance or of skill, like bridge, which involves almost as much skill as chess and almost as little left to chance. And there were interesting variations. I remember that my grandmother said that her father would not allow a normal deck of cards in the house, but the family would play Rook for hours on end, which used a different, special deck. And this all completely ignored the fact that in Acts Chapter 1, the Apostles drew lots to determine the replacement disciple for Judas – relying upon chance – or God’s choice, as they saw it.

In the same way, the original Methodist movement under John Wesley clearly distinguished between distilled liquors such as whisky or brandy, which were forbidden, wine and beer which were okay, and getting drunk, which was considered sinful. But over the years, Methodists and related groups gradually eliminated all alcoholic drinks, eventually leading to Prohibition, with some even frowning on the use of wine in cooking, which, of course, evaporates the alcohol. All because we relied upon what “the preacher said” rather reading the Bible to find out on our own. Even today, we have people who believe that if they drink a couple beers or wines a week, they cannot be a Christian – and we have some Christians who agree. Of course, Jesus is recorded as actually making wine, and Paul recommends wine to Timothy to help him with his illnesses. But Paul does warn against getting drunk. So things are a bit more complicated, aren’t they?

Of course, most of us remember in the 1960’s when men who had been in the short-haired, clean-shaven army of World War II and Korea began to object to men who wore long hair and/or beards, or who wore blue jeans, in many cases prohibiting them from coming to church. These older men had taken rules which were from their Army discipline and applied them to the church, despite the fact that the Old Testament passage of Leviticus 19:27 clearly says ““Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.” Which, if anything, requires a full beard. But the real issue for the older men was the fact that most of the young men who chose long hair, beards, and jeans were doing this in rebellion to the older standards – and the politics of the Vietnam War. Both groups understood this and the church was harmed greatly by the conflict, as always happens when political battles move into the church. Wearing a beard or not became a sign of which side you were on, politically.

In our reading today from Mark Chapter 7, Jesus is challenged by the Pharisees who jumped on the fact that some of His disciples were eating food with unwashed hands. Now we know today that washing hands before eating is a good idea, just as wearing masks when a respiratory disease like Covid may be present is a good idea. But the Pharisees had made hand-washing into a determination of who was a good person and who was a bad person. It was a marker of who was acceptable, and who was unacceptable. In essence, it was a political issue. “Were you with us or were you against us?” the Pharisees are saying – and hand-washing was required to be with us. It’s just like how mask-wearing – or not, how getting vaccinated – or not  - has become a political issue with some people.

(Mark also points out that the Pharisees always washed before eating, as well as washing their cups, pitchers, kettles – and in some of the translations and early manuscripts, even dining couches. The word that is translated as “they wash” here, is “baptismous” which has the same root as “baptize”. So the word can mean sprinkle, or wash as well as immerse.)

Anyway, the Pharisees used hand-washing as a sign that people were good. When the Pharisees complained to Jesus because His disciples did not wash their hands, He let them have it.

, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

“‘These people honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
7 They worship me in vain;
    their teachings are merely human rules.’

Jesus was concerned that the politics of the hand-washing rule were more important than what God had commanded – or didn’t command.

8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”

The Pharisees thought that eating with unwashed hands could defile a person – make them “nasty”, “evil”, “bad”, or “impure”. Jesus said they were wrong, extending the concept to even cover different foods and drink. He said it wasn’t what went into a person that made them evil, but what came out of their heart:

21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

Imagine that you are growing a flower. Consider the seed or bulb to be the heart of the flower. Does your choice to use clean, manufactured fertilizer - or manure instead - determine the beauty of the flower? No, it is what comes from out of the heart of the flower, the seed, the bulb, that determines whether this plant will be a beautiful rose, a tulip, a gladiolus, a lily – or an ugly bramble, a thistle, a weed. It is not the food or drink or our washing or unwashing that we put into our body that determines our goodness or evil nature. It is what comes out of our heart that leads us to be good or evil, pure or nasty.

The Epistle of James near the end of the New Testament expands on these ideas. It should be noticed that most Bible scholars find three men named James in the New Testament. There is the Apostle James, the son of Zebedee and brother of the Apostle John. This man is often referred to as James the Great. There is also a second Apostle, James the son of Alphaeus, often called James the Less. And there is James, the brother of Jesus, son of Joseph the carpenter. This man is often called James the Just. Let me also note that there is some disagreement about this.

What appears certain is that James, the brother, half-brother, or stepbrother of Jesus became for a time the leader of the church after Jesus ascended to Heaven. It is also most likely that this man wrote the Epistle of James before he was executed.

James reminds us that everything good comes originally from God:

17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

James then gives us advice on how to live:

19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

The Word of God, the truth can save us – if we will humbly accept that word. Isn’t that always the issue? That our pride, our early ideas that we received as children, that these ideas keep us from accepting new ideas – even if those ideas are from the wisest Being in the Universe, God/Jesus/Holy Spirit?

But James tells us that even in this, we must get down and dirty. We can’t just sit in our pews, we can’t just listen in the car, and hope for salvation. As James says:

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

It is the difference between watching a war movie and actually going to war. It is the difference between watching a romantic movie and actually marrying someone. It is the difference between reading a cookbook and actually cooking a meal. That is what James is telling us – to be truly blessed in our Christianity, we have to get down and dirty, doing what the Word of God asks us to do, doing what Jesus would have us do, listening to the Holy Spirit and then actually speaking kindly to people, being generous with our money, generous with gifts, feeding people, becoming friends with those who are not pleasant, investing our time and talents to make the world a better place. Being a Christian can’t be done just watching or listening to a series of sermons – we need to get down and dirty in the world.

But weren’t we told by our parents, our Sunday school teachers, our pastors to keep from getting the dirt of the world upon us, to stay pure, to stay away from strangers, the wrong sorts of friends. Weren’t we told to avoid evil?

Yes, we were told those things. But that was because we were children. Today, we are full adults, baptized by water and the Spirit. We carry the full armor of God, including the Sword of the Spirit. We have lived, we have developed wisdom, we have learned what is good – and what is bad. We have been through Spiritual Boot Camp for Christians and heard countless sermons which have trained us over the years. And now, it is time to act as the trained spiritual leaders Christ asked us to become, walking back into the world and changing the world – and that means we must get down and dirty with the world, that some may be saved.

James focuses upon not doing damage to others with our words:

26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 

But James wants us to get into the world – but not to be changed into something evil by the world:

27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Look to your left – now look to your right. These are your brothers and sisters whom you can count upon to guard your back as you go into the world during this rescue mission, to rescue people who are hurting, despairing, lonely, lost, and frightened. There are widows and orphans – did you realize that over 1 in 6 West Virgina children are in some form of foster care? – And there are adult men who are just as lonely, lost and frightened. There are people who are enslaved by addictions – and we are being sent into the world to rescue people for Heaven.

Even in this nice safe land in which we live, there are people who will soon die, people who will be tortured by evil, people who will be enslaved by sins. Like the soldiers at the Kabul airport, we each have people to help out of a fallen world before evil overruns us. The last plane for Heaven will leave soon – who will you help get on that plane to God’s love? Will you be on that plane?

Amen.

Now, as we sing this song, each of you come forward to the altar rail or simply pray for the peace, the rest, the healing of another person, a friend, a relative, a neighbor. Pray to help someone come to Christ. Surely you know of someone. Come forward to support another person and help them with their burdens. Set an example for others in your family. Come to the altar rail as we sing.

Amen!

Response Hymn – OSpirit of the Living God 539

Benediction: May God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit show you those whom you must speak with! And may God be with you throughout this week. Go forth and spread joy to the world!

5 Closing Song – Forward Through the Ages 555

Go and Praise God all week long!  

The Full Armor of the Spirit

Throughout history, there have been many instances where a group of people came to know God or Jesus. For example, there is the story of the man who visited an Indian village about 50 years ago as a missionary. When he mentioned Jesus, an old man in the village excitedly brought the missionary into his home, where he pointed to a small crucifix, a brass cross with Jesus on it, in a place of honor on a shelf in the corner. The missionary was very pleased – he had found a Christian in the village. But then, the man walked him around a corner in the home, and there, sitting on another shelf, obviously in a place of honor, was a photo of John F. Kennedy, along with a half dozen other small idols. For in the Hindu religion, it is not difficult to worship many different gods.

In the early Middle Ages, as Christianity began to spread throughout Northern Europe, much the same thing happened. The Risen Christ was celebrated in March or April, appropriately. But offerings were made to other gods and goddesses on the first of May, and other rituals were held at Midsummer, at the end of October, and at midwinter. It was difficult for the people to focus solely on Christ – they felt they still needed to appease the gods their parents and grandparents had worshipped before Christ came to their villages.

This idea of covering all bets as far as gods and goddesses goes was even found in ancient Israel. After Moses died, Joshua took over leadership of the Israelites in the desert and led them, with God’s blessing and strength, into the Promised Land we now know as Israel. After years of conquest, Joshua called them all together in a central place, a village known as Shechem. He told them that God had a message for them. God said, “Long ago your ancestors… lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.” He then repeated the history of the escape from Egypt, the time in the wilderness, and the conquest of the land, always following God’s leading.

Then, Joshua said, “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped…and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, the choose…whom you will serve, the gods of your ancestors or the local gods of the Amorites. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua had led them to the point where they had to make a choice. Serve the old gods – or serve the God who had led them from Egypt into the Promised Land. And Joshua made it clear that he and his household would serve the Lord, Yahweh, God.

The people answered that they too, would serve the God because “He is our God”.

There are times, even today, when we fall back into the old ways. The old gods of America, the alternative gods of Americans rarely have names and images and statues sitting in our homes, but many Americans serve those gods regardless. For the God the Father, the Christian God, has said that He is a jealous God, and will not tolerate the worship of other gods. What are some of those old gods that, even today, American Christians serve?

I’ve seen people who claim to be Christians, but still worship older gods. They worship the American god of the acquisition of wealth. Today that worship is often seen in the growth and protection of the retirement account. I have a Christian friend who had paid off his home, his vehicles, he had zero debt, he had about a million dollars in his retirement account when, in his late forties, he lost his job. He panicked, went into depression, all because his retirement account was now shrinking instead of growing. Of course, a bit of simple math showed that he could live comfortably for forty more years even without his social security and pension. But in his fear, he began taking temporary jobs out of town, which ultimately meant his wife left him. He did not trust in Jesus, but felt he had to give regular offerings to his true god, his retirement account, and so he lost much more.

I’ve also seen Christians who worship their children more than Jesus. This worship shows itself at a younger age when the children are put onto sports teams. Their child will be the soccer or baseball or volleyball or football star of the future. Dance, swim, gymnastics, wrestling… it seems that there is always a new activity, and those activities are more important than Sunday morning church or midweek youth groups. This child-god is worshiped by bringing offerings of equipment, offerings of time, offerings of registration fees and entry fees and fund-raising events. I have seen so many parents complain that their grown children don’t attend church – and, of course, their children don’t. For they are worshipping their children in the same way their parents did – just the activities are different. And then, when grown, these parents worship their children by traveling all over the country, worshiping Jesus once a month, but their children two or three times a month. Do they go to church with their grown children? No. For time with the grandchildren is more important. Of course, if they would spend their time teaching their grandchildren about Christ, and taking them to a local church when they visit them, perhaps they would be able to look forward to a time with their children, their grandchildren, and even more generations spending time in Heaven. But Heaven doesn’t seem as real as those times watching the grandchildren learning to hit a ball.

I’ve seen Christians who worship their collections. I knew a man who hit every garage sale and yard sale and thrift store in town looking for Hummel figurines for his collection. He bragged that his collection was worth $40,000. He spent hours dusting them and worshiping them. He had spent countless hours shopping for them, another form of worship. Then, at my age, he was diagnosed with an aggressive leukemia and died. He accepted Christ on his deathbed, thankfully. His widow sold the collection for a thousand dollars, just to get rid of them. She had no interest in that false god.

I have Christian friends who worship sports teams. Now, there are those who spend a couple hours a week watching their team on television, a sort of casual worship – and there are those who are into true worship, traveling across the country to every game, buying thousands of dollars of tickets and hotel rooms, collecting t-shirts and stadium seats and hats and such. They have their own worship rituals – they call them “pre-game” ceremonies and “tailgating”. If you ask them, they might say they are a Christian, but don’t have time to attend church during “the season”. So who are they worshiping?

And over the last twenty years, I’ve seen the great increase of the worship of the political party or political leader. Germany saw this once. It ended badly. I have friends who claim to be Christians – but their Facebook postings are much more concerned with politics than with people’s souls, than with Christ.

I think it is true that you can tell which gods a person worships by their Facebook or Instagram or Tik-Tok postings. I have one friend who worships her face. I have another who appears to worship the restaurant meals the couple eats. Still another worships a few cats.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with a mix of postings, or a mix of hobbies. The problem occurs when a person who claims to be worshiping Jesus actually spends much more time and obsession on someone or something else. There is a point where any activity or focus can turn into the worship of that activity or focus. This is what Joshua was getting at when he said to throw away the old gods and serve the Lord.

Why the insistence upon throwing away the old gods? After all, what is wrong with a collecting hobby, or following politics, or following a sports team?

The problem is a question of what we consider real. Today, I want you to ask yourself – is Jesus real? Or is Jesus a nice idea, a quaint concept, a story from your youth? Or do you believe that Jesus walked upon the earth about 2000 years ago, died upon a cross, and rose again? Is Jesus Son of God – or not?

If you answered yes to the reality of Jesus, Son of God, then that reality should spread deeply into your soul.

Jesus said that:

“This is the bread that came down from heaven.” And pointed at Himself.
⁶⁰ On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
⁶¹ Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶² Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! ⁶³ The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. ⁶⁴ Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. …
⁶⁶ From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
At this time, there were far more than the 12 who were following Him.
⁶⁷ “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

You see, Jesus had just asked his followers to decide – would they worship in the old way, or would they truly believe that Jesus was the Son of God, and therefore, would they take His word for truth.

Peter chose to follow. So did most of the others. But Judas…not so much. Thomas … not so much. What about you? What have you decided?

George Barna, who does many surveys on these issues, says that most of the people in America who claim to be Christians don’t really believe Jesus is the Son of God – and they surely don’t act like they believe. In fact, Barna says most so-called Christians actually have a religion of “mildly therapeutic theism”. Theism is the belief in a god. The “mildly therapeutic” part comes in because people who have a belief in a god let that belief make them feel a bit better. But most people don’t speak of Jesus nor explain what the purpose of Jesus’ death and resurrection were.

So let’s be clear. Jesus claimed to be part of God walking upon the earth with a tight, Father/Son connection to the rest of God, whom Jesus called “the Father”. Jesus performed miracles which led to healing and better life for those around Him. He was eventually arrested and executed for the crime of claiming to be close with God. Three days later, He arose from the dead, and was seen and heard by over five hundred people. This proved that what He had claimed was true – He was close to God the Father. Jesus was God the Son. And soon after Jesus left for Heaven, God the Holy Spirit arrived for Jesus’ followers.

And so the Apostle Paul, years later, writing to the church at Ephesus in what is today western Turkey, sent the following message in Chapter 6 of his letter to urge the Ephesians to serve Jesus:

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 

In Paul’s letter, the armor of God is eternal spiritual armor, not metal which can rust and fall apart. Paul says:

¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 

We have to stand up to evil, and it isn’t something that happens just because we want to. We will need specific spiritual tools, which come from study and faith in Jesus. This is how we serve Jesus and not collapse into following the other gods of this world. Paul continues with specifics:

¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 

Do you know the truth of the Gospel to keep everything in place? Are you protecting your heart by doing the right actions at all times? Are you able to stand on firm ground because your understanding of the Gospel gives you great peace and bravery? These are the basics of the spiritual armor. Paul continues:

¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 

You see, nothing can hurt us when we hold our faith in Jesus in front of us, unwavering, steady, for with our faith we remember that Jesus, who is Wisdom, has thought of all the attacks on us and can protect us. Paul adds:

¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

We protect our mind, our head, we stay sane with the knowledge that we are saved by Jesus, and then we go on the spiritual attack by listening to the words of the Holy Spirit, which acts as a sword, the word of God, to defeat the enemy. Paul directs us to another weapon:

¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 

“Pray in the Spirit”. Don’t pray just your ideas. Ask the Spirit to guide your prayers. Pray for everyone, pray for everything, pray constantly – and be alert to what is happening around us.

Paul finishes with this:

¹⁹ Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

And I would add – pray for me in the same way. Pray for all who would make known the mystery of the gospel.

What difference does all this make? Let me speak of events of the past week.

As we know, Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban. The news media and social media are full of stories about how America has let down the people of Afghanistan. I have a couple of comments about this.

First of all, it appears to me that a very large number of the people in Afghanistan support the Taliban – and did not support the recent government of Afghanistan. Otherwise, the army would not have surrendered so quickly. In fact, the history of Afghanistan is a history of a dislike of a central government with continuous change of governments every few decades as various groups alternatively take power and lose it. The only constant is they don’t like governments supported by outside powers.

But be that as it may – we are never to put our faith in governments, for governments are made of imperfect men and women. Instead, we are to put our faith in God and Jesus and Holy Spirit.

In Afghanistan, there are a few thousand Christians – some who have become Christians in the last twenty years. In fact, we knew a family that was planning to move to Afghanistan as missionaries in the fall of 2001 – and then the attack on 9/11 happened.

The Gospel has been spreading in Afghanistan, quietly, under the radar. Pray for those Christians, but do not be fearful for them. Pray that they will continue to declare the Gospel fearlessly, just as Paul did. For they are putting their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ – and He will protect them just as He has protected Christians in difficult places throughout the centuries.

And pray for each other, that we all may declare the Gospel fearlessly as Paul did, as we should.

Amen.

Now, as we sing this song, each of you come forward to the altar rail to pray for your peace, your rest, your healing, to express your gratitude for what Jesus has done for you – and pray for the peace, the rest, the healing of another person, a friend, a relative, a neighbor. Come forward to support another person and help them with their burdens. Set an example for others in your family. Come to the altar rail as we sing.

Amen!

Response Hymn – What a Friend we have in Jesus 526

Benediction: May God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit become more real to you than your own family! May God be with you throughout this week. Go forth and spread joy to the world!

Closing Song – StandUp, Stand up for Jesus 514

Go and Praise God all week long!

Eternal Wisdom

Many people, both men and women, boys and girls, play games online today. I know that some of you do, for you play against my wife online. Most of what we read are articles about how bad this is, how much trouble we are borrowing because we and our children aren’t outdoors playing baseball or basketball. Underlying it all seems to be a feeling that there is something not quite real about these games, something which is not quite real even about the people whom we meet online. But these games have become very popular, largely replacing the pickup baseball or basketball or football games that the local neighborhood gang would play together decades ago. And there are multiple reasons, not all of which are bad.

Part of what drives this is that the online space is so doggone BIG! In the old days, there was a single basketball court or baseball diamond. If you’ll remember, in your neighborhood, even if it was a large neighborhood, there were rarely more than 20 kids that could come together – and for many of the kids, coming together was not necessarily an enjoyable time, because there were always bullies who could and often did cause harm to some of the children. The bullies chased the smaller kids away from the basketball court and the baseball diamond. But online, because it is so big, there is always another place to go, a way to change your name to hide from the bullies, a way to find a group of people who are friendly to you because there are hundreds of millions of possible players. And if there is trouble, your parents or spouse or roommate is just a few steps away. That ability to hide, to get a second chance – it’s no longer available in the flesh-and-blood world, is it? Social security numbers, driver’s licenses all ensure that you can’t hide. If a powerful bully decides to persecute you, you can’t get away anymore. Except online.

When my son Andy was in high school, he found a Christian online gaming group. This group was named the Seraphin, after the angelic creatures who guard God’s throne room. This group consisted of other Christian high schoolers, college students, as well as their parents, many of whom were pastors. They were real people. He made friends across America, and even around the world. Not all of these kids and grown-ups were perfect, but most were very good friends who were supportive, watched their language, and shared their wisdom with the younger players. Even today, about once a year, a group of them gets together to meet in-person, either at a college or one of their homes, or, as they did a couple years ago, at Yellowstone National Park for a week of shared vacation. For they understand that Wisdom demands the use of our five senses to ensure people are who they say they are.

Today, as Andy has matured and become a pastor, he has branched out in the online world to the point where he now actively speaks to his online gaming friends about the love of Christ. He shares the wisdom he has learned with both Christian and non-Christian friends around the world. While we always hear of the trouble that being online causes people, there is good which is also possible.

But how do we know who and what is good, and who and what is trouble? That is the aspect of life that philosophers call wisdom. Perhaps it would be best if I contrasted wisdom with some similar ideas.

Wisdom is not intelligence. Intelligence is the ability to understand things more quickly or less quickly. If someone can understand a new concept quickly, such as a new type of math problem, a new musical instrument, or solve a new type of mechanical problem quickly, we say they have high intelligence. Those of you who have watched The Big Bang Theory know that Sheldon is a character with great intelligence, but poor wisdom. He can solve problems, but he doesn’t necessarily have any idea how to live life. Intelligence is a gift of God, but it doesn’t answer all the questions – it simply gives a way to find the answers.

But neither wisdom nor intelligence are education. Education is having a great deal of training in one or more areas. For example, Phil Barbarow is highly educated in the repair of vehicles. He’s taken many courses on different vehicles, on different engines, he’s been taught what the most likely causes are and what repairs are needed are for dozens, if not hundreds of different vehicle problems. I can work out many problems with my car, but I will take days or weeks longer to repair those problems compared to Phil, because Phil is educated in the area of vehicle repair. He has that knowledge in his brain, while I have to go to Youtube or the library to find that knowledge before I begin working. Phil is educated.

Other people may be educated in the areas of dentistry, of law, of quilt-making, of fire-fighting, of mathematics, of teaching, of nursing, of Shakespeare, of computer programming, of cooking. This big hunk of knowledge for a field that an educated person has gives an advantage, but it takes time and often money, for it often involves taking courses, reading books, or watching videos to gain the knowledge. Thankfully, with the Internet and Youtube, anyone can become educated in many different areas by just putting in the time. But it takes time to become educated.

But education nor intelligence are wisdom. Education tells you how other people have solved the problem in the past. Intelligence helps you to solve the new problem today that is in front of you. But wisdom? Wisdom helps you decide if the problem should be solved. Wisdom helps you decide who should solve the problem. Wisdom, you see, combines moral and ethical judgement with predictions about the future and effect that this particular issue will have on men and women, boys and girls in the future. 

For example, the education of a zoo keeper may tell her how most lion cages are constructed, and therefore provides a basic understanding of how to open them. Intelligence lets her look at this particular lion cage and figure out how to open it, even if it is a new model. But wisdom tells the zoo keeper whether or not she should open the cage.

In our first reading from I Kings 3, Solomon appears to have been the youngest of King David’s sons. He takes over as king of Israel and Judah around 970 BC when King David died. According to the authors of the Book of Kings, the young King followed instructions given to him by his father David, with the exception that he offered sacrifices and burnt incense on the high places, the tops of mountain peaks. This was not totally good because God’s worship was to be held at the tabernacle, the tent in Jerusalem which was soon replaced by the Temple of God that Solomon would soon build.

Solomon, though, offered his sacrifices to God on mount Gibeon, the most important of the high places – a thousand burn offerings. That night, God appeared to Solomon in a dream and asked Solomon what he wanted God to give him.

In Solomon’s response, the young king asked for a discerning heart to govern the people and to distinguish between right and wrong.

God responded: “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. 13 Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. 14 And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.”

The Book of Kings is full of references to the great wisdom, wealth, and power of Solomon. But this passage makes it clear that the wisdom came first, and it was a gift from God. Wisdom gave Solomon wealth and power.

As we read through the history of Israel and Judah, the Bible speaks much of the wisdom or the foolishness of many kings. For a person who is to be a leader – whether of a country, a state, a town, a church, or a family – wisdom is most important, more important than wealth, than power, than intelligence or education.

In fact, while we mostly understand from the beginning of John’s Gospel that Christ is the eternal Word of God, the messenger who is the message, there is also a secondary strain found in the Bible which says that Christ is Wisdom personified. Christ is Wisdom walking upon the earth. The entire Book of Proverbs begins in this way:

“The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: For gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young.”

The entire Book was written to help us gain Wisdom.

In the Book of Proverbs, there are three important verses about the beginning of Wisdom.

1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

4:7 says The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom though it cost all you have, get understanding.

9:10 says: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

And in Psalm 111:10: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

Reading this Book of Proverbs is an excellent way to develop wisdom. Just a couple verses a day will go far. Or, you can read a chapter a day and finish in a month. The verse-a-day with discussion is a great plan for children. However, be sure to read the verses before you work with your children or grandchildren, because some of the images developed may not be appropriate for your children. Yet. Chapter Ten is a safe place to start. .

And we see the need for wisdom in this world. Have you ever met the two men or women who knocked on your front door and are trying to convince you to come to their church? They have a canned presentation, they give you a one-size-fits-all talk – but they forgot to ask up front if you attended a church, liked your church, or even knew who Jesus is? They lack wisdom, for wisdom speaks to us through the Holy Spirit to guide us into conversations that are uplifting rather than conversations that drag us down. And it is through conversation that we pass on the Gospel – it doesn’t work as well in a meme or a canned presentation.

When I was a pastor in Clarksburg, two men came to visit me. They were canvassing the neighborhood, attempting to find people to invite to their church. They knocked on my door – I told them I was the pastor of the church a block away. They then proceeded to spend the next twenty minutes trying to talk me into coming to their church, for the reason that their church only used the old King James Bible. Huh? There was little wisdom there, for I was already leading a church, a church where I determined which Bible I would preach from – which I varied according to the needs of the sermon. Yet they believed that by telling me they used the old King James Version, they would convince me to give up my pulpit, my calling, my home, and sit in the pews of their church. Eventually, I was able to plead that I had a meeting to attend, and escape. Wisdom told me that it was more important for me to write my sermon than to listen to their self-centered sales pitch.

In the Bible, The Book of Proverbs is filled with wise sayings. Chapter 12:15 says
“The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.” The next verse says: “Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult.” Throughout the book, there are proverbs that say in many different ways that fools talk a lot, but the wise listen, for that is how wisdom is gained.

Yet there are three ways to gain wisdom. There is the student’s way – read the Bible and other books and reflect, or think over what happens to the people because of their actions. This is the least painful way to gain wisdom, for you read that you should not put your hand on a hot stove eye.

The second way is to watch and listen to people who have lived more than you have – parents, grandparents, Sunday school leaders, pastors. Learn from their mistakes and allow them to teach you. This is almost as painless, but you’ll see pain in your teachers’ eyes. They’ll tell you about the time they put their hand on the hot stove eye and the pain they had.

 The third way is to go ahead and do things. When you put your own hand on the hot stove eye, you will quickly develop wisdom – but there is much pain developing this wisdom yourself.

God promised Solomon wealth and honor and long life if Solomon continued to seek wisdom and obey God. And Solomon did well until later when he began to drift from the holy path.

Paul took up this idea of wisdom when he wrote to the Ephesians. In Chapter Five,  Paul wrote: 15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 

You see, wisdom isn’t as important when we are protected. But in evil times, wisdom is critical, for opportunities are few and far between. Knowing what is good and what is evil can save our lives. Paul continues:

 

17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Part of wisdom is understanding deep down in our hearts that God the Father has given us everything we have because of the love of Jesus Christ. And so, we are to be filled with the Spirit, reminding each other of that love by speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Do you remind others of the love of Christ when they are down? Do you remind fellow Christians that they will live forever and that a ten thousand year perspective will go a long way toward putting events and slights and harsh words in their proper place? Do you forgive others for slights toward you because of the great crimes that God has forgiven you for?

Wisdom brings back these ideas, knowing that apologies are almost always free, that carrying grudges weighs us down more than the other person, that life does not end for the Christian when we close our eyes. For education is the gift of the past knowledge, intelligences solves today’s problems, but wisdom guides us into the future.

Our Gospel reading was very difficult for the people who heard Christ’s words, for they could not see the future. They did not know that Jesus would be executed, and come back to life. They did not foresee the Last Supper where Jesus said the bread was His body and the wine was His blood. These words have been very difficult for people over the centuries who have not walked long with Christ. For that matter, it is difficult for almost everyone. I will try to explain these words for us today. Jesus said:

51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

They were taking Jesus very literally. Nothing in their education had prepared them for a man who invited, even encouraged people to cannibalize him. So they questioned deeply – as we do when we think about it.

53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 

Consider this: Jesus the Christ was present at the creation, as the Apostle John tells us in Chapter 1 of his gospel. In fact, John tells us that “everything that was made was made through [Christ]”. Doesn’t this include life itself?

And doesn’t Jesus tell Nicodemus that he must be born again of water and the Spirit? Doesn’t baptism give us new life? Most Christians will tell you that a switch clicked during their baptism, that, just like Dorothy’s arrival in Oz, life turned from black-and-white into a vibrant color when they turned to Christ.

Jesus gives us a reason for receiving Holy Communion:

54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 

We have this idea that what we see and touch and taste is more real than ideas. We think that ideas are somehow not quite real. Two examples: First, take the idea of a perfect triangle, which we learned back in high school geometry has three angles that total exactly 180 degrees. It is an idea, for no one can draw or construct that perfect triangle, although we can get very close. We can draw a triangle with 179 degrees or 181 degrees or get even closer with wonderfully made tools, but strive as hard as we can, we can only get to 179.99999999 or 180.00000000001 degrees, for this world has been imperfect since the fall. Only the idea of a 180 degree perfect triangle is perfect. Yet we think that a triangle I draw or make with toothpicks is more real than this idea.

I have visitors from time to time who travel westbound on Rt 50 to reach our home. I give them simple directions to my real home – Take Rt 50 west to I-77, go south 1 exit, then east on Rt 47 about a mile and a half to WVU Parkersburg, then take the Y to the left, our house is on the right just before the church. But most people don’t want to do that anymore. They want my address, 120 Old Turnpike Road. They follow the GPS, which takes them over Dutch Ridge Road, a twisty, little, curvy little road, and then they finally find us here if they stay on the road. For them, the GPS is real – and my simple directions to my real house aren’t as real.

But what if we have our concepts of reality reversed. What if the GPS is not real – it isn’t the road or the house, after all. Which is real, the GPS or the road? What if the 180 degree perfect triangle is more real than what we can draw or make from toothpicks? Solomon got his gifts and prophecy from God in a dream – does that mean it wasn’t real? Are dreams real or not? Are people you meet while online real or not? How do we tell what is real – and what is less real? We can see and touch and speak to the person beside us on the pew – and on a hot day, we can SMELL them! And we say that’s why we know they are real. But we can’t do these same things with God – or can we?

What if God is more real than we are, and we only exist because God holds us in God’s Universe – or mind? What if, as the Letter to the Hebrews says, what if the throne room in Heaven is the real throne room and the Temple on earth was just an imperfect copy? What if our souls and our future incorruptible body are more real than this pitiful decaying body we have today? What if it is true that we aren’t bodies with souls, but souls with temporary bodies, to be replaced with perfect bodies one day? What if the bread and the juice used in Holy Communion is real food and real drink which allows Jesus to live in us for eternal life because Spiritual things are much more real than this temporary stuff around us. “For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.” Jesus continued:

56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.” Pointing to Himself, Jesus said, “58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

I have a degree in physics and took courses in astrophysics. I am educated in and have studied space and time. I have studied Einstein’s equations and quantum mechanics. As much as anyone, I am educated in how reality is structured. Yet I do not know how to live forever because of that education. That deep education about the Universe doesn’t explain two basic questions – where did the “me” in my mind come from? What happens after this body of flesh dies? And I – like you, know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the “me” in our minds is real, real, real and alive! But our science cannot explain it.

But when I read the Bible, answers are found. Are they true? I only know that whenever I follow the Wisdom found in the Bible about how to live, my life improves. So Wisdom tells me that the Bible is a trustworthy guide. And here, in this passage, Jesus tells me that “the one who feeds on [Jesus] will live because of [Jesus].” His comments have been an excellent, wise guide in my life so far. He claims to be the Son of God – and, according to the Apostle Paul, over five hundred people saw Jesus alive again after his execution, which means Jesus’ claim is very, very likely to be true.

And so I must open my mind to the idea that the spiritual realm and the realm of ideas is more real than what I see around me every day. Ideas about triangles are more real than drawn triangles. Online friends are just as real as friends I can touch. Solomon’s dream came true – he was respected for his great wisdom – so the dream was real. And therefore, in some way, the bread and the juice in Holy Communion is necessary for eternal life. And so I choose to eat and drink what Jesus says is His flesh and blood in faith that this leads to eternal life. And when I do this, He becomes more real to me than ever before.

And so the Wisdom of God, which is Jesus the Christ, tells me to take Holy Communion to take in the body and blood of Jesus Christ. And He will be with me  - and you – always, teaching us more Wisdom from God. Full circle.

Why is it important that Jesus becomes more real to us? Because as Jesus becomes more and more real, we realize that this world around us is temporary, while Jesus offers eternal life. And our perspective gradually, gradually changes to understand that today’s troubles will be in ten thousand years as if they were nothing, unreal, imagined almost. And knowing that gives peace, gives rest, healing from the insults of this temporary life – and gratitude and joy for the gifts of God.

Now, as we sing this song, each of you come forward to the altar rail to pray for your peace, your rest, your healing, to express your gratitude for what Jesus has done for you – and pray for the peace, the rest, the healing of another person, a friend, a relative, a neighbor. Come forward to support another person and help them with their burdens. Set an example for others in your family. Come to the altar rail as we sing.

Amen!

4 Response Hymn – BlessedAssurance 369

Benediction: May God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit become more real to you than your own family! May God be with you throughout this week. Go forth and spread joy to the world!

5 Closing Song – Throughit All 507

Go and Praise God all week long!