September 30, 2007

I was speaking with a rather outspoken woman the other day who told me that even though she was raised in a church, she no longer attends, because in her words, "the people who go there are just hypocrites and all [the church] wants is your money. Now, I've heard that before. And probably, so have you.

And maybe we might try to brush off such comments by attacking our attackers or by comparing church going people to the rest of society. Yet, let's be honest. Can we really say that our churches are islands of goodness and kindness in a world hatred and evil? I don't know that we can. If we could, then how do we explain all the clergy sex scandals; how do we explain the Christian businesspersons and political leaders who have been convicted of crimes? How do we explain the verbal, physical, and sexual abuse that takes place in our Christian families? How do we explain the petty bickering that splits our churches? There was an article the August issue of our church magazine The Banner about why our young adults have left our churches. One of reasons they cited was the fights and divisions that have happened all too often among us. But, looking even closer to home, how many of us do not have secret sins in our lives that would completely embarrass us if others knew about them. Are we really so much better than those outside the church?

Having said that, let's face another reality. A couple years ago a big issue was made over this judge in Alabama who wanted to place a monument of the Ten Commandments in his court house. Remember Judge Roy Moore? Some of us strongly backed Judge Moore because we felt that one of the reasons for many of the problems in our society is that our country has turned away from Biblical morality. And we believed that the reason for this is that so many Americans are ignorant of God's law. But, people of God, think about this: we church folk do hear the law of God proclaimed Sunday after Sunday. No, we might not hear the Ten Commandments every week like we did when we were growing up, but we do hear how God wants us to live. Every Sunday we hear what is right and what is wrong. Some of us have heard this all our lives. Yet, in spite of that, we still sin.

Another reason people leave churches is described in an article by Anne Stuckey in the June 19 issue of The Mennonite Magazine, an article she entitles "Wave of Guilt"

"Growing up, I listened to the sermon and experienced new guilt every Sunday when confronted by the fact that once again I had sinned that week and was in need of repentance. As regular as the waves rushing to the shore was the weekly rush to my knees Sunday after Sunday, asking for God's forgiveness. Sometimes the sins I named were not so great, but on other Sundays I knew I had gone astray that week and needed to try harder the next week to be good. "

In the book I referred to last Sunday, Shame and Grace, author Lew Smedes makes a similar point in his chapter, "How the Church Fed My Shame." Another reason people leave churches is because they can't handle being made to feel guilty Sunday after Sunday. And maybe some of us who stayed struggle with that too.

Now, at this point, some of you here this morning might be thinking of leaving.. Please don't. I brought all this up to help you understand what the Apostle Paul was feeling when he wrote the words of our scripture

Read what he has to say in the first six verses of our chapter. He describes how the law of God can became a real burden that bound him and kept him from experiencing joy and freedom And then he followed that with the words of verse 7,

⁷What shall we say, then? Is the law sin?

Paul's question may sound strange. But, think about it this way. Living in slavery and guilt is not God's will for us. And so, if the law results in what is contrary to God's will, then it is logical to question whether or not the law is sin.

It is logical to think that might be the case, but listen to Paul's answer.

Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law.

I would not have known what sin was except through the law.

Every time I hear what God demands of me, whether through the 10 commandments, the law of love, or other parts of scripture or through the word preached or any other way, every I hear what God wants I know what sin is and that I am a sinner: I know that there's not just evil out there, but there is also evil in my own heart and life.

But why is it so important to know that, especially if it causes such grief? Let me respond with an illustration. My dad struggled with diabetes, ever since he was 13 years old. Before he went to the doctor, he began to lose weight drastically even though he was eating all the time. I remember that he said he went down to about 85 pounds. Finally, my grandpa and grandma brought him to the doctor. The doctor diagnosed the disease and put my dad on severely restricted diet. And he ordered that my dad to take shots with a needle two to three times a day. That was awful. How many of you kids here this morning would like to live that way? But let me ask you this question? Was it better for my dad to know he had diabetes or not to know? Yes, to know--even though it meant that he couldn't have have junk food and that he would have to stick himself with needles. Why? Because not know would have meant that he would have died very soon. Untreated my dad's diabetes was a deadly disease.

Not to know our sin has one result: death. Why? Because there is a direct connection between sin and death. That's what God said to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, "In the day you eat thereof you will surely die;" That's what God said to his people Israel in Ezekiel 18, "the soul that sins, it shall die; that's what God said in Romans 6:23, "the wages of sin is death."

There are a lot of things that happen in our world that cause us grief. Everyone of those things are symptoms of the death that has resulted from our sin and rebellion-- even natural disasters like hurricanes and floods and earthquakes. Such things were not a problem before human sin and they remain a problem because of it. And think about all the pain caused by human inhumanity: This might sound stupid, but it is true: If the ethnic and religious extremists in Iraq who are car bombing, shooting at, and killing each other would suddenly lay down their weapons and dismantle their bombs, the war would end tomorrow. I am not making a statement about whether or not we should be fighting the war over there; I'm just stating a dumb obvious fact. The same could be said for every act of violence. For example, if gang members would stop shooting at each other, our city streets would be a lot safer. That reminds me of the miracle that took place with the Woadani tribe in South America. The tribe was on the verge of extinction, because of all the killing and revenge killing that was taking place. All it took to save the tribe was for people to lay down their spears. Watch the movie The End of the Spear or read the book by that title. Anyway, back to my point: Human sin is the cause of all our problems and of all human misery. Human sin and rebellion is the cause of death. And that death is not just temporal, but eternal.

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20: 12- 14)

Yes the Bible still teaches that. And it can't be explained away.

Yet, in spite of the fact that we know our sin and we know it's consequences, we still sin. In fact, because of what we know, our guilt and shame is worse. And frustrated we cry out with Paul,

What I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing.

And no matter how often we hear the law, no matter how hard we try, the result is the same. We know we sin, we know the penalty, but we do it anyway. And, as Christians, day after day we cry out...

⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

But, the point that Paul is making in our scripture for this morning is that it precisely when we feel so frustrated and so helpless that we find relief.

²⁵Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!

It is only by a constant realization of our own helplessness that we can come to this point. As long as we believe the lie that if we just try a little harder we will be able to live a sin-free life, we're sunk.

Last week I explained it this way to my Sunday School class: It's similar to what happens when I work on my computer and can't get it fixed. Oh, you don't want to be around me then! You'll know I'm a sinner! Sometimes I'll stay up until 3 in the morning trying to fix it. But, do you know what's really freeing? When I've finally realized I can't fix it and I decide bring it to a repair shop.

That's the point we have come to in our lives: We can not fix it. Only Jesus can. That's the simple gospel message, isn't it? We all know it. I said it in a little different way last week. The problem is that some of us can't get past the guilt and shame. People, we know it, but we also have to believe it.

One more thing: If we know that there is a connection between our sin and death and if we believe that Jesus in love has set us free, then we can look at the law in a brand new way.

Instead of seeing the law as our way of escaping death and misery, we understand it as a wise guide for living. Because I am not stupid and because I am so thankful to Jesus, I want to try as hard as I can to what the law says. Why do I say because I am not stupid? Well when I disobey the law, I only add to my misery and suffering and to the suffering of those around me. Only a stupid fool would want to do that! And why do I talk about following the law out of thanksgiving to God? Because I realize my sins also bring grief to the God who loves me and to his Son who died for me. Why would I ever want to do that?

But there's another reason I want to keep the law. Paul says in Romans 6: 1,

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! (literally-Never may it be!) We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

The result of trusting in Jesus is not simply to have our sins forgiven, it is that we die to being a sinner and to rise to be a child of God.

John writes,

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-¹³children born not of natural descent,^ nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. (John 1: 12- 13)

Last Thursday I was talking on the phone with my mom. I was telling her how proud we are of our daughters. I had just received 2 of my daughters' progress reports from school. The teachers had such nice things to say about them. I said to my mom, "When I was little I know you hated getting my progress reports and going to parent teacher conferences. (The teachers were quite frustrated with my behavior and with the amount effort I put toward my studies.) Now, you'd think that when I became a parent the Lord would give me a little of the grief I gave you. Quite the opposite-- I just enjoy getting progress reports on my daughter and going to their parent teacher conferences. Life just isn't fair!"

My mom agreed, and then, half in jest, added, "But look at what you've grown up to be!"

Little does she know. Good thing she doesn't see me every day!

Yet, I reflected on my mom's comment, "Look what you've grown up to be." Certainly in this life I haven't made tremendous progress, but, thankfully I made some. At least I was able to buckle down and get decent grades in high school. At least I was able to finish college and seminary. I did learn something from my all grief and from parents' patient discipline.

And that's what growing up in the family of God is all about. It is about being nurtured to be the people Jesus saved us to be. Certainly that means being disciplined-- hearing the law and knowing the misery of our failure to keep it. And our failure includes those times when we bicker and fight with our brothers and sisters and hopefully later feel awful because of it. It is in the family that we are disciplined.

And it is in God's family that we know unconditional love. No matter how many times I disobeyed and rebelled, my dad and mom always forgave me and I never worried about their love. No, their love wasn't perfect. They made mistakes. But, I always knew at the end of the day that they loved me. I speak with joy when I remember my parent's family and their love for me and I hope my daughter will be able to say the same. But, I know that some of you suffered in your families. I know that some of you were starved for love. But, in God's family we can know love and acceptance. For we know that there is no sin so great that God will not forgive it. And as Corrie Ten Boom puts it, "there is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still."

In the beginning I told you about that woman who left the church, calling us all hypocrites. We also considered the guilt that drove others away from the church. People of God, if our family is really a part of God's family, then those who are a part of it must really know the love of God here. Yes, we are going to fail. But, at the end the day, our brothers and sisters have to know they are accepted and loved. If we really believe that God loves us in spite of what we've done, can we do less? Oh, by God's grace let us strive to be the people and family Jesus saved us to be! AMEN.