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Sermons

"YOU CAN ENJOY LIFE MORE!"
EPISTLE SCRIPTURE TEXT:
I CORINTHIANS 10:23-11:1

DAVE RING, PASTOR
LOS ALAMOS 1ST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

SCRIPTURE TEXT: 23"Everything is permissible"-but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"-but not everything is constructive. 24Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others. 25Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, 26for, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it." 27If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. 28But if anyone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience' sake- 29the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience? 30If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for? 31So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God- 33even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. 1Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

MESSAGE: As a pastor, I'm continually fascinated and amazed at the number of Christians I meet who really want to be Jews. The Gospel says that Jesus Christ came to earth to save a lost world. It tells us that He died on the cross for our redemption from sin. He rose from the dead that we might have eternal life. The "good news" is that we are set free from a religion based upon laws, rules, and the need for "working" to somehow please God. A hundred times over the New Testament proclaims, "God loves you!" He accepts you; you don't have to bend over backwards to please God; he already loves you.

Whenever I proclaim this good news of salvation in Jesus Christ - freely, openly, without qualification - as the Bible presents it - I'm truly amazed at the shock, the suspicion, the "there's got to be a catch somewhere" attitude that people display in the Church of Jesus Christ. Pillars of every congregation I've been a part of have chided me for suggesting such simple, free grace on God's part. "Now, come on preacher, you know there's no such thing as a free lunch. Besides, if you tell people that God loves them, without any conditions; well, it could produce havoc. People would feel free to do whatever they wanted to. Tell the whole story, preacher. Tell us what the rules are. Tell us what we have to do to please God." (Pause) Christians - who really want to be Jews.

In the Jewish faith, the rules are quite clearly defined. The base paths are brightly marked. What must be done, and what must not be done, is stated with unmistakable precision. If one breaks a rule, thereby stepping outside the proper path, penance and sacrifice of a prescribed nature can be made in order to get back on the right track. Judaism is a systematic, moral, ethical outline of how to please God by obedience and good works. Nearly 2,000 years in the formulation, Judaism is the best system of law, morality, and works reaching toward God ever conceived by men and women. If such a method of seeking God's favor could be effective, Judaism would be it.

If Judaism, with its righteousness based upon morality, law, and good works had worked, Jesus Christ need never have come to our world. If it were possible to please God by doing all the right things and avoiding all the wrong ones, we would need no savior. But it is not. Time and again, the scriptures proclaim, "not by works, lest any man should boast." Jesus said, "No one is good but God alone" - not even the finest, most moral, upstanding, humanitarian, charitable, kind-hearted person who ever lived. Works don't work. Judaism, the finest system of such ever conceived, failed.

The Bible explains why obedience and striving can't possibly please God in at least six major passages. The Book of Romans, chapters two through eight, contains the best explanation of this fallacy. I hope you'll read it, especially if this sermon doesn't make sense to you. But let's try to approach the subject from a simple, "common sense" point of view this morning.

Most of us would agree that, in this world, the ultimate value is life itself. Life has no "price tag;" you can't buy or sell it. What would it cost to buy another human being's life? Except for those terrible circumstances wherein slavery still persists, this is obviously a ridiculous question. We neither measure nor evaluate our lives in relation to such a crude benchmark. Now, let's extend that idea a bit further. God, who created all life, is the only One who knows how to gain eternal life. So how much can we pay God to buy eternal life from Him? What's the price - how many good deeds, how much in charitable donations? Another ridiculous question, of course. You can't measure nor evaluate life, on earth or for eternity, by such a silly standard.

Obedience to law, good deeds, "works" as the Bible terms such - are simply not in the running. We can't earn eternal life. We can't deserve salvation. But we can receive it - as a free gift from Jesus Christ. Christians who are trying to be Jews are missing the whole point - of the Gospel.

Jesus came to our world to free us from the all-too-human compulsion to establish a system of rules, laws, deeds, and works in relating to God. Because our lives on this earth are governed and regulated in such ways, it's only natural, I suppose, to conceive our relationship with God as an amplified version of the same. God becomes a big daddy in the sky, rewarding good behavior and punishing bad conduct. God is seen as cosmic policeman, writing down all the violations in a big ticket book - and as a super scout leader, passing out merit badges for jobs well-done. Jesus Christ said, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light" - but we insist upon burdening ourselves with demands that God has not made.

I personally am concerned that Christianity may be becoming less attractive in our time because we, the Christians of this world, insist upon burdening ourselves - and others - with much, much more than God ever intended when He sent Jesus to our world. To the earliest believers in Christ, the Gospel was a breath of fresh air. It lifted them up, removed their guilt, cleansed their sins, and allowed them to fully enjoy life - as God always intended. Jesus said, "I have come that you may have life - and have it abundantly!" Jesus affirmed people; he didn't put them down. He came not to condemn, but to heal. He came not to judge, but to love. He came not to lay down more rules, but to make it possible to be free from the burdens created by the ones we already had.

The kind of freedom to enjoy life that Christ offers is risky, though. It means we have to be responsible for our own decisions most of the time. There's no "Hoyle's Complete Book of Rules" for the "game" of life. Instead, we have the example of another, perfect human life - that of Jesus - upon which to model our own. That should be sufficient.

Today's scripture text is St. Paul's way of trying to explain the opportunity of Christian freedom. Not that it was a problem for him - he knew himself to be a sinner saved only by the grace of God. He had been on his way to Damascus to kill off a few more Christians, in obedience to a strict, fundamental interpretation of the Jewish law against blasphemy. But Christ, for reasons unknown to Paul or anyone else, chose to rescue him from this misguided zeal for laws and rules that Paul foolishly thought was pleasing to God. Paul thus understood his salvation as a free gift - with no strings attached. Paul was truly free.

But other believers were still struggling with the issue. They couldn't believe it was that simple. And so Paul began his discourse on Christian freedom. "Everything is permissible" to the Christian, says Paul, not once but twice - for emphasis. And then he goes on to say, "but not everything is beneficial." And Christians, ever since, have ignored Paul's broad proclamation of permission, and keyed in upon the "but not." I dare to predict that, before the week ahead is out, at least one and perhaps several of you will call me to express your discomfort with this sermon. You'll tell me I'm offering folks too much freedom, making Christianity too easy. And you'll have understood me correctly.

Paul's "but not" has little to do with the Christian's relation to God. It's not a condition upon God's love for us. Rather, it's an explanation of how, in a practical sense, Christians can witness for our Lord in a world that doesn't understand, and really isn't ready for, the kind of freedom that is ours in Christ. Unfortunately, we in the church have too often majored in the "but not." We've taken Jesus' good news Gospel of grace and turned it into a burdensome, limitative, new kind of Judaism - with more rules and restrictions than God ever gave to Moses. And frankly, that doesn't witness effectively for Christ in today's world, either.

Christians, I believe you can enjoy life more. I believe that you are free, truly free, in Jesus Christ. And more importantly, the Bible - God's Holy Word - says so. And for those among us here today who might not yet be Christians, I believe that you can be set free -- by accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior, your pathway to God.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, sent laymen from England to America to preach and teach the Gospel. One such man was George Shadford, who sailed from Bristol on April 9, 1773. Wesley wrote these words to Shadford: "Dear George, the time has come to you to embark for America. I let you loose, George, on the great continent of America. Publish your message in the open face of the sun - and do all the good you can."

I love that sentence of Wesley's: "I let you loose, George, on the great continent of America." We are let loose; we are set free, by the power of God in Christ, in America today. Amen.

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