Sermon

Oh Yeah? Sez You!

Psalm 86: 1-10, Jeremiah 20: 7-13, Matthew 10: 24-39

Oh Yeah? Sez You! As a teenager that was often a response youth my age would give when someone told them something that was either unbelievable or sounded phony. Sometimes it was in response to something said in such a way that it was difficult to understand and it was a sarcastic response to the other person’s “high-falutin’” statement. “High-falutin’ meant you were showing off, ostentatious, pretending to be above one's station in life, putting on airs.

A friend told me about a telephone conversation he had with another friend. He said it started like this: Walt (the friend he was talking about) – Walt said, “My perception of the reality of the situation is that we should commence immediately.” My perception of the reality of the situation is that we should commence immediately.

In other words – it looks to me like we should go ahead and start.

I wonder why he didn’t just say that – it looks to me like we should go ahead and start. However, when I look closely at his way of saying it – my perception of the reality of the situation – I begin to see a cloak of protection. After all, who knows what his perception of reality is or how he perceives a given situation? So any failure is protected from his viewpoint – he said things safely. Had he simply said, “It looks to me like we should go ahead” that puts him on the spot to face the consequences should there be a failure.

In our concern with words we have lost something valuable. We have lost the freedom to let our words be an extension of ourselves. We are so careful in the way we talk – so as not to offend anyone; so as not to be misunderstood; in order to be perfectly clear – that the reverse often happens. Every word must be examined to see if we can find out what the person really meant. In fact, some people are so good at such wordsmithing they can give you the answer to a question that you did not ask, but you will think the question was answered.

I once asked a person, “Did you know the content of that letter?” He answered, “I didn’t know the exact content of the letter.” In fact, he answered truthfully, but his answer was not to the question I asked. “Did you know the content of the letter?” He modified it, by responding he did not know the exact content of the letter. The truth was he did know the content of the letter but he did not know the exact content because he had not read the final typed letter. Of course the answer he gave me was misleading and was meant to make me believe he did not know the content of the letter.

Have you ever noticed when high government officials speak and say something very clearly that we can all understand, shortly afterward an aide will issue a statement that the high government official did not really mean it the way it was interpreted. The aide then gives the “spin” version which is, of course, vague and open to numerous interpretations.

It is no wonder that the prevailing attitude toward all people who seem to speak with authority can be expressed as Oh yeah? Sez you!

Jeremiah reminds us that God does not allow us to be vague in our witness. Jeremiah points out that when he tries to avoid even the mention of God, “then within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.”

Scripture reminds us that we are to be in this world differently, to seek a way this not the world’s way. The Bible, written over a long period of history by a great number of people, contains accounts of people encountering a God who speaks and acts in history . . . a God who still has words to say to us; a God who still has deeds to do in this generation through us.

Each generation has to search this written faith history and discover for ourselves what this long faith history has to do with us and how we live. We seek the parallels of how God interacted in ancient societies and how God interacts in contemporary society.

I believe it is our unique task as the church to make those ancient words live so that people today can still see and believe that God is here and is still speaking. This God we speak of is one who came, bearing human likeness according to the scriptures, and assumed the role of a servant leader and even went to the cross to take upon himself the sins of the world.

It is not a sophisticated story. It is not a story told to entice you to find out who the hero is and who the villain is. No, this is a story told so simply even a child can understand it. It is a story about the value of every life. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by God. And even the hairs of your head are counted. So, do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” That is a tremendous affirmation of how valuable each and ever life is. We should be daring disciples of this age and let people know how valuable and unique they are in all the world.

Our unsophisticated story can be told simply and in a few words. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but has everlasting life.” (John 3: 16)

It is so simple that only those with a child-like faith can understand it. Our task in this age of sophistication is to help people understand that we need to be more like children to fully appreciate this boundless love given unconditionally. I do not mean that people should be childish. That is far different than being child-like.

Child-like is to accept some things on faith – night will come and another day will follow; our families love us; it is safe to go to sleep in our household; there will be food to eat tomorrow. You get the picture.

Child-like faith is to see the world by taking time to smell roses and pick flowers and watch worms. It is to know that whatever out there hurts us someone at home loves us and will take care of the hurt.

One night in a restaurant I was watching a small child eating at near-by table. It was obvious that the parents of the child were very uptight about the way the child was eating. She used her fingers, she ate all of one thing before starting on something else, and she was even sloppy. I felt a pity for those parents in their uptightness because they were missing so much. They did not see the absolute joy she found in each new taste. They did not see the joyful feelings she was having by licking her fingers. They did not see her complete abandonment of sophistication in her joy of eating. I also am sadly aware that as a grandparent I can see that much more clearly than I could as a parent.

Jesus called little children to him. He was quite stern with the disciples when they tried to keep them away. He saw in them an acceptance and faith that is an example of the way to live.

We are all, after all, children - children of a God who created, who loves and who sustains us. It is perfectly all right to be child-like.

At a pastor’s retreat some time ago I had the opportunity to take a long walk with in the woods with two colleagues. One of them had cancer and had recently been told he may not have long to live. We started out walking and discussing the session we had just finished. It was not long, however, until my colleague with cancer began to pause now and then to watch some bird, or point out some tree, and even to note how cute a goat was in a field. The world looks very different when you walk with someone who understands every day is precious.

The truth is, every day is precious, whether we have a terminal illness or not. We are all terminal. God has given us this day to live. Why are we so wasteful? God has even given us this Sabbath day for rest and thanksgiving. Why do we so easily forget?

We are empowered to tell the world a saving story. It is so simple it makes the wise of the world look foolish. It is so easy to tell that even little children can tell it. It is so true that those who believe it find new life.

This is a story about what takes place when God enters one’s life. We are describing the healing and reconciliation that can break down barriers that divide us. Living life based on this story is to live a life of grace, not of law.

I once read the statement that great people talk about ideas; average people talk about things; and small people talk about other people.

God knows there are enough small people around and plenty of average people. The story we are to tell will make people great. It is an absurd story about a God whose intention – a God whose idea – is for the whole of humanity and even nature itself to live in harmony together.

Unfortunately, it is a story not easily told and uneasily listened to in our day. On Sunday mornings there are more people staying home than listening to this story. There are more people saying “Oh yeah? Sez you!” than there are people willing to tell the story.

The apostle Paul, writing to the church at Philippi, encouraged the members of that church to live the life of faith as followers of Christ. He wrote (Philippians 2: 14, 15), “Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world.”

The followers of Jesus went out into a hostile world to tell of a loving God. The wise of the world have been made foolish; the foolish of the world are indeed wise.

Do not say: “My perception of the reality of the situation is.” Rather, say: “Here is how I see it. Here is what God has done for me. Here is why I believe.”

The hymn writer’s prayer is our own:

Teach me, O Lord, thy holy way, and give me an obedient mind, that in thy service I may find my soul’s delight from day to day.

Help me, O Savior, here to trace the sacred footsteps thou hast trod; and, meekly walking with my God, to grow in goodness, truth and grace.

Guard me, O Lord, that I may never forsake the right or do the wrong; against temptation make me strong and round me spread thy sheltering grace.

Bless me in every task, O Lord, begun, continued, done for thee; fulfill thy perfect work in me, and thine abounding grace afford.

Oh yeah? Sez you! Yes, sez me. I believe. I pray God to help my unbelief. Amen.

Jim Bell

6/22/08