Comparative Religion

Sermon by Pastor Ed Evans

May 21, 2010

Scripture: Philippians 3:4b-14

3:4b If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more:
3:5 circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
3:6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
3:7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.
3:8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.
3:10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death,
3:11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
3:12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
3:13 Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

From my high kitchen window, I watch a black cat emerge from the tangled woods behind our house, walk with stealth, as only a cat can move, across our neighbor's green back lawn, and enter their children's play area. The black cat then wound around the slide and the swings and the jungle gym in a lithe manner almost resembling dance. Now he padded softly, now he pranced, now he walked with purpose, his furry black tail moving in rhythm with his walk. This was a beautiful cat, sure of the ground he walked upon.

At that moment, as if on cue, our own cat, Stormy, walked slowly into the kitchen, circled in front of me and sat down, looking up at me, as if to say, "Are you looking at another cat? Why are you looking at another cat? I'm right here."

Now, Stormy is a Maine Coon Cat, weighs a hefty 20 pounds, with thick fur in a fascinating mottled black and brown motif. But mainly he is a big cat. He intimidates some people with how big he is. Stormy isn't your cuddly, purring cat that you play with. Stormy doesn't play. He eats, sleeps, runs around the house like he's being chased now and then, scares small dogs, and intimidates some people. At this moment he was seriously eyeballing me. Somehow he knew I was looking at another cat.

As it turned out, I was able to bribe him with a few of his favorite cat goodies, and he ambled away, briefly mollified.

But the encounter led me to consider how we are always comparing what we have with what we don't have. The grass is always greener on the other side. The neighbor always has a nicer car, a better house, a bigger lawn mower. That other job always looks so much easier, pays better, has more benefits. That other religion makes so much more sense. And it requires you to actually do things, so when you do them, you know you're okay. Touch all three bases and you're home free.

For more than 2,000 years mankind has known about Jesus Christ, about the God Who Is, the God who said His name is "I Am." For nearly more generations than we can count we have read of His history with the people of Israel, with others of this world, we have read of His interaction with His people, seen how this God has protected and provided for His people. And yet, we are still looking around. We are still comparing theological ideas, possibilities, alternatives to the Living God.

In what other religion do you find a God who says, "I am going to be involved with My creation. I am going to send a part of myself, my Son, to take away that which separates My creation from Me. I have such an overwhelming love for them, I want them to be with Me where I am, but I also want them to be with Me only if they want to be with Me."

Do the Hindus, the Muslims, the Sufis, Shias, Suunis, Baha'i, Rastafarians, Zoroastrians, Shinto, Jains, Taos, Sikhs, New Age, Confucians, do any of them have a God who sacrifices part of himself to save His people? Who interacts on a constant basis down through history with them? Who says, "Come to me, all you who labor, for My yoke is easy", or "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end"?

Which one loved us so much that He sent His only beloved son to die for us, to reunite us to the Father? Which one says he loves us that much? Who says that to all the peoples of the earth, aside from the Living God?

If He really is the Living God, don't we owe Him something, such as our worship, our undivided attention, to demonstrate resurrection for us? Are we so much that we can ignore Him, and when this life ends, as it must for all of us, do we have some place we can stand and bargain with Him for what comes after this fleeting life on earth?

Or are we so beyond His redemption that there is no use to even consider that He might care about what happens to us? And, oops, right here we run head-on into the Apostle Paul. Having already been where we might stand on this issue so many centuries ago, he has posted a message for us, as if on some message board that surpasses time. Paul's words on this come down through time to us through scripture.

This late apostle wrote, for those who might feel so confident in their own flesh, in their own position in this world, "If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more."

In his time, Paul held great power in his hands over his own destiny, and that of others, because he touched all the bases required to be a man of power within the religious realm of his time; he had been "circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee..." He stood head and shoulders above most of the crowd around him. Crowds parted when he walked toward them, some people cowered when he entered the room, some stretched their necks to look at him with awe. Paul was somebody.

He took his privileged background and converted it into action and into power. For he wrote, "...as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless." Wherever there were Christians in Paul's early life, they knew his name, for he persecuted them with a fervor like no other. He hunted them down, had them put into chains, into prison, and stoned to death. Paul was no friend of Christians, or of the Christ.

Yet there came a moment when Jesus Christ reached out to Paul specifically and got his attention in a way Paul could not ignore. This self-reliant giant among persecuting Pharisees, who thought he knew it all and saw it all, was suddenly struck blind, forced to rely on others. That moment changed Paul's life completely.

Paul knew, in his heart, the terrible things he had done against Christ, tragedies he had perpetrated against the men and women who had worshipped Christ, and he had every reason to consider himself so lost as to be beyond the love of Christ. Yet Paul had experienced the power of this resurrected Savior, had experienced the love of Christ through those who had every reason to hate and fear him, and instead of running from Jesus Christ in fear, Paul ran toward his Savior.

Paul, the Pharisee who had it all, wrote, "Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith."

For Paul, there was no comparison shopping around for a bigger, better savior. He didn't need to look around and see if he could find one that agreed with his educated ideas of what a god and a savior should be, one that allowed him to work out his salvation on his own terms, one that seemed gentle and kind and met all of his needs morally, mentally and physically.

It was not as if Paul had no other choices. His world was full of idols and other religious groups, promising all sorts of moral and sensual benefits, just as they do in our own day. They are all around us, idols of one form or another, seeking our attention, our time, our money, our worship, our life.

Paul took Jesus Christ as he found him. After all, isn't that how Jesus Christ took Paul? As He found him.

We can shop around if we want. God gives us that freedom. But where will we find another god that created us, that was not created by the mind and the hand of man?

Paul was a highly educated man for his time. And the one thing an educated man knows is where his ignorance lies. When Paul met Christ on the road to Damascus, he knew immediately this was an area of ignorance on his part. Paul did what we should do, he made his decision for Christ and moved on.

In the last few verses of our scripture today, Paul, having made that decision for Christ, writes, " Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus."

Entire sermons have been preached on that last phrase from Paul: "I press on toward the goal..." For you see, if you are outside of Christ, there is no eternal promise for you. This moment is all you have. This moment, this moment, this moment, is all you have. Your last breath is always in your nostrils.

Hurtling down through the halls of time, from the pen of Paul of Tarsus, comes this example for our life. Press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Jesus Christ. Stop looking around, pay attention to what God is saying to you, asking of you, offering you. Like Paul, join yourself to others who have a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ, share alike in the blessings and the worship of Him who loved you first, and hearing that heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus, press on toward that eternal life in Him. Press on.

Amen.

Everyone Goes Away

Sermon by Ed Evans

March 14, 2010

Scripture: John 6:26-67

²⁶Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. ²⁷Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."

²⁸Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"

²⁹Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

³⁰So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ³¹Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

³²Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

³⁴"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."

³⁵Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. ³⁷All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. ³⁹And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

⁴¹At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." ⁴²They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?"

⁴³"Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered. ⁴⁴"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. ⁴⁶No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. ⁵⁰But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

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

⁵³Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁵⁵For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. ⁵⁶Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷Just 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. ⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever."⁵⁹He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Many Disciples Desert Jesus

⁶⁰On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"

⁶¹Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? ⁶²What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! ⁶³The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. ⁶⁴Yet 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. ⁶⁵He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."

⁶⁶From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

⁶⁷"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.

The little girl in the dirty white ao-dai dress of young girls always stood out from the other children. Even though many were orphaned and hungry, they still usually had the smile of a child. They ran, they jumped and played, they begged for food, their eyes darting this way and that, watching for any opportunity to get some food and run. We would give them what we had, C-ration cans of food, maybe a bottle of Coke we had brought with us.

But the one little girl seemed to have lost her childhood. She never smiled. She never joined in with the other children. She stood off by herself, alone. Her dirty clothes and unkept hair told us she was without any family.

One of the Marines walked over to her and offered her a package of crackers. She took it, slowly, watching him. Kneeling down he took her hand and patted it softly.

"It's a beautiful day," he told her. "The sun is shining, you are warm and dry, and you are safe. Why are you so sad?"

We didn't know if she understood English, but she answered in Vietnamese. The interpreter, standing nearby, said, "She told you 'Everyone goes away.'"

"Does she mean she wants us to go away?" the Marine asked.

"No," the interpreter said, "she means, 'everyone goes away.' Everyone has left her. She is all alone."

The little girl's mother and father had been killed by the enemy when their village was attacked. Her brothers and sisters were all dead. Her grandmother and grandfather, all dead. Most of the villagers she knew were either dead or had moved away. A great sadness hung over her. In her own words, "everyone goes away."

Everything changes. It's the nature of life.

Here in Nashville, Tennessee, in mid-March, winter is beginning to move away. The cold winds, the snow, it's all gradually going away. It's just the nature of things. As the little girl said, everything, and everyone eventually goes away.

Jesus Christ, who has given us life and salvation, knows very well the nature of things is to change, to go away. And so he asks that question in our scripture today, "Do you also want to go away?" And many did. Verse 66 says, "From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more." Jesus had been telling them things that were hard for them to understand, so they left him.

They didn't rush back to riotous living, throwing parties and getting drunk, going on to rob and misuse people. They didn't rush about stealing from the poor, refusing to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked. They just walked away from Jesus.

There are many people today who are feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, giving the homeless a warm, dry place to sleep safely at night, pouring their lives out and working to do good for Jesus Christ, but they are not walking with Him. There is no oneness for them with Jesus Christ before God Almighty. There is no absolute dependence upon Jesus Christ for our natural life.

There is a very chilling, frightening passage in the New Testament that applies here. We find it in Matthew 7:23. Jesus is telling His disciples that they will recognize His own by their fruit, by what they produce. While Jesus knows what is in our heart, we cannot know another's heart, but we can see what it is that their life produces, whether it is good or evil.

And in Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"

Frightening words.

Have you ever wondered of whom Jesus was speaking there? Who could it be that works so hard in the name of Christ, but never bothers to draw close to Him, never really knows Him, and in the end, does not do what God the Father requires of them?

You have seen them. I hope you are not one of them. They are in nearly all our churches and Christian institutions. They work for the accolades, the praise, the pretty ribbons and awards, the kind and gracious words of men. They have their rewards here, and perhaps it is good that they do, for they have nothing stored up in heaven.

"I never knew you. Depart from me..." Chilling words;.

God is so gracious. He tries to warn us, if we will pay attention.

On the mount in Mark 9, when Peter, James and John saw Jesus in the presence of Moses and Elijah, afterward Peter was prattling on and on about building monuments to the meeting, performing "things" to honor Jesus, and right in the middle of it, in verse 7, God interrupted to say, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him."
Shut up, Peter! Pay attention. It isn't what you want to do, it's what God wants.

It isn't about us, in the end. I know that's hard to swallow. But we must. It isn't about us. It is about God the Father. It is about what He wants.

If we can just trust God that in His divine plans He has already made arrangements to care for you and I. There is no need for us to reach out and grab everything we can in order to prepare for our survival. God has already arranged for that as part of His plan. You and I, as genuine followers of Jesus Christ, are already provided for, in His plan.

Right after the Korean War, in the 1950's, one of the icons of the U.S. Marine Corps was General Burwell "Chesty" Puller. Everyone knew him as a rough tactical leader, but also that he took good care of his Marines. His idea of taking care of them was to make sure they were well-trained. He believed that the more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in war. This training one day involved a long, full day's march over the hills and through the woods of North Carolina, with a full pack and rifle. The Marines were told to put an extra pair of boots and socks in their already full, and heavy, packs.

There were some who saw no sense in that, just loading them down with more weight on the march. And they took only the boots and socks they were wearing.

At the end of the day, as the sun was going down and the Marines were preparing to turn around for the long night march back to camp, they were met by a convoy of Marine trucks. The trucks had brought hot food for the Marines, and they were pleased not to have to eat cold C-rations for supper. But after supper, Gen. Puller instructed all platoon leaders to have their men place one pair of boots and one pair of socks in the trucks returning to camp, and then the night march would begin. Everyone, no exceptions for any reason, was to place one pair of boots, and one pair of socks, in the trucks.

It's the same sort of thing that happened in Matthew 25:1-13 to the five foolish virgins attending the wedding, who brought no extra oil for their lamps. The wedding party was delayed, and when the time came for the arrival of the bride and bridegroom, they had to run off and get more oil for their lamps, but when they returned, the doors were shut to them. They were locked out. The bride, the bridegroom, and the joyful party had gone away for them.

It is the nature of this life, everything, and everyone, goes away.

But if we have followed God's instructions, if we have put our absolute dependence in Jesus Christ, shown absolute devotion to Him, instead of ourselves or others or the things of this life, then we have no further concerns. It is the same in this life; we are to have no concern for the uncertainties that lie ahead for that is the secret of walking with Jesus.

One of my very favorite passages in the New Testament is John 18:15-26, the story of Peter when he turns his back on Jesus, when he wishes he could go away from the accusations. Jesus tells Peter he is weak and this is going to happen, as a warning to Peter to walk closer to Jesus. But Peter is Peter, perhaps the reason so many of us identify with this old saint, and Peter is going to do what Peter is going to do. Three times before the old rooster crows, Peter denies that he knows Jesus. Three times, Peter denies him. And Peter is heart-broken at his own weakness. He loves Jesus. He does. He dearly loves Jesus, and yet like everyone else at this critical moment, Peter has walked away from Him.

But here is the part of l love. Three times, Jesus asks Peter, "Do you love me?"

Three times Peter denied Jesus, and three times Jesus gives Peter the opportunity to say, "Oh yes, Lord, You know I love You."

There in John 21:15-19 our Jesus, now restored to life, lovingly reminds Peter that he was chosen to go with Jesus. And as we read through these verses, seeing how easy it was for Peter to deny His Lord, and then seeing how lovingly Jesus restored him, each of us must answer that question for ourselves, and for no one else: "Do you also want to go away?"

Amen.