The Sword of the Spirit
This is a draft of my message for Sunday, August 26. It uses John 6:56-69 and Ephesians 6:10-20 as the lessons. It is WAY TOO LONG, almost twice the length that I target. I'll whittle it down to a presentable length, but want to preserve the "Director's Cut."
The audio version is from Redeemer.
Sorry that some parts aren't as loud as others; I had to move.
Here is the Preaching Preview.
The 60 Second Sermon Summary will be loaded sometime on Monday.
I open in
prayer, with words from our Psalm: The
Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him
will be condemned. AMEN.
Grace & Good News to you from our Creator & Lord. AMEN.
I had an interesting dinner experience on Friday. I went to what is,
according to Bon Appétit magazine, America’s Best New restaurant. It’s here in
Oklahoma City. It’s called Nonesuch, and it is on North Hudson and Northwest 7th,
about 3 blocks northwest of the Oklahoma City Memorial. It was a wonderful
experience, very good food.
But what caused me to have such an interesting experience was the
layout of the restaurant. It only seats 25 people, and you are seated around a
counter top; you are seated at the bar. There are no tables, and there will be
people seated next to you that you don’t know. So in between the ten courses,
you have plenty of time to talk.
From the couple who were seated to my left, I got some suggestions of
other interesting restaurants to go to in the City. From the gentleman on my
right, who was a private pilot who flew a VIP into Oklahoma for the evening,
and happened to know one of the chefs, I got an insight on what it means to be
on call for a wealthy employer.
Now because Nonesuch was just written up as the best new restaurant in
an international magazine, they have had reservations go through the roof, and
people are coming from all over to this restaurant. The group on the other side
of the pilot drove up from Dallas.
Each of them, separately, asked me where I am from and what I do. Now,
the moving from the dairy lands of Wisconsin to OKC is an interesting story,
the second question creates a fork in the road. When you ask a pastor what they
do, the conversation goes one of two ways. Either it ends, abruptly, or
hang-on-kiddies, we are going for a ride.
Buckle up.
The couple to my left are recent transplants to OKC from the
Northwest. They apologized and said they aren’t particularly religious, but had
gone to some church services with friends from here. They didn’t like it because
they felt the church was “too judgy.” I told them they didn’t have to
apologize, and that it was nice they went with friends. I asked why, if you
aren’t religious, why did you go? They paused because I was getting my next
course just then. But the lady said they just have some questions and wondered
if they might find answers.
I said that a lot of people want to know why things happen, and
especially why certain things happen to certain people. Then I said, I don’t
know or have those answers. But I do believe with all of my heart that God
loves us and cares for us. God doesn’t cause harm, but is with us to help us
get through the harm. And yes. Some churches are very judgy. I said I hope that
my churches aren’t too judgy, because we believe that we are all judge to be
guilty of our sins. It is only by God’s unmerited gift of grace that we are
forgiven and reconciled to God.
As they were
leaving, (they were a few courses ahead of me) I told her I hoped they would
try other churches, suggested looking for one with Lutheran in the title.
One of the
waiters had heard my conversation and said that his mother was a Presbyterian
pastor, who started out in Oklahoma City, but had moved to other churches in
the Texas and Oklahoma area. I asked if he still went to church, and dropping
his head, he said that it wasn’t as often as he should. He said it is just too
hard to find the time. Then he said, with a lowered voice, or to make the time.
My
conversation with the pilot was of a whole different tone. He said he also
wasn’t very religious, but he had a lot of opinions and a lot of questions. He
asked why the God of the Old Testament was so violent, but that Jesus preached
a message of peace. He asked why people felt they could use the Bible as a
weapon. He wanted to know how so many people could take a message of love and
use it to create hate.
I wanted to
ask him who in his life the church had hurt, because it was obvious that his
questions came from a place of pain. But I tried to answer his questions
without defending the misuse of Scripture. I told him that people would grab a
hold of piece of scripture and believe that the only way to understand it is
their way. And to those who would differ from their reading, they turn that
passage into a weapon.
I said that the
Old Testament is a story with huge amounts of violence because it is the story
of a people claiming a land that others claim is there’s as well. I said the
Old Testament was written by a committee of people who thought that their
civilization and way of life was going to die off, and they told their story as
best they could. While they wanted to be honest, they prettied up some parts,
hid others, and sometimes were honest with the misdeeds that were done.
We talked
about various translations and how the decision of translators can impact whole
groups of people. I talked about how I believe the Bible is divinely inspired
but authored by humans of a particular place and time who used their society,
as they knew it to explain their relationship with God. But just because that
is when and where they recorded their interaction with God, their norms are not
forced upon us. Their misogyny, their sexist views, their narrow understanding
of relationships and sexuality, their views as people as property do not, and should
not be imposed on us today.
The more that
we talked, the more that I knew that the pilot was a religious person. He was
religious, but he was not now. Something had happened to him. Something changed
him.
Ultimately, as
some of the restaurant staff was listening in, I said that all four Gospels
record Jesus summarizing the Law of the Old Testament, the Law he said that he
came to fulfill. In each case, he said to love God, often quoting Deuteronomy
6:4-5, You
shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your might,
and a version of Leviticus 19:18, You
shall love your neighbor as yourself. If we focus on loving God, and loving
others, we are doing God’s will. I said we don’t do those things to try to earn
God’s love; we already have it. God sent God’s Son to die on a cross to show us
that not even killing God’s Son can cause God to stop loving us. But we Love
God and Love others because God first loved us. It is by God’s grace that we
are loved. We should love others in response to that gift of grace.
I left as the restaurant
was starting to close, and yes, I did mention the names of the churches, and I
thought about what they had to say.
All of them are typical of
what we in the church business call the nones and dones. This comes from
surveys that are conducted, and when asked their religious preference, people
say “None” or admit that they are Done with going to church.
Something, or someone, in a
church has hurt them, or someone they care about, or they weren’t getting
enough out of their church experience to make the time commitment to be a part
of a worshipping community. They find it hard to reconcile the message of love
and mercy that Jesus Christ preached and lived with the hostility presented by
those who claim Christ’s name.
For them, it became to
hard, and they walked away, just as the people I encountered at the restaurant
on Friday night had walked away. And it is like that for so many people we know
in our lives today. Something or someone hurt them, which hurt their
relationship with God.
I had that happen to me. I
left my family church after an incident. I found the people to be hypocrites,
and I stopped going. Eventually, I came back. But I almost left again. After a
decade away, I came back, and found out that my church hosted a Saturday
morning breakfast once a month. I had that Saturday free, and decided to go and
help. But when I got there, I couldn’t find which door was unlocked to come in
to help. Eventually, I found the door, and explained why I was late. Then
someone, in too loud of a whisper said, “If you came to church more often,
you’d know which door to use.” It took all of my strength to not walk out of
the door I just came in through.
That’s one of the problems
I have with today’s lesson from Ephesians, to put on the whole armor of God.
You see, one of the things that we are told to do in this final passage from
Ephesians is to proclaim the Gospel of
peace. Yet the whole time we are to be proclaiming the Gospel of peace, we
are to be engaged in battle with the wiles of the devil and the cosmic powers
of this present darkness.
But we think that this
battle is for our soul, for our selves. But the language says that this battle
is a battle for the community, not a battle for each of us individually. In the
Greek that this letter was written in, it isn’t just the nouns that are plural,
but the verbs as well. So the you that is told to put on the whole armor of God
isn’t you, but y’all and all y’all. Together we put on the belt of truth, the
breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and
the sword of the Spirit. Collectively, we use these weapons to defend the
community against the forces of darkness and evil.
Speaking of these weapons,
please notice that all, but one, of them are defensive weapons. The belt,
breastplate, shield, and helmet are to defend and protect one against the
wounds and weapons of the enemy. While the sword of the Spirit can be used
defensively, it is also an offensive weapon. A weapon that is itself the Word
of God.
That is the weapon that was
used against the couple who sat to my left. That was the weapon that was used
against the pilot who sat on my right. That is the weapon used against your
neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family. That is the weapon used against me.
And it is the weapon that we ourselves have used.
The author of the letter to
the Ephesians time after time calls for unity. He knows that the differences
between the Jews and the Gentiles threaten to destroy this community. The calls
to share God’s grace and mercy with each other and the salve that he wants them
to use on the wounds they have inflicted upon one another.
The sword of the Spirit,
the Word of God, should never be used to harm someone. To use the Word of God
to hurt, you must have judged them worthy of harm, and judgment is something
beyond our responsibilities. It is something we feel compelled to do. But when
we judge we forget about our faults, frailties and failures, our struggles and
sins.
The sword of the
Spirit, Word of God should be used to
ward off those voices that try to prey upon our weaknesses, the voices that
tell us we are unworthy, unloved, unappreciated, and undeserving. From time to
time, I believe the sword of the Spirit should be plunged into the ground, as
was the legendary sword, Excalibur, to show people that here, the Word of God
will not be used as a weapon to attack them.
I find it fascinating that
given the specific items that we are told include the whole armor of God, that
to proclaim the Gospel of peace, we are to wear whatever footwear we want.
Given everything else, you’d expect the combat boots of courage, the high heels
of heaven, the gym shoes of generosity or the sandals of salvation.
Then I realized, you need
to be accepting and comfortable to talk about the Good News of peace. You have
to be willing to go, and walk with someone, sharing the journey and path that
they are upon. So for some, you may need the combat boots of courage, or the
high heels of heaven. For me today, I am wearing the flaming Crocs of comfort
and the socks of Ananias. Because, for me to proclaim the Gospel of peace, I
need to be reminded that I am loved, and that I have responsibilities. And
after my dinner experience on Friday, I need the fire of inspiration to share
the Gospel as well.
We all know people like the
followers of Jesus who walked away. We all know people like those I met at
dinner on Friday. Can we be willing to, while wearing the whole armor of God,
help them move past their hurt and pain, and return to the loving God who cares
for them.
If you are worried about
what to say, join me in the final words of this lesson, as we make it a prayer
for ourselves. Pray
for us, so that when we speak, a message may be given to us to make known with
boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which we are ambassadors in chains.
Pray that we may declare it boldly, as we must speak.
AMEN.
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