Sunday
11/13/16 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “Being an imitator of Christ”
Old Testament
Scripture: Isaiah 12
New Testament
Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Gospel Lesson:
Luke 21:5-19
My brothers and sisters, my friends, welcome on this the
Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, and on this special Veteran’s Day Sunday.
Today we celebrate the Twenty-Sixth Sunday after the birth of the Christian
Church on the day of Pentecost, and today we also celebrate and honor our men
and women who have or are serving in our armed forces. We also celebrate and
honor this morning our brave men and women who serve as police officers, fire
fighters, EMTs, and in other roles serving and protecting our communities and this
country.
We also, as we all know, gather for worship this morning on
the heels of one of the toughest and one of the most controversial presidential
election cycles in our nation’s history. It was an election cycle where our
presidential candidates, and all other candidates fought hard races. In the
Unites States being a representative democracy, the people of this country have
voted. Some of us might be pleased or disappointed with the results of some or
all of the elections. As some grieve, and as some celebrate, let us come
together as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. Let us remember that God is
on the throne, that Jesus Christ is risen, and that Jesus Christ is still the
sovereign savior of the world. Let us remember that Jesus and his gospel are still
the hope of the world. Let us move forward together in love, through Jesus
Christ.
With this said, the title of my sermon on this Twenty-Sixth
Sunday after Pentecost, and this Veteran’s Day Sunday is, “Being an imitator of
Christ”.
I will touch on the gospel lesson from the gospel of Luke from
this morning, but this morning I will mainly be preaching out of our scripture from
2 Thessalonians 3:6-16. In this scripture, the Apostle Paul encourages the people
in the church in Thessalonica, or the Thessalonians, to “imitate” him and other
Christians like him (2. Thess. 3:7, NRSV). The Apostle Paul is telling the people
of Thessalonica that he taught them the gospel of Jesus Christ in its purest
form. As a result, the Apostle Paul tells the Thessalonians to imitate him and to
imitate his followers. The Apostle Paul says this as he is trying to “imitate” Jesus.
You see my sisters and brothers, there are two large aspects
of the Christian faith. On the one hand, there is what we as Christians believe
in coming to know Jesus Christ. On the other hand, there is the lifelong
reality of who we are becoming and growing into in Jesus Christ.
One of my favorite books from my seminary days is a book
“The Imitation of Christ,” by Thomas A Kempis. Thomas A Kempis was a Roman
Catholic monk who lived in Germany from 1380-1471, and who devoted his life to
becoming like Jesus. He first wrote this book “The Imitation of Christ” in
1418, and it is still in print and highly read today.
The point of this book is to look at what we do once we
find in faith in God, in Jesus Christ. How do our lives and our faith take
shape, once we walk through the front door of the house of this thing call
faith? How do we then navigate through the houses of faith in our lives, as we
seek to grow in faith, and become more like Jesus? Or in the wake of massive
election cycle, how do we as people, as a Church, and as a country, move
forward together? In general, this book is an outline of how to live our lives
in such a way that we become more like Jesus Christ. This book therefore, talks
about living our lives in “The Imitation of Christ”. For you see my sisters and
brothers, God is on the throne and is sovereign, come what may.
So
this is largely what I am going to be talking about this morning. This idea of
not just who we are right now as Christians, and not just what we believe and
know right now as Christians. Instead, I want to talk about our life long goal
to aspire to be, as Thomas A Kempis said nearly 600 years ago, to be in “The Imitation
of Christ”.
Living lives that are in “The Imitation of Christ,” takes us
from just believing and knowing then, to living, growing, and becoming like
Jesus. When we become Christians for the first time, we aren’t finished
products, as we are supposed to all work our whole lives long, on being “Imitators
of Jesus Christ”.
In this Sunday being Veteran’s Day Sunday, many of our soldiers
and our people that serve in the police force, the fire department, EMT’s, and
etc., come into their new vocations not knowing everything. Some new soldiers for
example, go to basic training scared, wet behind ears, and almost clueless. Like
new Christians, news soldiers, police officers, fire fighters, EMT’s, and etc.
work to grow, develop, move up in rank, and hopefully to strive for excellence
in service to others.
I remember back to my freshman year of college at SUNY
Potsdam. When I went to college in 1999, I was proud that my Step-father Mike
Therio was serving our country in the United States Air Force. As a result, I
strolled over to the Air Force Detachment building that was through Clarkson
University in Potsdam. I then signed up for a year of ROTC, or Reserve Officer
Training Corps.
In doing this, I learned very quickly the three “Core
Values” of the United States Air Force, which are: “Integrity First,” “Service
before Self,” and “Excellence in all we do”. I learned quickly that if I had
become an Air Force officer, which I did not end up doing, as I pursued being a
public school teacher that would and be expected to grow and lead. In that one
year of ROTC training, I grew a lot from the learning, the striving, and
pushing myself. In this year of ROTC, I began to understand a little more of the
process of becoming a leader. I also remember coming home from college freshman
year and telling my step-dad who was a staff sergeant at the time, that if I
became a 2nd Lieutenant, that he would one day have to salute me. I
cannot tell you what he said to me “off the record” here in church this morning,
as it is not appropriate.
What’s my point? Our faith, in a similar way to those who
serve in the military, the police force, the fire department, and etc., isn’t
just about the beginning, it is the process of becoming who God has called us
to be. Many Christians, pastors, and soldiers have become more Godly or more like
Jesus over many years of seeking to be “an imitator of Christ”.
In looking at the scripture from 2 Thessalonians from this
morning, the Apostle Paul is teaching the new Christians at Thessalonica. He is
teaching them to reach higher, grow more, and to become more like Jesus Christ.
This scripture begins by saying, “Now we command you,
beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, keep away from believers who are
living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from
us” (2 Thess. 3:6, NRSV). Were any of us here ever warned by a pastor, a military
leader, or someone else on the mistakes that we shouldn’t make? Maybe they told
us where to not go, or the kind of trouble that we shouldn’t get into? In this
scripture from 2 Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul tells the church in
Thessalonica to stay away from lazy people who are not living and working for
God.
The Apostle Paul goes on to say, “For you yourselves know
how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did
not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labour we
worked day and night, so that we might not burden any of you” (2 Thess. 3:7-8,
NRSV). The Apostle Paul is telling the Thessalonians and is telling us, to “imitate”
him and his followers, who are working hard to “imitate” Christ. In this case,
he is also telling the people in Thessalonica to work hard for what they have, not
to be lazy, and to not take things away from others.
The Apostle Paul continues on by saying, “This was not
because we do not have the right, but in order to give you an example to
imitate” (2 Thess. 3:9, NRSV). The Apostle Paul is telling the Thessalonians
that he could probably sit around, not work, and be served by others, but that
this is not what Christ taught him. As a result, if the Apostle Paul is going
to be an “Imitator of Christ,” he must work hard for what he has, and if the
Thessalonians want to “Imitate Christ,” then they must do the same. Another way
to say it is, the Apostle Paul is attempting to “practice what he preaches”
here. He is saying that if he is trying to “Imitate Christ,” that he needs to
be authentic, so that the people who “imitate” the Apostle Paul are imitating
him who “imitates” Christ.
In going on with this scripture, the Apostle Paul then
says, “For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone
unwilling to work should not eat. For we heard that some of you are living in
idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work” (2 Thess. 3:10-11, NRSV). The
Apostle Paul is then saying that Jesus wants us to not be idle, but to be
working. I would say that most of our soldiers, police officers, firefighters,
and etc., work very hard. The Apostle Paul is also saying that if you want to
“Imitate” Jesus, one way you can do this is by working hard and earning your
own way.
The Apostle Paul then finishes this scripture by saying,
“Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their
work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be
weary in doing what is right” (2 Thess. 3:12-13, NRSV). Among the many other
ways that the Apostle Paul encourages us to “imitate” Jesus Christ is to work
hard, love others, and earn your way. On this day we honor and celebrate our
great veterans who have and continue to do this very thing.
In briefly connecting our gospel reading to this sermon for
this morning, in the gospel of Luke passage for this morning, Jesus says that
the great temple of Jerusalem will one day soon be destroyed (Lk. 21:5-6,
NRSV). Jesus then tells us to follow him, his teachings, and his truth, and to not
let ourselves be lead astray by false prophets and false teachers (Lk. 21:7-8,
NRSV).
Jesus then discusses wars and upheaval, famines, and
plagues that will occur, that will usher in the end of days (Lk 21:9-10, NRSV).
Jesus concludes by telling us that a day will come that we
may be persecuted and oppressed for our faith in him (Lk. 21:12-16, NRSV).
Jesus says that God will honor us, and that we see glory for our faithfulness
in Him (Lk. 21:17-19, NRSV).
So how does this gospel reading connect then with being an
“Imitator of Christ”? Well Jesus is saying, as the Apostle Paul was saying,
that it isn’t enough to just to believe in him, but that we have to strive to
be like or “imitate” Jesus, come what may. The lived Christian faith take a
lifetime for someone to become made into “The Imitation of Christ”. The road to
get there might be hard, there might be many challenges, because it isn’t just
about who we are now, it is also about who we are becoming.
In this way on this day we honor all our veterans and all of
our men and women who have served in variety of capacities. May we all continue
becoming, and not just believing and walking through the front door of faith.
May we continue to grow, to develop, and to work to be made into “The Imitation
of Christ”. Amen.
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