Sunday
07/09/23 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “Aren’t We All Like The Apostle Paul?”
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 45:10-17
New Testament Scripture: Romans 7:15-25a
Gospel Lesson: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
So, we have all had these moments in
our lives. You know those moments where you are about to do something, but you
know that you probably shouldn’t do it. We all do them. Maybe you’re running a
few minutes late to an appointment, so you take your car to about 80-85 MPH! I
mean you certainly could get a speeding ticket for going that fast. I am sure
as we are driving that speed that we are also very aware that we could get a
speeding ticket, but we want to get there on time!
Perhaps some of you have been in a
situation like this, and you got pulled over. Sometimes, if a woman is going into
labor for example, or it’s an ambulance or a fire truck, I can understand why
someone is racing to get somewhere. Sometimes though, people are not in hurry,
they just want to get somewhere faster because they are inpatient. According to
a law firm website that I researched; it says this:
The average driver saves 26 seconds a day by speeding.
People think it saves time. Maybe it does occasionally, if you run through a yellow light to avoid stopping for a minute. But, the time saved that speeding makes, on average, is about 2 minutes a week (https://www.coluccio-law.com/crash-risk-time-saved speeding/#:~:text=The%20average%20driver%20saves%2026,about%202%20minutes%20a%20week).
Here is another example, you really
should get to bed at 9:00 PM or 10:00 PM and night, but you know that movie that
you have been wanting to see is on television. So, you stay up until about
12:30 AM watching the movie. During the movie, you periodically look at the
clock a little worried about how late you are staying up. You know it’s
probably not a good idea, but you really want to see that movie! The next day
your tired and cranky, and you think to yourself, “I really shouldn’t have stayed
up so late and watched that movie”!
Sometimes our wants and our desires can
put us in danger and can cause us harm, but we sometimes are willing to take
the risk anyway. For me, it tends to be sweets. I love sweets and snacks, and I
should eat less of them. This is probably true for many of us. We know that
they are not good for us, but we eat them anyway.
Sometimes people struggle to quit
smoking, because they have told me that when they are stressed, a cigarette
calms them down. Nicotine is also very addictive. I could go on and on with all
sorts of vices, sins, and temptations that some of us struggle with.
Now I don’t use these examples to be
condemnatory, but to say that our journey to fully be like Jesus Christ, or to
be “Entirely Sanctified” as the founder of the Methodist Movement John Wesley
called it, is a life long journey. Maybe we have shed some sins, temptations,
and vices that once had some level of control over our lives, but no longer do.
One of the goals of the Christian life
is to continue to shed sin and guilt as we walk with Christ, so that we might be
more like him. When we are more like Jesus, we are more loving, more caring,
more compassionate, more generous, holier, more righteous, and etc.
The point is this, if we are honest,
we all still have things in our lives that might have some dominion over us, and
we know it. Remember, we are all growing and journeying with Christ, and all
striving to be more like him. The question I have for us all then is this, where
is there sin, temptations, and or vices in our lives that we have to work on
removing? For some, this might be a sensitive topic, but I would challenge us
to not feel this way, as we are all in the same boat here.
As I have mentioned, I need to eat less
sweets and junk food, and I know it. I also need to work less. Where are we all
falling short? Where in our lives do we have things, behaviors, etc. that we
need to surrender to Jesus Christ, in order to become more like Christ. We want
that new car or truck, but do we really need it? How are we conforming our
lives to Christ?
Again, this can be a heavy topic, and one
that if we are not careful can make us defensive and even anxious. Instead,
this is an opportunity to become better. We all can improve, and Jesus came not
only to die for us, but so that we might become more like him.
Why am I giving all of these examples
and diving into this topic so deeply? I am doing so, because, I am largely
preaching on our Romans 7:15-25a scripture for this morning. Once again, the
Apostle Paul, who is struggling with sin, maybe bad decisions, and or vices,
says starting in Romans 7:15 this:
15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate (Rom. 7:15, NRSV).
So, the great Apostle Paul, who is attributed
as the writer of almost half of the New Testament, is saying to the church in
Rome or the Romans, I don’t understand why I am doing what I am doing. The
Apostle Paul says that he does not do what he wants, but instead does what he
hates. What are these things? Well, the Apostle Paul never tells us, nor does
he tell us what “thorn in his side” is either. The Apostle Paul was certainly
tempted by one or more things, as we all are. The Apostle Paul realized this,
and told the Romans and us that he is struggling to do what he should do.
The Apostle Paul then
draws the conclusion that what he is doing that he says is wrong, is because of
the sins that dwells in him. The Apostle Paul says that he cannot trust his flesh,
because it fails him. In fact, the Apostle Paul says in Romans starting in
Romans 7:20 once again:
20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, 23 but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members (Rom. 7:20-23, NRSV).
This
is really deep stuff. The Apostle Paul is saying that his mind and his body is
in a constant struggle with his soul, and the love of God that is within him.
It is true to say that temptations and impulses are all around us. We are encouraged
to over indulge at every turn. We are often encouraged to consume, seek
pleasure, and do everything we can for ourselves.
It
can be hard to be a Christian in 2023 when there is so much vying for our hearts,
our resources, our time, and sometimes even our very souls. What I deeply
respect about the Apostle Paul in our reading from Romans 7:15-25a for this morning
though, it that the Apostle Paul owns this reality that we all face on
different levels. As we walk with Christ hopefully these strongholds in our
life get smaller, but there will always be some.
When
I was younger sometimes, I could get angry, but I rarely get angry like that
anymore. I am trying to look at my life and continue to see how I can conform
my life to the living Christ. Outside of leading people to salvation in Christ is
us pursuing Christ and living like him in a variety of ways.
I
love how our reading for this morning ends from Psalm 45:17 saying once again:
17 I will cause your name to be celebrated in all generations; therefore the peoples will praise you for ever and ever (Ps. 45:17, NRSV).
If Jesus Christ and his gospel are the best and only hope
of a broken and a hurting world, which I believe they are, then the best way we
can be the church for the world is to be more like Christ. I have never heard
anyone say that someone was “Christ-like” and it be taken offensively.
Do I want people to come to Christ and receive the free gift
of salvation and eternity? Of course, I do, as this is the primary mission of
the church. Beyond this though, as we are continually being sanctified or being
more made into the image of Christ, our impact and our effect on the world will
increase. As we pray, as we read scripture, as we love, and we heal, may strive
more to be like Jesus. When we look more the like Jesus, when the church looks
more like Jesus, we will make a huge impact on Sidney, the Sidney area, and the
world.
What the Apostle Paul is acknowledging
in himself this morning is that he is struggling with sin, bad decisions, and
or some vices. In fact, our Romans 7:15-25am reading for this morning ends saying,
once again:
24 Wretched man that I am!
Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be
to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Rom. 7:24-25a, NRSV).
So,
what did the Apostle Paul struggle with, and what was the “thorn in his flesh?”
We don’t know and probably will never know. I could have been various
indulgences, lusts, greed, envy, etc. Things that many of us, if we are honest,
are still striving to ride ourselves of.
I
am also not saying that we should beat up ourselves, and I believe that we
serve a God of love and forgiveness, not a God of guilt and shame. For example,
we have people in our communities, and maybe even within our churches that are struggling
with active drug and alcohol addiction. We need to love these people, because
as the Apostle Paul says the morning, we all are probably doing things or
thinking things sometimes that we shouldn’t.
This
leads me to our gospel of Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 reading for this morning.
Starting in Matthew 11:16 it says, once again:
16 ‘But to what will I compare this
generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one
another, 17 “We played the flute for you, and you did
not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.” 18 For John came
neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; 19 the Son of Man
came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a
friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds’ (Mt. 11:16-19, NRSV).
Jesus
is telling us here, that despite his teachings, the evidence, and all the miracles
that both him and his cousin John the Baptist have largely been rejected. If we
reject the goodness of Christ, and we do not try to be more like him, than what
does this say about us? If we don’t follow Christ, then who do we follow? Who
do we model our lives after? Who do we strive to be more like?
This gospel lesson then ends with Jesus,
thanking God the Father. The second person of the Holy Trinity is thanking the
first person of Holy Trinity. In completing our gospel of Matthew 11:16-19,
25-30 reading for this morning, it ends, once again, with Matthew 25-30 saying:
25 At that time Jesus said, ‘I thank
you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these
things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; 26 yes, Father, for
such was your gracious will.
27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one
knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and
anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 ‘Come to me, all
you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke
upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will
find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light’
(Mt. 11:25-30,
NRSV).
If
you are not what should be yet, then you are like all the rest of us. Yet,
Jesus tells to come to him. If we are weary and carrying heaven burdens, Jesus
will give us rest. Take Jesus’ yoke upon us, learn from him, for he is gentle
and humble in heart. In doing so, we will find rest for our very souls. Jesus’
yoke is easy and his burden is light.
Within
all of this, the Apostle Paul is telling us this morning, that while he loves
Jesus, follows him, and spreads his gospel, that he is still struggling to be
more like Jesus. Don’t we all, myself included, have further to go to be more
like Jesus Christ. As the Apostle Paul struggled, in our own ways, “Aren’t We
All Like The Apostle Paul?” May we continue to turn to Jesus, and continue to remove
those things out of our lives that separate from Jesus. Amen.
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