WHO DO YOU SAY I AM (Matthew 16: 13-16) 9/25/11

      Every four years in this country, we elect a new President. In an incredible display of democracy, we go to the polls, cast our ballots and elect a new leader peacefully. The man or woman chosen will be perhaps the most visible leaders in the world. For Christians, there is another leader in whom we place not only our trust to lead, but our faith to guide our very lives. That is why we are gathered here today. We come to worship God and to acknowledge his Son Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
We don’t do that because he was a great teacher, although he certainly was, or because he was a powerful healer, although he was that too. We don’t even come because Jesus was the greatest example of a servant. He is certainly that, but he is much more.
      As today’s story begins, Jesus is near the end of his three year ministry. He has already performed many miracles and provoked much opposition. For many years, various persons had appeared claiming to be the promised Messiah. Some developed a following, but all fell away after awhile. There was something different about this man Jesus. Many recognized this and began to follow him. Many others, particularly religious leaders, were skeptical, watching and waiting for him to
stumble like all the others before him.
      John the Baptist had a huge following, and he knew not only who he was, but also who he wasn’t. When asked if he was the Messiah, he said to his followers that he was but the voice of one crying in the wilderness; that he must decrease while Jesus increased. Andrew the Galilean fisherman followed Jesus immediately after hearing him speak, and went to recruit his brother Peter, saying to him: “We have found the Messiah” [Jn. 1:41].
      The lesson Scripture comes from Matthew 16. Earlier in the chapter, Jesus had been confronted by Israel’s religious leaders. Once again, he had left them mumbling. In spite of their protests, they recognized that Jesus was someone to be reckoned with. Certainly he threatened their authority and their vested interest in that way of life. No wonder they opposed him so strongly. Later, Jesus withdraws from the crowd that follows him,and he and the disciples cross the Sea of Galilee. Jesus warns his disciples against the wrong teaching that seems to be everywhere. This is the last and most important withdrawal from Galilee before his final trip south to Jerusalem. He is concerned that they still do not understand. As we read this, we have an advantage over the disciples. From our reading in the New Testament, we already know the outcome of the events that follow. But the disciples are still trying to get up to speed. There is a conversation among the disciples and another between the disciples and Jesus. He repeats Himself, trying to get the disciples to think for themselves; to discern the revelation that stands before them in human form. There is no time left for spoon-feeding.
      As they arrive in the region of Ceasarea-Philippi, a multi-cultural mixing bowl of strong Greco-Roman influence where both paganism and polytheism flourished. Jesus confronts the“dirty dozen” assembly of fishermen, a former tax collector, a zealot, a couple little brothers and other underachievers with a big league question: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” He gets a mixed report. A re-incarnation of John the Baptist or Elijah or perhaps Jeremiah. And then He asks the disciples: “But what about you? Who do you say I am?”
      Jesus asked these questions 2000 years ago. You would think by now, the question of “who Jesus is” would be settled. After all, he has had greater influence on mankind than anyone who ever lived. There is not a king or a president or any sports star or celebrity who has ever impacted life on this planet like Jesus. Yet people still debate over who this Jesus is. Let’s look at a few of Jesus’ claims:

• He claimed to be the only way to God. “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” [John 14: 6]
• He claimed to have a sinless life. “Can any one of you prove me guilty of sin?... He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” [John 8: 46-47]
• He claimed to have shared the glory of God in heaven. Remember his prayer in John 17:5: “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
• He claimed to be able to forgive sins. “When Jesus saw their faith, He said: ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’ The Pharisees and teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, ‘Who is this fellow that speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone.” [Luke 5: 21]
• He claimed to be a heavenly king. “Jesus answered ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, then my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews, but now my kingdom is from another place.’ ‘You are a king, then?’ said Pilate. Jesus answered,‘You are right in saying I am a king. In fact for this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world’” [John 18: 36-37]
• He claimed to be able to give everlasting life. “For my Father’s willis 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.” [John 6: 40]

      These are not all of Jesus’ claims, but you have heard enough. He said of Himself, “I’m the only way to God. I have lived a sinless life. I have shared the glory of God in heaven. I am able to forgive sins. I am a heavenly king. I can give everlasting life to those who believe in me.” Who can make claims like this but God Himself? That’s who He said
He is, but who do you say that He is?
      In his classic Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis made this remark
about Jesus: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg…or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.”
      Jesus could only have been a legend, a liar, a lunatic or Lord and God. Every reputable historian agrees he was not a legend. If he were a liar, why would he die for his claim when he could have avoided the cross by recanting his claims. If he were a lunatic, how did he debate his opponents or handle the stress of his betrayal and crucifixion while continuing to show love for his antagonists? He said he was Lord and God, but who do you say he is? Not long ago, the Pew Foundation published results from a survey on religion and public life. It found that 90% of Americans believe in God or a universal power. That sounds promising, but other results are more troublesome. For instance,
•70% of those affiliated with a religion believe that many religions can lead to eternal salvation.
•Nearly 3/4ths of Americans believe heaven is a place where people who have led good lives will be eternally rewarded.
      This does not describe the belief of a Christian, and it ignores the claims of Jesus. Being good, living a good life, doesn’t get you there. The promise of heaven comes from accepting the gift of God’s grace, by believing in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.
      The secular world accuses the church of being narrow minded, challenging us to be more broad-minded, more inclusive. The truth is that we should be more narrow minded when it comes to our core belief about Christ. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount:
     “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate
     and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and
     many enter through it. But small is the gate, and narrow
     the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
     Matt. 7: 13-14.


      Jesus had much more to say to His disciples on this occasion. He has much more to say to us, but the truth is that if we miss this main question, the others don't matter much. Who do you say that Jesus is? Remember, He is Lord of all or He's not Lord at all. There really is no middle ground. Either dismiss Him altogether or worship Him as Lord. Each of us must come face to face with that question.
     “Who do you say that I am?” In the last game of the 1988 World Series,Orel Hershiser pitched a complete game for the Dodgers to beat Oakland. After the final out, Hershiser knelt on the pitching mound and raised his hands to heaven. Later, a reporter asked him about it. Hershiser said that the only thing he could think to do at that moment was to drop to his knees and sing the Doxology. “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” Orel Hershiser knew who Jesus is.
      People look for security in all the wrong places, often tying
their hopes to money and material things. Our culture seems to idolize those with the most toys. And yet, even in the strongest, most affluent nation in the history of the world, look at what can happen. Major banks have failed. General Motors is climbing out of bankruptcy. Unemployment is at record levels. Gas and food prices have been sky high. If you trusted the mortgage broker who told you that you could afford a home without a down payment, you may not in that home now. Approximately one in every 170 homes is or has recently been in foreclosure. In the lastseveral years, many have seen their investments go up in smoke as the economy faltered. Homes and jobs have been lost and the hopes and dreams of many American families have been dashed.
      Have those hopes been aimed at the wrong target? Have we had the proper focus? Jesus asked: “But what about you? Who do you say that I am?” As much as we would like to count on our bankers or accountants or parents or spouses, be warned. If you base your hope on anyone other than Christ, you are in for a letdown.
      When Jesus asked the disciples who people said He was, the
answers were complimentary, but mixed.. They implied that Jesus wasa prophet, either reincarnated or new. This was high praise, as the voices of prophets had been silent Israel for some 400 years. But these descriptions still fell short of the mark, for they were phrased in human categories.
      Then, there is Peter. He answers, as Jesus and the Twelve stand in the shadows of the temples of the great Syrian gods; in a place where the ancient Greek gods are said to have looked down; the spot thought to be the mouth of the river Jordan and probably in sight of the white marble temple worshipping Caesar. It is a location so rich in pagan and Jewish religious history that it could hardly be coincidental that this conversation took place here. And Peter, the most ordinary of men, gazes into the eyes of this penniless Galilean carpenter, and sees the truth. He stands within reach of divinity incarnate and, God be praised, he knows it! The verdict is in for Peter. “You are the Christ,” he says, “the son of the living God.”
      In the Greek, the word is Christ. In Hebrew, it is Messiah. Both mean the same thing: The Anointed One. God’s king over mankind. You see, Peter didn’t just know about Jesus---he knew Jesus. Thank you Peter, for that is our lesson today.
      St. Augustine, in his Confessions, says this: “You have made
us for yourself and our hearts can find no peace until they rest in You.” Our knowledge of Jesus must never be secondhand or abstract. We can know everything there is to know about Him, and still be lost. Our knowledge must be personal, and our experience with him must be relational.
      Why not make Peter's confession your own, “Jesus, You are my Lord and my Savior.” Who do you say that He is? He wants to hear…from you.

I'll Take Generosity (Matthew 20: 1-16) 9/18/11

When I was a youngster, my little home town had five movie theaters. That was before every home had a TV the size of a couch. Of course, back then we called them “picture shows.” If you were lucky and got your chores done in time on Saturday, you might just get a quarter to go to the matinee. If you did your chores real good, maybe there was an extra dime for popcorn and a drink. If the movie was popular, there would be a line. In my home town, the Gem Theater was the hot ticket. The Gem is still there today and still showing movies. When I was in high school, I landed a job at the Gem. I worked every day from 4PM ‘til closing at 11PM, except for baseball season. Seventy five cents an hour. Those were the days. When I worked an Elvis movie, the line would go around the block. Hundreds of people would line up for an Elvis movie. Sometimes the line would start forming right after the feature started and the wait would be two more hours. Remember doing that? And saving people a place in line? That was not so popular, was it! Not fair!

As I read the parable of the workers and the vineyard in Matthew 20, I try to imagine if my boss at the theater had let me go out to the end of the line of an Elvis movie and start selling tickets. It might have started a riot. That’s not fair! You never start at the end. You always start at the beginning!

In my law practice. I do quite a lot of Wills, Estate Planning and Decedent’s Estates work. I’ve probably written well over a thousand Wills. That scene you see on TV with everyone showing up in the lawyer’s office to have the Will read? It almost never happens.  But this does: Betty takes care of her dad for years. She raises her own family, but always gets by to see Dad, to take him meals, to shop for him, take him to church, to the doctor, to the dentist. When his health finally begins to fail, he moves in with Betty and her family. Betty’s teenagers Susie and Sherri have to share a bedroom now to make room for Dad. Betty collects no rent from her dad, but the food bill and the heat bill go up. Then there is taking care of Dad’s house and the yard. Betty’s brothers live within thirty miles, but they always seem to be so busy. Her sister Brenda, who lives in the next town five miles away, has to be called for every special occasion. She never shows. Until Dad dies. The sister is the first to arrive and the brothers are close behind. 

After the funeral, sister Brenda produces a Will. She says she had Dad to the lawyer’s office a few months ago that day when she showed up unannounced just to take him to lunch. The Will is simple. Four equal shares, one for each child. After all, Dad loved all his children equally. Isn’t this fair? This scenario has played out in my office more times than I can count. One child does all the work, often for many years. All the children share equally. Fair? Depends on your definition. Poor Betty sounds a lot like the workers in Matthew 20 who labored all day for the same pay as those who worked only an hour.  

 In this lesson, Jesus tells us a parable about a landowner. The parable is often called The Workers and the Vineyard.  Maybe it would be more appropriate to name it something like: Owners Make the Rules. I don’t know about you, but this is not my favorite parable. It sounds undemocratic. Why would I ever want to work for a guy who pays me the same pay for a long hard day of labor as he does some joker who just showed up an hour ago? And if you’re on the management side, it makes even less sense.  The owner’s foreman must be going nuts. He’s probably thinking about the next time he has to go out and recruit day labor. He’s thinking he won’t be able to get anybody until five o’clock in the afternoon! The word will get around. Why would anyone work all day for the same pay they could get for just an hour?

  But this is not a story about management and labor. It’s not a story about fairness either, except to point out that fairness as we define it is not God’s way. We should stop here and just say Thank You God. Thank you for not being fair to us. Thank you for not judging us by what we have earned or done or by what we merit. No, this is not a story about fairness. It’s a story about God and God’s absolute discretion to be arbitrary, should He want to be so. This is a story about God’s absolute power to reward, to bestow, to give, to be generous, to exercise mercy, for no reason other than that’s part of who God is!

The book of Genesis is a pretty good example of the way God works. Abraham gives his beautiful wife away twice to rulers whose lands he wants to cross. How unfair and selfish to hide behind his wife! And yet God reckons Abraham a righteous man.  Rebekah lies to her own husband. Rahab the harlot and Ruth the Moabite wind up in the hall of faith in Hebrews. Jacob wrestles first with his older twin in the womb, then later with the angel of God. He runs away from his own family to save his skin. Yet Jacob becomes the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. Moses does it all. He represents God. He leads God’s people around in circles for forty years to obey God’s will. He shows his temper once, and he is denied entry to the Promised Land. Why? Well, it’s not about fair, at least not the kind of fair that you and I understand.

I have a Greek professor who says that if you want to understand what the Bible says, you have to remember three words, three concepts: context, context, context!  Let’s see if that helps here. The story before this parable is about the rich young ruler who went away, having been asked by Jesus to give it all up and to give it up now. It is too much for him. This prompts the disciples to look for some reassurance. After all, they had given up everything to follow Jesus. So Jesus promises them twelve thrones in glory. But then he throws in the qualifier…that many who are last shall be first. The story after this parable is about the pecking order in the kingdom. The mother of James and John wants to make sure her sons are well recognized for their efforts. She lobbies for their positions relative to Jesus. Jesus warns that they are asking not for a scepter but a crown of thorns, not for a throne but a rugged, splintered cross. These stories are the bookends to the Parable of the Generous Landowner.  To truly understand the middle, we should also read the head and the tail.

It would have been a familiar setting to the disciples. A grape harvest is being rushed in to beat the rains. Every available hand is needed every available hour until the harvest is ended. Day-laborers gather at the town square knowing that there is work.  

Jesus uses this common and familiar story to make his point...that we who would want so much, who seek our own idea of fairness, are the very ones who will most likely be standing in the back of the line, or coming up short when we count up all the help we didn’t give, or in so many other ways finding that judgment and fairness are the absolute last things we really want. Jesus knows this. He is talking to his beloved disciples and he loves them! He wants them to understand that they, and we, are eminently better off relying on the generosity and grace of our heavenly Father than His divine and perfect justice. For if “fair” is applied to our lives as a yardstick for judgment, then heaven can not help us. We are condemned. It is far better to be given according to the generosity of God’s grace than to stand the scrutiny of real fairness.

So reading the three stories together, we see our Savior using the disciples as an audience to get our attention about who God is and how He works. William Barclay reminds us that it is the paradox of the Christian life that he who aims at reward loses it,  and he who forgets reward finds it.

Listen. “Ii is my will to give everyone the same.” Can you hear our Savior telling about our heavenly Father? Listen.  “Can I not do what I like?” He’s talking to his disciples. He’s talking to Paul, who later says to both Jews and to new Christians: “There is no longer Jew nor Greek.” He’s talking to Peter, who tells us that God wants all of us. Listen.  “Are you grudging because I am generous?” Jesus is talking to us. He was sent for us. He is God’s generosity. He is the wages of grace. An unearned gift.  

Fair? No thanks. I’ll take grace any day.       

Let us pray.

Where You Were Then/Where You Are Now (Rom. 14: 1-13) 9/11/11

 In our trip through Romans, Paul has covered many subjects and doctrines, but the overriding theme is love, living in peace with everyone as far as it depends on you. If the actions of others go too far, then stand on Christian principle, but don’t retaliate. Leave that in God’s hands. Rather, hold fast to your spiritual ground. Don’t compromise core values and beliefs.

 Over and over, Paul exhorts us to live by the Golden Rule. Romans 12: 10 says: “Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”  Romans 12: 21 mandates to “overcome evil with good.”  Paul’s “law of love” consecrates us to Christian life. God loves us and wants us. Peter tells us that God wants none of us to perish and is patient with us.  Paul pleads for us to  “…clothe [ourselves] with the Lord Jesus Christ…” and put aside our sinful nature.

          By this time of the morning ten years ago today, a lot of grim news had hit the United States, particularly in the cities of New York and Washington and for the passengers of United Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pa. Where were you then? Chances are that you remember exactly where you were when you first heard the news. What were your first thoughts?  I was getting ready for work. Cindy had already left. It was odd for me to be home that late into the morning, much less to have the TV on. Early morning programming was going on when it was interrupted by the news anchor, who came on to say that a plane, American Flight 11, had slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York. I stopped to watch. Lots of speculation was going on, but what caught my eye and attention was that it was going to be very difficult to get fire control that high.

          In less than an hour, the second plane, United Flight 175, had hit the South Tower. In less than two hours, both towers had collapsed. By the end of the morning, 2,977 innocent lives had been lost. The figure includes 411 emergency workers, of which 341 were  New York City firefighters. It also includes the 40 deaths of those on United Flight 93 and 184 more at the Pentagon and American Flight 77 that hit it.  Although it is certainly a United States tragedy, it took on international proportions as more than 70 countries lost citizens in the attacks.

          After watching the second plane hit the South Tower, I knew it was no accident. I called my wife and then started calling my children. I needed to hear their voices. I remember crying as I watched people jumping from the towers in desperation. I called my sister and my brother. I needed to know where my loved ones were…that they were safe. I had many thoughts over the next hours and days. I was angry and hurt and frustrated and confused. I once worked in New York and had friends there. My wife Cindy had worked for years in the DC area and still had friends there. I remember thinking that it didn’t even matter whether I actually knew anyone involved. It was still personal, almost familial.

In the wake of this great tragedy, I did as the rest of America did. I went to church more. I prayed more and harder. I kept in touch with everyone and pledged money to the relief efforts. For six months after 9/11, Americans went back to church like they had not done for thirty years. Volunteers lined up for military enlistment. The spirit of brotherly love for fellow Americans and for first responders and men and women in uniform hit new peaks.  

United States soil and air space had been violated. In the weeks and months that followed, we all became painfully familiar with the face and agenda of Osama Bin Laden and the Islamic radical faction known as Al-Qaeda. We have to reach all the way back to Pearl Harbor and a World War in 1941 to find this, and even then it was a military operation against a U.S. Naval base on an island territory thousands of miles from our shores.

The War on Terror was launched against a practically faceless enemy. Now, ten years later, Iraq has been invaded by American forces, Afghanistan has been occupied by the same and Osama Bin Laden was finally killed by American forces just three months ago in his compound in Pakistan. The war on Terror has cost America thousands more lives. We are still trying to understand our enemy. Certainly U.S. support of Israel and continued American troop presence in Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War contributed to anti-American sentiment among Al-Qaeda, but there is more that we simply do not understand. We do not understand that kind of hate.

Ten years later, what has changed? Al-Qaeda has been seriously undermined and its leader is dead. Billions have been spent on war and national defense. We now live a little more scared than we once did. We now are a little less trusting than we once were. There is more restriction on freedom, more government intervention. In post 9/11, no one is completely untouched.

Where are we now? Our religious pollsters tell us that the surge in church participation lasted about six months. Our spike in volunteering for military service lasted about the same amount of time. What else has changed?  Our world has gotten much smaller. The economy of tiny Greece can have after shocks on the American dollar. The plentiful and cheap workforce of China has taken its toll on American jobs. The internet has linked our world communication capability to nano-seconds and yet the great world religions still clash and wars are still waged in the name of this or that religious view.

When I think of 9/11, I can’t help but think of the many acts of heroism and sacrifice that accompany that black day in our history. I think of the quiet effective leadership of Rudy Guiliani as New York’s mayor. I think of Tom Burnett, who said “don’t worry, we’re gonna do something,” and flight attendant Sandra Bradshaw, who was preparing boiling water to throw at the hijackers, both on United Flight 93, and of the other passengers who rushed the hijackers and took back control of that aircraft. I think of those many first responders who went into the jaws of danger to help others and lost their lives in the bargain, never returning to their homes and families.

The remnants of confusion and fear of 9/11 are still with us today. They may always be with us. The world seemed to change that day. Our once inviolate shores are not so anymore. All the vigilance of all the defense agencies of this country can never completely guarantee that the horror of that day might not be repeated by some random act of calculated evil. That is part of where and who we are today.

But there is more to the story than that. 9/11 reminds us. 9/11 challenges us. For on the day when part of America was lying in the smoldering ashes of terrorism, yet another part was rising from that smoke and debris before the dust had even settled. It was the citizen militia of United Flight 93. It was the first, and second and third, responders of New York State and New Jersey and so many more over weeks and months. It was the Church, mobilized through Presbyterians and Baptists and Lutherans and Methodists and yes, Muslims and so many more that gave…and went…and gave more. It was the best of all worlds. It was Christ in action. While men and women signed up in record numbers to enlist in the military and defend their country, so many more gave of their time and money to help the people of New York and Washington pick up the pieces and go on.

If the apostle Paul had been in New York on 9/11, he would have seen his sermon preached with shovels and rakes and hoes and bulldozers. “Do not overcome evil with evil. Overcome evil with good.” “Clothe yourself with Jesus Christ.” In today’s Scripture, Paul says that none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone.  9/11 showed that to us again and afresh. Bravery, heroism, unselfishness, sacrifice. Those are the celebrated lessons of 9/11. But there are other equally important lessons. 9/11 was about a fringe group, not a religion. It was about the politics of religion rather than its purity. It was about community; not going it alone. It was a day and time we all wanted to say: “I am a New Yorker.”  We all belong to the Lord, says Paul.

Have the lessons of 9/11 survived as much in our hearts as they have on the New York skyline? Let’s hope so. Where are you now? What will you keep in your memory from that dreadful day?  There will always be Bin Ladens. Will we as Christians always be there as well? Don’t judge your neighbor for his differences. Embrace him for his commonality as your fellow man. The peddling of hate and prejudice in the name of religion will never sell in the hearts of Christians. The Church is community in its highest and best definition. None of us lives to himself alone. None of us!          

It's Only Two Chapters (Rom: 8-14) 9/4/11

In Romans, Paul has written about many themes of Christianity, but in every instance he returns to one overriding principle. Paul teaches us that the conduct of believers is draped in love.  Saintliness has nothing to do with success or money or social rank.

Paul speaks of tolerance and love, but he also says to live in peace with everyone as far as it depends on you. When the actions of others go too far, Christians have to stand on principle. This does not give us cause to retaliate, which Paul reminds us to leave in God’s hands. Rather, we must hold fast to our spiritual ground. As Christians, we have core beliefs and values. Tolerance does not include compromising those values. When someone challenges your belief system, show them that your Christianity is a lifestyle and not just an opinion. Paul’s remedy for evil is “Overcome evil with good.” Paul reminds us that we really don’t have to fight evil as much as we have to respond to all things with Christian love.

In the Roman Catholic Church and other western traditions, consummation is the word we use to denote that a newly married couple has made love to one another. Until this act had taken place, at least historically, it was possible to annul the marriage.  In a broader sense, it is a signaling that a watershed event has occurred. It changes things. It is a mark that says this part is over, and now this other part has started. What is Paul talking about here? He says the hour is near, the night is almost over, the day is almost here.

This is a huge statement from Paul and Christians need to claim it like a birthright. The age of evil has begun its demise. Why? Because Jesus has triumphed! Paul is saying that we are in the last days. To understand this is to begin to understand the course of the Bible.

God creates mankind and gives it dominion over the creation. Mankind chooses to be disobedient through Adam, and falls into sin. Throughout the Old Testament, God is revealing himself to mankind through his relationship with the Hebrews. The Old Testament is littered with prophesy of he who is to come, the Messiah, the Savior of the Jews and ultimately of mankind. The New Testament bears witness to the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Bible could be said to contain only two chapters, and Chapter One is now written. The only other chapter is entitled the Day of the Lord, the day when Jesus comes again and ushers in the end of the age.

The coming of Jesus as a man is the consummation of Chapter One. The plan of redemption is engaged and the march is on. While it has taken two thousand years and may very well take hundreds or thousands more as God wills it, we are nevertheless in the last days. We are in the night, but the light has been promised and it will come again.

Listen to Romans 12: 10 again: “Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” What an understatement! Not only does love not do harm, it does so much more! Remember how Paul ended Chapter 12? Overcome evil with good! Love is the engine that pulls that train. Paul talks about it here in the context of debt. He tells us to owe no man money, but exhorts us to go on owing the debt of love to each other every day. Origen was one of the great theologians of the early church. He lived in the 3^rd century, a time referred to as the Patristic period.  Origen had this to say about Paul’s comment: “The debt of love remains with us permanently and never leaves us; this is a debt which we both discharge every day and forever owe.”

If you can keep this overriding principle of social righteousness in your sights and live by it, you will have no trouble with the last six Commandments. These are the commandments having to do with relationships with others. They require  honoring parents, not committing murder or adultery or stealing or testifying wrongly or coveting your neighbor’s life, relationships and possessions. You just can’t break those commandments if you are loving your neighbor. Paul’s “law of love” consecrates us to Christian life. It makes us obedient to God without having to remember a rulebook. It’s so much easier doing than dealing with the don’ts. As A.B. Simpson says, it’s always better to have a principle than a manual. 

In God’s timing, we are barely an eye blink from the end of the age. As we are reminded in 1 Peter 3: “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day.” There’s a story about a young fellow who had a conversation with God about God’s concept of time. “How long is a thousand years to you?” asked the youngster. God answered, “About like a day to you.”  “Well, how long is a day to you?” asked the youngster. God answered, “About like a thousand years to you, I suppose.” Then the young fellow said “I’m getting pretty confused by all this calculating. When will it start to make sense to me?” And God replied: “In a minute.”

God is outside time. Time is a series of man-made calculations by which mankind attempts to understand the physics that God put in place at creation. Terms like light year and millennium are irrelevant to God. The trinity is self contained in its relationships and space. And yet, God loves us and wants us. Peter tells us that God wants none of us to perish and is patient with us. But both Peter and Paul warn that when the Day of the Lord comes, it will be like a thief in the night. There will be no other time to get ready. Getting ready is for right now.

We know that Paul thought that the Second Coming of Christ was imminent, and he spoke with a sense of urgency. His later writings, most notably in 2^nd Timothy, show him at the end of his life understanding that he will probably be martyred before Jesus comes again. The old Apostle John’s writing at the end of Revelation sounds much the same. But it makes no difference except to timing.  Both knew that Jesus would come again and usher in his kingdom, and both felt a sense of urgency to prepare believers and the Church for the suddenness of it.

Paul was haunted by the shortness of time and lived his life in a hurry, trying to reach all those that he could to witness the Good News. His urgency was not lost on St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), one of the great theologians of Western Christianity. Augustine is credited, among other things, with framing the concepts of original sin and just war and with expounding on the grace of Christ as indispensable to human freedom. It is said that upon reading verse 14 of this passage, Augustine was converted. As he walked in a garden, distressed and upset, he heard a voice saying “Take and read.” He seized a book of Paul’s writings from a friend and the first passage his eyes beheld said this: “…clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” In his own words, Augustine goes on to say: “With the end of that sentence…all the shades of doubt were scattered.”

Augustine’s discovery that day is no different from what awaits you and me if we will look for it. The Scripture can do us no good if we do not hear it, no good if we do not read it, no good if we do not, as Augustine did, ponder it. It contains revelation. It is the word of God himself. I love what Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the 19^th century English poet and philosopher, once said of the Bible. He said he knew it was inspired because: “It finds me.”

          Think on these things. Do you believe in Chapter One, that our Creator God loved the world so much that he gave his only son to live and die and be resurrected and ascend into heaven all for us; that whoever believes this shall not die but have everlasting life? Do you? If you do, then surely you believe in Chapter Two, that Jesus will come again in glory at the close of the age to judge, to redeem, to establish his kingdom forever? Do you?

If you do, you can live with meaning. You can live as though we are in the last days because whether or not we are as the people of God, we certainly are as the individual believers of God. You can live a beautiful, wholesome life by loving your neighbor as yourself. You can put that sinful nature behind by doing as St. Augustine did. You can clothe yourself with our Lord Jesus Christ. It’s more than conversion. It’s more than baptism. It’s way more than a worship service on Sunday morning. It’s renewal in an everyday all the time kind of way. Your “clothing” just can’t get more in style than that!