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"Where Every Day Is Saturday"
July 13, 2003 The Rev. Dr. John Ward
It was a total of about nine days, I think, that my family and I were on vacation, seven of which we took our annual trek to Wisconsin and spent our time in Door County. A vacation for me is where every day is Saturday, where every day feels like Saturday. And for those seven days (actually, the total of nine) felt like that. It is wonderful to be back, however, here with us. We are the body of Christ together, each one of us, and so when we're gone we do look forward to coming back. And I do have to be honest with you: It feels good to be back! We had a wonderful vacation, but we do miss the body of Christ.
I can't help but start, though, with this wonderful understanding by the President of Moody Bible Institute, George Sweeting, with regard to escaping to Wisconsin. Let me share this with you.
Well, we did! We did not escape from Jesus, however. Jesus was with us. Let us now turn, speaking of thinking of the end, and of the coming of Christ, and what it means to be living in this time now, let's turn to 1 Peter, chapter 4, verse 7. You'll find that on page 235 of our pew Bibles. Again, page 235 in the New Testament section--1 Peter, chapter 4, verse 7 is where we begin. Listen to the Word of the Lord:
And all God's people said, "Amen." A wonderful passage for us this morning which begins with thinking about the end. But normally for us when we think about the end, especially as we hear from Scripture, "The end of all things is near" as Peter wrote in his first epistle, we normally think of the end times or the Second Coming of Christ right at the very end--or actually, the new beginning of our eternity. But what Peter is talking about is something a little bit different. We'll get to that in just a second. But as we think about the end, I think about the next "Left Behind" series, whenever that one is coming out. For those of you who are reading those, of course you're waiting for the next volume to be coming.
I always think about what would happen if not only Jesus announced the end, as He did, not only Peter, not only John, but perhaps the news media. If the news media ever caught up to the fact that the end was here, how would they announce it? Well, I've got a couple of examples here. If Sports Illustrated found out first, they would print "Game's Over!" on the front page. If Fortune magazine was to get ahold of it, they'd probably do it this way: "Ten Ways You Can Profit from the Apocalypse." How about the local furniture store? You just pick whatever furniture store, anywhere, in any town in America: "Going out of business! Total liquidation! We really mean it this time!" sale. How about AOL? "System temporarily down. Please try again later." CNN: "The world ends. Women and children most affected." Number six: Ladies Home Journal: "Lose Ten Pounds by Judgment Day with our New Armageddon Diet."
The end, as we read in Scripture, is not necessarily about the Second Coming. The end times actually have been proclaimed to be today, for the fulfillment of the end came when Christ came to this earth. There is nothing more that will be done with regard to bringing about the end than the coming of Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit. From then on, we live in the time of the end, extended by the grace of God. As Peter was writing this and especially in Second Peter, there are passages relating to helping people understand when the Lord will return. Every generation has felt as though the Lord could return at any moment. Well, Jesus said that, and so it's appropriate for us to believe that. But we're not supposed to be spending our time looking off in the horizon wondering when that's going to happen exactly. But what we're called to do is to live in this time of the end.
As Peter writes, "The end of all things is near." The word "end" in the Greek is "telos." It not only talks about a goal, but also a purpose. And so in a sense, we're called to live purposeful lives during the now, which is indeed the final end. When Peter was writing this, all generations, of course believing the end was near, thought that in their lifetime Jesus would return. Now, Jesus obviously didn't. It's been some 2,000 years since the writing of these Scripture passages for us. What does that mean for us? Quite often we say, "Well, gosh. You know, maybe that means it didn't happen." Well, friends, we need to remember that we are, by the grace of God, in this extended period of the end. I'm very glad--aren't you?--that the end did not occur at that first generation. It may have felt better for the first generation of believers, but, friends, you and I wouldn't be around here to talk about this, would we? If, by the grace of God, He had not extended this end time, this time of what I like our Alpha course and Nikki Gumbel saying is "the mopping-up time," where Satan is mortally wounded and all he can do is kick at us from time to time and make us stumble. But these are the mopping-up operations until what's called the "Parousia," the coming back of Jesus Christ to take all believers with Him into eternity.
We ought to be very thankful for the fact that Jesus did not return within the first generation of believers, but God by His grace is extending this, is building up His heavenly host of people who will be with him for eternity, and you and I are those people. I'm very thankful for that, aren't you? There are days when I'm really in a hurry for Christ to come back, aren't you? Some days are like that. (Not on vacation days, by the way!) We get back into the routine of life. I think of every person I love, every young child I see, every child yet to be born, and I think, "Lord, thank you for waiting, because by your grace you're developing more of us." And for every new soul that comes to Christ, had Christ returned, that would would have been lost. It is a wonderful thing for us to remember.
And so we live in this time. You and I live in it just like the first-century disciples lived in it as well. And we must remember that indeed, the Lord could bring the end even now and we will be part of that if Christ comes. But until that time, we're called to live a life that shows that all of what needs to be done for salvation was done by God in Christ. And the coming of the Holy Spirit fills us to be people of belief, and so that should give us a new outlook upon life and helps us to understand what we're to do during this time.
I love the way Jim Edwards writes about it in his "Edwards' Epistle." This little writing here comes about four times a year to me and to other fans of Jim Edwards. He is a professor at Whitworth College, and he wrote about this and did a wonderful job reminding us of what we're supposed to do, just as it says right in here, as Peter told the believers of the first century. By the way, the original recipients of this letter were the Christians who were dispersed in Asia Minor. That's the same area where John was given the vision for the Revelation and wrote it down. Remember who it's meant to go to specifically? The seven churches in Asia Minor. These are the same people. Peter is writing to them about 64 or so A.D. John's writing will come a couple of decades later. But it's the same recipients. Peter is writing here while he knows that persecution is immanent with regard to these believers. And John writes because persecution was indeed happening.
We're to pray, to love, and to serve. Now prayer, as we hear here in First Peter, is wonderful because it's something that I think sometimes we forget. Let's go back to the verse here in verse 7.
I like what Jim Edwards writes here. He says:
In other words, quite often when we think about prayer, we love the experiential nature of it, the fact that we're praying to something wholly other than us, but this is about building a relationship. And when Peter talks to the first-century believers, when he writes this epistle to them, he's telling them to pray soberly and reasonably. Develop a relationship of communication with your Heavenly Father. That's what prayer is. Prayer is communication with God. It's about relationship, not ritual. So this is what Peter is saying to the first-century believers as they're asking about what happens at the end, when they're impatiently waiting for Christ to come again. Peter says, "Don't be impatient. Live the new life in Christ."
Your prayers are not to be anxiously about the future ("What shall I do? When will God come? What is next for us?"), but out of the reasonableness of establishing a relationship with your Heavenly Father. Isn't that wonderful? It's important for us as well today. Let us not make prayer something that feels good and ecstatic (although at times it certainly does that when you're in the presence of the Heavenly Father and the glory of God--you feel that in your prayer life). But the point of it is to be thoughtful and purposeful, just as you are thoughtfully and purposely developing a relationship with people you love and you like and care for. The same thing happens in your relationship with our Father in heaven.
Now secondly as well, we are to love. And the way we're to love is divinely. We're to practice the "agape" love that God has given us. This "agape" love is a self-sacrificing love, it's a unilateral love. It's one that is unconditional. God gave that to us, won us over in Christ, sacrificed the life of His Son because He couldn't stand to live without us. That is the divine love of God. And for we who believe in Jesus Christ and who have been freed by His forgiveness, then we also have this same kind of love to give to one another--one that, as it says in Scripture, "covers a multitude of sins." That indeed is divine love. A divine love that doesn't keep score. A divine love that overlooks the frailties of others because God has overlooked our frailties as well. Isn't that wonderful?
Let me read to you a little piece on that from the Scottish pastor and author William Barclay. When he covers this understanding of this kind of love, he says it this way. He says:
First, he says that our love can overlook many sins. And I've seen this happen before. If there's someone that you and I really like and they're anything but perfect, we have the ability to overlook their shortcomings, don't we? Now on the flip side of that, if you're not liked by somebody, there's nothing you can do, you know, to make them like you.
I learned this in grade school. Rusty West was our across-the-street neighbor. Rusty has now passed away. Rusty was a cantankerous neighbor. He was my Dad's best friend, by the way, and he loved my Dad. He didn't like me very much. Juanita, his wife, was a wonderful person and she would always welcome me over to play with the children. They had six children. They had twins that were my age. I was always in grade school with Pam or Tam. And then their second-youngest son Jim, just two years younger than me, was my best friend throughout life. He was in my wedding--a wonderful man. Well, every time I went over to play at the West's home, I'd always end up being sent home because I did something, as human as little kids do, and Rusty couldn't stand it! And so little John would be sent home to big John, the Dad. There was nothing I could do.
I remember the next-door neighbor of the Wests--Don Ward (another Ward family) right next door. Same last name. And little Donny could do no wrong! Rusty loved Don. And little Donny would do the same things I would do wrong. I remember the day that Rusty had put together a new bike and it was for Jimmy (now Jim, my best friend). And Jim couldn't quite ride it, so Donny got on it. Donny's riding around and all of a sudden he puts on the brakes, skids, and ends up in the newly-planted flower bed of Rusty. My eyes just got big and I thought, "Oh, man! I know what's going to happen next, because I've done that before." Rusty laughs and goes, "Ha, ha--that's OK, Donny!" And I just couldn't believe it! Well, I was sent home that day for something, and I just couldn't figure it out.
And you know what? I've been an observer of life for a long time and it happens quite often--doesn't it?--for all of us. With the love of Jesus Christ, that opens us up to be more loving. By the way, something happened when I became a teenager. I must have mellowed out, because Rusty and I started getting along, so it was wonderful. As I said, he has passed away now. It is wonderful to be able to have good memories about our relationship together, as well as the ones I've just shared with you. But if you have a spouse, a family member, a friend, a co-worker that you really like, you overlook their sins. So your love for them can cover over their multitude of sins.
As Christians, we have the opportunity, then, remembering what it's like when we try to win someone over and just can't. Then perhaps we can expand our own understanding of caring and loving for one another and for other people.
Well, the second thing that Barclay says--that if we love others, God will overlook a multitude of our sins. Point number two. And isn't that true? That's even biblically accurate because Jesus, right after He taught the disciples the Lord's prayer, He says this: "If you forgive others, your Heavenly Father will forgive you." So we remember as well: If we love others, God will overlook a multitude of sins in us. Why is that?
For the sake of the third point that Barclay makes: "God's love covers a multitude of sins." God gives the "agape" love--again, the self-giving, unilateral. God made a decision to love us before we were even born, before He created us, ever before we deserved it, for it was His plan to make us. Ever before we even realized how much we needed His forgiveness, He gave it to us unconditionally. That kind of love overcomes a multitude of sins.
You've heard me make reference before to the fifth and sixth grade Adventure Club class that I've taught on occasion. When we talk about the love of God and try to define that for fifth and sixth graders, here's how we've been able to do it successfully. I say to them, "I want you to think of a person at school who you really don't like very much." All of a sudden the kids go, "OOH! OOH! OOH!" They raise their hand like I'm going to ask them the name of the person. And I said, "No, no, no, don't tell me the name of the person. I don't want to know." "Oh, but I really don't like him--you ought to hear what this person's like!" "No, no, no, no, no. Let's not do that for a second." (It's kind of fun working with fifth and sixth graders!) I said, "OK, I want you to just think of that person. Now, God calls us to love one another. That doesn't mean we have to like everyone. We won't always like everyone. But we've got to love them. We've got to give them the right to live on this planet. We've got to give them every opportunity that God has given us and everybody else gives to us. We are called to love everyone. We'll like most of them, but not every one we will. We don't always have things in common with each other. Does that make sense, kids?" And they go, "Yeah."
OK, let me ask you: Does that make sense? OK, you got it--wonderful. OK, now it's your turn. I want you--don't you raise your hand!--I want you to think of a person with whom you have problems at times. It didn't take long, did it? That name popped right into your head, huh? A person with whom you're struggling. You know what it's like. Well, this is what I asked the kids. I said, "Does God love you?" "Yeah." "Are you perfect?" "No." "The person you're thinking of isn't perfect, is he (or she)?" "Oh, no--not at all." "Does God put up with that person?" "Yes." "If you're not perfect, does God put up with you?" "Yes." And then the wheels start turning and they know what's going to happen next. "Then if God gives us a break, we ought to be giving one another a break as well."
This is the love that God gives to us. This is the love that God allows us to offer one another during this time of the end, this mopping-up period. We're not to be anxiously looking beyond the horizon for something to happen. We're right now called to pray and to love. And also, we're called to give out our gifts, not only our love, but the particular gifts that God gives us to the worshiping community, to the body of Christ, of which Faith Presbyterian Church is a subset of that. Let's go back to the Scripture here. Verse 10:
The word "gift" and the word "grace" is that word "charisma." That's the same word given with regard to the spiritual gifts that we read about in Scripture. Peter is referring to the spiritual gifts that God has given to us. Those gifts, as the apostle Paul well described them in First Corinthians chapter 12, are gifts given by the Holy Spirit for the common good. Every person who believes in Jesus Christ has at least one spiritual gift, if not even more. The purpose of that is to build up the body of Christ, for God calls us to give relationship to Him in prayer, love to one another--not only in our community, but outside of the community. We're not called to be a club here, of course. We know that. But at the same time, the importance of the body of Christ is a living, breathing, less than perfect, yet forgiven place where people on the outside can see what goes on on the inside here and say, "I want a piece of that." And so the exercise of the spiritual gifts is not only for the body of believers, but the purpose of it is to glorify God, to help each of us, and as well give people outside of the faith a hope to say there is a place you can go where you can be forgiven, where you can be loved unconditionally. Does that makes sense? That's what God is calling us to do as well.
When the gifts are given to us, we're to be stewards of them. They're not ours to control. They're God's to be glorified. Whenever we express our own love for each other, our spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit kick into play, and when we serve people according to the Spirit, they spend less time thanking us and more time thanking God. It draws them closer to the Lord. That's what our gifts are to do.
And so Peter is reminding the first-century believers, and this is our Scripture today, so God is reminding us today, what we are to be doing during this time while we wait for the Lord's Second Coming. We don't worry about life. We think of the fleetingness of trying to build something up for ourselves on earth when we're called to store up our treasures in heaven. In a sense, it reminds me of my vacation, where I work hard to earn the right to have time off and I go off to a place where every day is Saturday for me. But then I have to come back, and what is that about? Do I come back and worry once again? Do I come back and work on a career again? Do I come back and work on relationships again? Do I get myself caught up in the day-to-day business? Or is the Lord trying to tell us something different: That perhaps every day should feel like Saturday for every one of us, knowing that each of us has been justified by the blood of Jesus Christ. And for us to worry about careers, about success, about relationships, about need, about anything that you and I can be distressed about, seems to be a waste of time.
If we want to solve the problems, we're called not to look at those problems, but to look at how we're developing our relationship with God in prayer, how we're loving one another unconditionally, and how we're serving the community with our spiritual gifts. We can get caught up in what we're doing so much that we can, well, need a vacation because of it! Isn't that funny? We get so caught up in what we do--even pastors get so caught up in the religious work of what they do--they have to have a break from it! There is something wrong there.
I had a goal after I came back. In fact, I was praying about it. Every time I go on vacation, every time I have a blast, a wonderful time, every time I finally get that sense of all the pressure leaving me. And at the end of the vacation I go, "How can I take this home with me? I've got to be able to find a way to take this home with me." Every day should be Saturday in some way. All of the responsibilities don't go away. It's not like I'm not supposed to work any more. The apostle Paul writing said that to the believers who, when they were waiting for the Second Coming, began to get lazy and they weren't going to do any work. And Paul specifically says, "Those who do not work, do not let them eat." Because as the body of Christ, they fed one another and helped one another. But to those who were just sitting around, waiting for the end to come, Paul said, "You're being lazy. Get back to work, friends."
Now, there's no such word as a lazy Christian. I don't know people who are Christ-centered who are lazy. We have a tendency to do just the opposite. We serve the Lord with gladness, and sometimes joy, and too often, exhaustion. And so the word for me from the Lord, in getting this Scripture underneath my skin this week was, "John, here is your answer. Here is how you let every day be Saturday in your life. You leave the business of the world up to me. I'm God; you're not. I want you to develop a relationship with me. I want you to love your brothers and sisters unconditionally. And I want you to take the gifts that I've given to you and do them within the community. And, John, that's all I'm asking for you to do. I'll take care of the rest."
This week I've been working really hard at trying to make that happen, and God is loving me no matter what (because I've failed many times this week). Change is hard, and the older you get, the harder it is, isn't it? Well, I can say, though, that every day I've been successful because God has planted a reminder in me to say, "Whoa, John. Wait a minute. Is today Saturday in your life? Did you forget to take a moment to relax, to love me, and to love those around you right now? To quit thinking about the future?"
And I've been able to do that. It's been hard, but it's possible. I will not be able to do it without you. You will not be able to do it without me. That's the whole purpose of the body of Christ. I want us to claim the fulfillment of God's work for salvation. That means our lives, friends, are totally justified. There's nothing more we can do but to believe in faith God is real, that Jesus is our Lord and has saved us, and that the Holy Spirit is filling us with that truth and filling us with God's love. That is what Peter was saying to the first generation of believers. The fulfillment has come, and for 2,000-plus years, we're living in that final time. That should take the pressure off of us and give us reasons for living that are gracious, and loving, and prayerful.
As we remind each other as the body of Christ, as we remind each other about this, we will be successful in it. We will be less worrisome. We will be putting less time into things that will soon burn away and waste away. And, indeed, we will be laying up for ourselves treasures in heaven.
My commitment is to be with you, to help you pray, to help you love, and to help you serve. And I need your commitment for me to do the same. Will we do that together? Please say, "Yes," because I need you and I know you need me, and this is why we're together. Let's pray now.
Dear God, I think of the Christians in Asia Minor, the recipients of this letter. Lord, what a difference! They were just a couple of decades removed from Jesus walking on this earth. At the same time, there were very few Christians in the world, period. And to that developing group, these words became power for those Christians to remain steadfast, even though for many of them, their worship of you was illegal, and many were about to suffer. And as we know through history, many did. That's where there is a difference today. Even though we're feeling, Lord, more persecution coming in as Christianity is no longer held in the high regard that it has, Lord, we are still a majority-religion in this world. And even though, Lord, it's true that many are persecuted for their faith--even more in this world now than ever before. We forget that sometimes because we live in America where we feel some persecution, but there are others who are losing their lives for this. Lord, I can't help but remember how Peter first wrote to that developing, fledgling group and how that power strengthened them. And that kind of strength made others admire them and want what they had. And Spirit filled them, and the growth of the Christian church came. I ask that today we do nothing less than think about the fact that we can proclaim that the end is near, yet the end is also what we do in living. We live for the present. And allow us, Lord God, then to develop a relationship with you. Indeed, Lord, to take serious prayer. Lord, as well to give the kind of love to others that you've given to us. Let us open our hearts up to even the people that we've found ourselves guilty of not loving. Lord, let us love them because you have loved us. And, Lord, as well, let us understand how important each one of us is to one another, how important your Spirit is in working through our gifts that you've given to us. How vital they are to creating a community not only where we are loved, but also where those outside of our fold will see love and be attracted to it. Hold us accountable to this, Lord God. In your name we pray. And all God's people said, "Amen."
The Rev. Dr. John Ward Associate Pastor for Discipleship Faith Presbyterian Church Minnetonka, Minnesota
[Transcribed from an audiotape of the worship service on July 13, 2003.] |
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