2 Corinthians 5:16-21

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view, even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So, if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is in Christ. God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteous of God.

This is such an amazing and empowering message to me. We are God’s ambassadors—God’s representatives to carry the message out into the world. I’ve heard thousands of times that we are to preach the good news, but somehow this passage strikes me differently. Somehow the notion of ambassador conveys a different tone than evangelist, and I’m eager to do it.

Being an ambassador is a responsibility. It involves understanding 2 cultures and being able to bridge the communication and ideological gap between them. It means being a representative through your actions—which may mean forfeiting some of your habits for the sake of the relationship. Practically for cultural ambassadors it may mean forsaking a fork for chop sticks, or covering your legs, arms or head so as not to insult another. It may mean kissing cheeks instead of shaking hands, or looking at the ground instead of directly into someone’s eyes. Being an ambassador means understanding customs and traditions and being able to adapt to them to fully engage the “other.”

These adaptations go both ways for us as Christians. We must be able to adapt to secular culture without forsaking our own values as well as educate about Christian ideals in a way that is relevant and sensible to secular culture. It’s our role to bridge the gap between religious and secular in a way that is clear and meaningful. Starting with monastic asceticism might not be the best way to reach today’s youth. We may do better to start with the global impact of Christian actions as today’s youth are already aware of concepts of global awareness and responsibility. But whatever our approach, we have to recognize that we can’t simply hold to all of our traditions and hope others will join in. Being an ambassador requires adaptability to assure the “other” that they can truly trust you and that you understand who they are and what they are about.

As an ambassador, we have to look for the points of contact and correlation between the 2 cultures and help both sides to make the connection and be drawn into appreciation. We must also remain rooted in the Christian message and its importance in defining who we are, making adaptations does not mean forsaking who we are. While living abroad I came to understand myself as an ambassador of sorts. I was a representative of America and Americans and that meant I needed to act in way that reflected well on me and on my country. It was my role to show the best hospitality, graciousness, and cultural awareness in my interactions with Spaniards, Moroccans, Cubans, Costa Ricans, Syrians, Palestinians, and others. And, when I returned, it was my role to share my learnings and experiences with other Americans. I helped explain the ways burkas can actually promote the role and status of women, or how communism has served to educate the people of Cuba, or how the siesta isn’t really about the nap, but about time with family in the middle of the day.

Being an ambassador meant I had to invest myself in learning about other cultures and traditions. I came to appreciate the richness of other countries, as well as gain a greater appreciation for the riches of my own traditions. I was the “go between” to help people get cultural values and customs.

Now, ambassador is just one of the key words in this passage. The other is reconciliation.

Reconciliation with God is about connecting with God. It involves healing the brokenness in our relationship, the ways we have neglected, denied, and ignored God. It involves drawing nearer to God to have a deeper and more meaningful relationship.

I don’t know how many of you know about your use Facebook.com but it’s a website that helps reconnect people with old friends and classmates and even helps forge new relationships for some folks. I’ve never gotten into it, but in the last two weeks I’ve had almost a dozen people urge me to sign up. On the surface, it seems like it will only take up more of my time and will become yet another profile I have to manage. Can you tell I’m real eager to jump on the bandwagon? Yet, I’ve heard of more and more people who are on it and know it’d be an easy way to stay in touch, but I continue to fear it will simply consume my time and energy and not be very fruitful.

In some odd way, that’s how I hear the response to God’s reconciliation. I see us, the ambassadors, as God’s Facebook promoters. We are encouraging people to get connected, to experience God’s reconciliation-God’s redemptive work in relationships and many respond to God’s plea for reconciliation like I respond to Facebook: “Oh I know it sounds cool and would help me be close to God again, but it’s gonna take too much time and energy for me to do. Having a relationship with God sounds nice, but I really have a lot going on and I’m pretty satisfied with life as it is. I don’t need another obligation. I don’t want another responsibility. I’ve got too much on my plate as it is.”

And they walk away. Reconnecting isn’t enough for a lot of people. It takes time, effort, and intentionality to restore a forgotten friendship and sometimes it just doesn’t seem worth it after years apart. I’m afraid that’s how some people see their relationship with God—it’s a nice bonus, if you have time for it. But it’ll take work and it may not be worth it after all these years apart. So, if you choose to walk away, you probably won’t miss too much.

That’s where the true test of our role begins. You see, if we’re truly convicted about the importance of reconnecting with God and the amazing blessings it will bring to someone’s life, then we don’t simply let them walk away. We don’t hog tie them and force them to reconnect either. But if reconciliation with God is something we merely promote on occasion or in passing or as something that “might be fun to do,” then we’re really not serving as effective ambassadors. As God’s agents, we have to work at making the connections and believe strongly in what we do.

I don’t know if you remember the affirmations we did two weeks ago, where we partnered up and told one another “You are important. You are worthy. You are precious. You are a child of God. You are beloved.” That exercise was meant not just to make you feel good, but to help convict you about the power of God’s affirmation in our lives. And it’s only when you really believe, when you’ve felt it in the depths of your soul that you become the most effective ambassador for Christ. Sure, you can preach the message and share the stories and some will be drawn into it, but just like with Facebook, many of us won’t sign up unless we are totally convinced, hook, line, and sinker, that it’s not going to be some other burden weighing us down, but will be a gift and a blessing in our lives. Convincing people about God’s love isn’t simply something they should do, it’s something that will change their lives. Forging a relationship with God is not just another responsibility to be checked off the list, or profile to be maintained, it’s a life changing event that transforms the way you see and live in the world.

Psalm 1

Happy are those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked, nor go the way of sinners, nor sit in the company of scoffers. Rather, the law of the Lord is their joy; God’s law they study day and night. They are like a tree planted near streams of water, that yields its fruit in season; its leaves never wither; whatever they do prospers. But not the wicked! They are like chaff driven by the wind. Therefore the wicked will not survive judgment, nor will sinners in the assembly of the just. The Lord watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

Many of the words in this passage have various meanings. I've rewritten the psalm with some of those words so that hopefully it will be easier to follow. Let's listen again to the words of the psalmist:

Blessed are those who do not follow the counsel of the guilty, nor go the way of the corrupt, nor sit in the company of the arrogant who have no regard for God. Rather, the instruction of God is their focus. They pore over God’s instruction day and night. They are like a tree deeply rooted by streams of water, which yield fruit in their season, it never goes dry, or barren, it is prosperous. But not the self-absorbed! They are like chaff driven by the wind. They are dispensable waste, without roots, without grounding, they have nothing to hold on to. Therefore the wicked will not survive God’s verdict, nor will sinners fit in when the followers of God gather. The Lord watches over and gains intimacy with the way of the just, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction, they are void of blessing, they lose themselves as they seek only their own interests.

When reading the psalms, and even many of the prophets, it’s important to know that often they speak in terms of judgment and when they do they are not necessarily referring to the final judgment, to judgment day, they are speaking of judgment like you would find in a trial court—where there’s a judge who looks at the facts of a case and decides a verdict of innocence or guilt. We saw something like this when we read the passage in Micah—the one that says, “What does the Lord require of you but to seek justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Do you remember that passage? First we read that God had a complaint against the people—oppressing the poor, unequal distribution of wealth, and social injustice. And then the words, “Sons and daughters of Israel, you have heard the charges brought against you, how do you plead?” Okay, maybe not exactly those words, but something to that effect. And then the judge paused, “Wait, before you make your case, let me remind you of a few things, you sit in the court of the one who saved you from slavery, the one who brought you to the promised land, the one who has provided leaders to show you the way time and time again. Now, tell me again what can you say for yourself?”

Do you remember this? The people of Israel were in a situation of judgment, one where there was a wrong committed and facts to be heard and a verdict to be delivered. That court scenario is common to the language of the Old Testament, and particularly the psalms and prophets.

So, today, when we hear the words of verse 5 that say the wicked will not survive judgment, we need to hear them in context—they will not do well on their day in court! As in any court, there are the innocent and there are the guilty. Those who are innocent will be set free, and those who are guilty will be punished. So, then, what are the charges we’re looking at? The charge is a lack of reverence for scripture and a closed heart to God’s action in our lives; in other words, self-sufficient arrogance that negates a need for God. If you deny God and believe solely in your own powers and capabilities, if you believe you don’t need any help from anyone, including God, then today, you are among the wicked—the guilty standing before the judge. If, however, you delight in God’s teachings, if you find your meaning from God, if you know you are dependent upon God for all that you are, then you will be counted among the just, among the righteous.

So, let’s do a little exercise, if you stand among the wicked then you should come stand over here to the left and if you stand among the righteous, then you should come stand on the right. (Pause) No? Okay, how about this….if you’re strong and independent raise your hand. Ok. And if you’re dependent on others put your hand on your heart. Good. Now, those of you with your hand in the air, according to today’s passage, you are the wicked. And if you have your hand on your heart, you are the righteous. Don’t blame me, I didn’t make it up. Blame the psalmist.

To be sure, it’s a challenging passage to hear because it goes against a lot of what we believe. In American culture, we’re taught self-sufficiency and individuality. You’re a better person, a greater success story if you do it yourself without the help of anyone. Think about it, as we age, or if we get sick, we become more dependent on others, and most of us loathe that part of life. We hate not being able to do things for ourselves. We hate having to ask someone else for help, to rely on someone else to go somewhere, or get something done. That’s a cultural more. That’s a cultural value, not a godly one. So on one side we have culture, proclaiming loud and clear that we should not rely on anyone because it makes us weak. And on the other side, we have scripture proclaiming that if we become self-absorbed and arrogant about our abilities, then we will number among the wicked. That’s not a very comforting thought. Are we good Americans or are we good Christians? Having to choose one over the other probably makes us a bit uncomfortable. It certainly makes me uncomfortable. I’m as bull-headed and independent as the best of them, and normally, I’m fairly proud of that, but in reading this passage, I had to take a step back and see that the cultural values are not what God seeks from us. God wants us to be dependent—primarily on God. Because if I can do all things by myself and don’t need any help from anyone, then I won’t need or want help from God either. And if I don’t need God, then I won’t seek God. And if I don’t seek God, then I will perish—maybe not literally, not yet anyway, but spiritually, my soul will dry up and wither away if I don’t stay connected to the life source.

So now that we know the definition of righteous versus the wicked, how do we change that from head knowledge to heart knowledge? How do we live the psalmist’s advice? Through verse 2. “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night.” To move from being counted among the “wicked” to living among the righteous, we must delight in God’s instruction, we must meditate on it day and night. I say instruction and not law because when we think of law we think of rules, but the law here isn’t just the ten commandments or the rules found in Leviticus, it is God’s story—the story of Israel and the ways God has been faithful, it is God’s word through the poetry of the psalms, and yes, God’s law—God’s instructions for holy living. To become righteous, to become God-centered, we have to focus on God’s story. And we find that story in the Bible.

Meditating on God’s word is really about being in right relationship with God, about God being the center of your life and purpose. If we spend time in the Word, then we’re spending time learning about God, who God was, what God’s true character is like, what God hopes and dreams—and in listening to the Word, we’re practicing listening to God.

Spending daily or even weekly time in God’s work is how we listen to God. In prayer it’s easy for us to talk, and talk, and talk. But when are we taking time to listen? We listen through scripture and meditation. Spending time listening is what keeps us planted near the waters, it’s what keeps us giving fruit. We all know that a tree planted by a constant source of water will bear fruit. It’s a natural consequence. Being in the word is like being planted by water and being near the source of life means we will bear fruit—we will be blessed. It’s a natural consequence. It’s not rocket science. It’s nature. If we starve a tree of water, it will dry up and wither away. Without its life source, it cannot bear fruit. The same is true for us—if we’re robbed of our life source, or simply choose to be planted elsewhere, we won’t be able to bear fruit—we’ll wither away—like the chaff of wheat blown away in the wind.

For the psalmist, there are two ways to live: 1) centered on God and rooted in God’s instruction—namely the Word; 2) centered on ourselves. To be centered on God is to be deeply rooted in that which provides life—which offers joy and sustains us even in difficult times. To be centered on ourselves gives only shallow roots that are easily lifted and cast into the wind. On its surface, the choice seems simple and clear. I want to be righteous, I want to bear fruit and be blessed. Let’s call it a day. The difficulty comes in challenging the culture’s blow-horn that tells me to be independent, hard-working, and reliant on no one. Our challenge is not in choosing God, but in rejecting what the culture teaches us about success

Romans 3:21-31

Paul’s letter to the Romans has some of the clearest explanations of who Christ was and what his life, death, and resurrection mean to each of us. It also addresses some of the community issues—issues that were also true for Corinth and other cities in the region. One of those issues was who was better, who was more righteous than whom. The gentiles or the Jews? The circumcised or the uncircumcised? Those who knew the law or those who simply believed? Those who had been part of God’s community forever or the new kids on the block?

From Paul’s letter it is clear that there was dissention in the church. There were arguments about who had a firmer foundation, whose way was the *right* way, and who actually was justified by God. These things took place in the first century soon after Christ’s death. Now, we 21^st century Christians, having all the benefits of modernity, technology, and 2000 years of faith ancestry—we certainly don’t have any of these disputes amongst ourselves, right?

We don’t quibble about whose music draws us closer to God, or whose clothes are more appropriate, or whose baptism is more legitimate. Not us! We aren’t concerned with worship that is unfamiliar or biblical teachings that call upon feminism, the black perspective, or social oppression to find a new reading of the Gospel. We aren’t threatened by different. We aren’t tempted to proclaim our faith as more righteous than that of those who attend the big church down the street. Right?!

This definitely was a first century problem and is not an issue we deal with today.

But, for the sake of argument, let’s pretend we too struggle with conflict in the church. Let’s assume, just for a moment, that we’ve made the mistake of claiming our way or the highway and see what God’s message for us would be.

First, we hear a reminder that righteousness comes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Righteousness—in other words, godliness, holiness, uprightness, our sanctification, comes from God as a gift. We don’t earn it; we can’t buy it—the only way we have a possibility at righteousness is because of God’s goodness. And the way we receive that gift, the way we open it, is by faith in Jesus Christ. Paul reminds us that none of us is holy or righteous by our own doings, but only through God’s gift of grace through Jesus.

Now, why aren’t we righteous in our own right? I mean, I’m a pretty good person….how am I so unrighteous?

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Oh. Yeah. That. Sin. It gets us every time! But, I only sin a little—so doesn’t that mean I only fall a little but short of the glory of God?! I mean, I’m not one of those BIG sinners—so I have to be closer to God than they are, right?! Wrong. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. No class system of sin. No lesser sin or greater sin. Just the simple fact that we have turned away from God; we have disobeyed the rules; we have sinned. Period. And because we have sinned, we are all equally unrighteous. We are all broken. We are all imperfect. We are all sinners on equal footing, down at the bottom of the pit in the mire of sin. No distinction. No privilege. No hierarchy. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

And the only way we get up out of that miry pit is through grace. God’s grace pulls us up. And whether we accepted that grace through our faith 70 years ago, or 25 years ago, last year, or today—we remain equal. We are undistinguished in our sinfulness and we are undistinguished in our righteousness.

So those arguments we, of course, don’t have about whose way is better, or whose prayer is more holy, or whose worship service more God-inspired, they’re all irrelevant. There’s no room for them. We can’t boast about being better because we aren’t. We are equally sinful and we’re equally saved. No more, no less. Not the pastor. Not the elder. Not the child. Not the missionary. Not the Sunday School teacher. Not this section or that section. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and we are all saved by God’s grace alone.

Turn to your neighbor and say: “I’m a sinner. You’re a sinner. It’s nice to meet an equal.” Now say: “God saved me. God saved you. It’s nice to meet an equal.”

Regardless of how many people are in worship, the language we speak, the missions we complete, the music we use—we all sin and we are all saved by the grace of God. So let us not be caught up in proving righteousness or disputing traditions, but let us be bonded as sisters and brothers by the same faith in the same God who offers the same grace in the same way in the same amount to each and every one of us. The same grace, offered to the same sinners, so that we might be justified in the same way, through the same faith, in the same man—Jesus Christ. All on equal footing, equally saved, equally righteous, equally loved.

May God be glorified by the reading and hearing of the Holy Word. Amen.

Micah 6:1-16

Micah was a prophet. He didn’t have ESP. He didn’t predict the future. He was a messenger of God sent to correct the Israelites and call them back to a life of obedience to God’s law. Traditionally, prophets would talk about where the Israelites had been unfaithful, what the punishments had been, what the mandates are, and what the consequences will be if they don’t comply with God’s law.

When looking at the words of a prophet, it is particularly important to know about the context they were in. Micah wrote in the 8^th century BC. In that time the Israelites lived in what we would call Israel, but for them it was divided into two kingdoms—Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Assyria was the major power of the day and in 722 BC the Assyrians conquered Israel, and then in 701, they attacked Judah.

So, Micah lived and prophesied during a very tense time, when attack and conquest by the Assyrians was a very real threat and later a reality. And in ancient times, at least for the Israelites, attack, colonization, empire expansion, and conquest of a kingdom would have been seen as a punishment from God. As God’s chosen people, it was understood that they would be protected as long as they were in God’s favor and the way to stay in God’s favor was through adherence to the law. So, the opposite was also true, if you broke the law, you fell out of God’s favor, and if you fell out of God’s favor, you’d no longer be protected.

With that in mind, let’s look at the text for today. In the first part of the book, Micah basically files God’s complaint against the people—including oppression of the poor, unequal distribution of wealth, and social injustice. Micah was one of the do-gooder, follow God’s law, and make everyone equal kind of people and in his book there is a lot of emphasis on social justice. And in the first few verses he basically says, “Go ahead, plead your case, but first, let me remind you of all the ways God has been good to you. God brought you out of Egypt and freed you from slavery. God gave you leaders. God stopped others from cursing you, and then God helped you cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land.” In essence, time and time again, God was faithful to the Israelites, and yet they had been unfaithful to God and God’s law.

Israel acknowledged their guilt and wanted to give something to God to make it right. They wanted to appease God, calm God’s anger, and smooth things over. They say, “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Burnt offerings? Calves? Rams? Rivers of oil? My first born?”

And then Micah responds on God’s behalf: “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” In other words, God isn’t looking for heartless offerings as a one-time fix to years of disobedience and injustice. God wants actions that make a difference—justice, kindness, and mercy. And those actions should be an everyday occurrence not a once in awhile quick fix when they get called out for their sins.

If we keep reading verses 9-16, we see there were further problems with Israel’s actions—lying, violence, cheating, and religious wrongs. And for all that sinfulness, there were punishments. Verses 13-16 talk about an internal and lasting hunger, work of stomping grapes without reward of wine, stomping olives with no reward of oil and hence no blessing. The Israelites were going to pay for their wrongdoing.

So now, what do we do with this passage? How does it apply to us? Do we say, “Man, those Israelites sure messed up, good thing we’re not like that! Whew! Glad we haven’t messed up like they did.”

Is that how this works? …I don’t think so. Two weeks ago I preached about Bible study and how Bible study is helpful b/c when we learn the stories of God’s people, we learn our stories. More often than not we can find ourselves reflected in the ancient texts. And in today’s case, it begs the question: Where have we been unfaithful? When have we neglected God’s law? Who did we cheat? What lies did we tell? Who is poor because of our riches and abundance? Who among the poor have we neglected?

And when we realize all the ways we have sinned, are we like the Israelites, ready to offer one big apology, one big show to set things right? One long service? One extra offering? A couple extra prayers to prove we can be faithful? Too often, our time of confession is big and extravagant and we seem so apologetic and repentant but then tomorrow comes and we go right back to our old ways. And when we do that, we become like the Israelites.

If we’re like the Israelites, then what is God’s answer to us? “I don’t want some show, some extravagant gesture—I want your lives to change—day in and day out—I want you to truly live justice, not just appreciate it when you have it, but fight for it when others don’t. I want you to love kindness—to live with compassion and empathy, not just to look for it and laud it, but to live it, to love it, and to cherish it. And I want you to walk humbly with me. I want you to walk with me, to take the path I take, to travel the road I do—it may not be an easy road, but it is one we will be on together. And I want you to walk it with humility—not as the head hauncho, but trusting me to be in charge—letting go of control and following my will.

I want you to live your repentance. I want to see your changed heart in what you do each and every day—not just on Sunday mornings when you’re *supposed* to remember and honor me, but every day as you honor not just me, but my people through a life of worship. Live your worship through actions of justice, kindness, and mercy that prove your faithfulness and make the world a better place.

Now, many of us would be happy for the passage to end there. A bit of a reproach, a reminder of what we are to do, and focused on justice, kindness and mercy. But Micah’s words don’t stop there, and so neither can we. In addition to injustice and sinfulness among the community in the ways our actions affect others on the large scale, there are also other sins. Personal sins. Lying. Cheating. Violence. Religious idolatry. And our misdoings are not without consequence.

I’m not sure where we get the idea that with forgiveness through Christ there won’t be consequences for our sinfulness, but I think that wherever we got it, it does us a disservice. Even with mercy, even with grace, our actions have consequences. When we lie, when we cheat, when we neglect God and God’s law, there are consequences. While a murderer in prison may experience God and accept Christ and receive forgiveness for what he has done, he will still have to endure the consequences of his actions. The forgiveness offered won’t free him from paying the price for his wrong action. And if that’s true for *big* sins, why would it be any different for our *minor* sins? For instance, if I lie to all of you and then later confess and repent, you all may forgive me and God will forgive me, but even with your forgiveness, I will still have to earn trust, to prove that my turn to honesty is real and lasting, not some momentary thing. Right? God definitely grants us forgiveness, but that forgiveness doesn’t mean a free pass from all consequences.

The way we prove our repentance, the way our worship and offerings become more than a show, is through our everyday actions. It’s by living the ordinance here in Micah: to seek justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God. Being just, kind, and merciful is what proves we are in right accord with the law, with God’s will for our lives. When we sin we move away from justice, kindness and mercy and likewise when we reject justice, compassion, and grace, we become more sinful. To be obedient is to live as Micah urges. Justice, kindness, and mercy are attractive things. I think most of us would say they are important and we want them in our lives. But they are also difficult to achieve and live out both individually and collectively. They take work, they require sacrifice and commitment. In minor ways they can be achieved each and every day, but for them to pervade and persist every corner of our lives and the lives of all God’s people, will take lots of work, probably some heartbreak, and a collective effort from each of us. May we always be mindful of that which is required: to seek justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God. Amen.