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“The Art of Living in Two Worlds” Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – July 23,
2017 Centenary United Methodist Church
Psalm 139:1-12; Matthew 13:24-30 Our theme for this morning comes from Jesus teaching his
listeners what it is like to live in the
Kingdom of God.
To describe
God's Kingdom, Jesus once
again used agricultural imagery to create a vision for his listeners.
In our lesson today, a farmer had planted a field of wheat.
Under the cover of darkness, an enemy came to the same field and
sowed seeds of a weed that looked strikingly similar to wheat. When the
problem was discovered, the farmer instructed his farmhands to allow
both to grow together. At
the harvest, they were directed to gather the wheat into the barn and
bundle the weeds to be burned. With all of the storylines in the New Testament of dividing
people into categories, sometimes what we read is difficult to reconcile
with what we know about Jesus.
Jesus consistently demonstrated that he loved those who had
little or no spiritual training. He
also taught lessons concerning the skill his followers could develop if
they learned how to forgive everyone with a tolerance that had no
boundaries. When Jesus constantly talked about the universal and
unconditional love of God, after reading passages like the one we have
this morning, we are left to think that people must be
thrown out where they will
suffer. Such a conclusion
would never enter the mind of God whose creative love comes to everyone,
i.e., the just and the unjust alike.
(Matthew 5:45) During my middle school days, I had a friend that was among the
most cultured and well-mannered boys I had ever met.
He carried himself like a well-tutored thirty-year-old living in
the body of an eighth-grader. He
told me that he got that way out of necessity.
His father was very strict and he often used a belt to discipline
him and his brother when they failed to live up to his expectations.
He said, "When I eventually leave home on my own, I never want to
see my father again." I can still hear his words lingering in my mind. I had never
heard anyone express such feelings about his dad.
My friend was being obedient in every aspect of his life out
of fear. We cannot
imagine Jesus ever demanding obedience from his followers by holding
above their heads a lashing or
burning in Hell throughout eternity
if they failed to develop spiritually. What was Jesus trying to illustrate with his parable?
We have to remember that he was describing what life is like
to live in The Kingdom of God.
The wheat and the weeds illustrated that people in
the Kingdom live side by side
with people who may possess different values and goals.
He was teaching that some people are anchored to a reality that
inspires loving attitudes while others are anchored to fulfilling
desires and outcomes in the material world.
There was no condemnation intended by Jesus.
All people are needed to pool their potential in order for any
culture to flourish. We need people in every vocation, i.e., priests,
craftsmen, artisans, bankers as well as those that protect and govern
us. During my early days in seminary, one of my classes was a round
table discussion group that covered a range of topics during the
semester. One day we were
discussing what motivated us to attend Wesley Theological Seminary.
There were two women in my
particular group who saved me from being overcome by embarrassment.
One of them had majored in
Women's Studies and the other in
Black Cultural Studies while
in college. When they
graduated, they found that there was no market that would employ them.
Among several students who had significant stories of being
called into the ministry, I had to tell the group that I came to Wesley
strictly as a holding pattern
until I could figure out what I wanted to do with my life.
When I graduated from college, few positions were available for
someone with a major in History and a minor in the ancient, unspoken
language of Greek. My parents probably rolled their eyes wondering what in the world
was next for their son. I remember hearing my mother tell some of her
inquiring friends during a women's meeting in our dining room, "No, Dick
will never go into the ministry.
Roy and I just don't know about Dick."
My parents were right.
Few people knew about Dick. The two women and I found that our college training provided an
excellent training for seminarians. However, the way that I became a
pastor is an absolute miracle. There had never been a
call from God. There was only
a vague feeling that caused me to think to myself, "I think I can do
this." That is not exactly what the Annual Conference authorities were
interested in hearing. However, there was an historic convergence of
circumstances that allowed me to
fly under the radar of the Conference authorities completely
undetected. There was a merger between two major denominations in 1968.
The Shortly after I was appointed to my first church, I had several
life-changing experiences that dramatically communicated that all of us
are living in twin universes that co-exist side by side. This
recognition inspired me to devote the rest of my life to the study and
practice of spirituality. When Jesus said, "Greater things will you accomplish than those
that you have seen me do," he understood that all people have a
vast potential to build cultures of the stature of For
Jesus, people were not being divided into the
haves
and
have-nots.
What Jesus was teaching was a value system that would work in the
material world one hundred percent of the time.
The same value system would also work one hundred percent of the
time when people graduate
from this life. Throughout his ministry, Jesus was describing qualities that were
unique among those who had chosen to live in
God's Kingdom while also
living in our material world.
He made this distinction very clear when he said: Do not store up
riches for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust can destroy and
where robbers can break in and steal.
Instead, store up for yourselves spiritual wealth in
Heaven that will always be
safe within you.
Your heart will always be
with the treasure that you
value the most. (Matthew
6:19f) Such teaching was a caution to his followers to keep a watchful
eye on their lives while living side by side among others who are
anchored to the material aspects of
our classroom.
We have to admit that life offers us many opportunities to align
ourselves with numerous causes.
As we participate, our emotional passions can evoke responses
that are as bitter and confrontational as the people we oppose.
There have been times when people have wondered why God has not
become more involved in our human condition.
They ask, "If God is all loving
and compassionate, how can God stay on the sidelines while we struggle?" God knows that innocent children are starving to death all over the world. God knows that innocent populations are caught in the ravages of war. Jewish theologians and historians were weary with thoughts of where God was when six million Jews were murdered in Nazi Germany. We can even personalize God's inactivity by wondering why our
prayers go unanswered and why we have to carry such
a heavy load while others go
unscathed by misfortune. These issues have always been part of the
territory throughout time for everyone who has ever lived.
God could easily respond, I am not the one on
trial here, you are. I know
that absolutely nothing can happen to you. Your own created fears and
doubts tell you otherwise. All
of life's challenges represent
a test
of our resolve to live in
Heaven
while also living and remaining helpful in our world.
Jesus said, "If you love only those who love you, why should you feel
blessed? Tax collectors and prostitutes do the same thing.
God is good to the
ungrateful and the wicked. You have the potential to become like
God." (Luke 6:32-36)
It is easy to be persuaded to struggle for issues of justice in
our world.
We forget that Jesus never
taught anything about justice. He
only taught qualities
of spirit that are possible
responses for us when we are faced with injustice. It is so easy for
spiritually awakened people to become convinced to attack evil whenever
it confronts innocent people. Peter took his sword into
the garden where the group
had gone to pray. We all know
the intense desire
to roll up our sleeves and fight
for our truth.
We easily forgot that
truth is among those
realities that never needs defending.
Loving energy is the nature of our Creator and the radiation from
that powerful energy can never be destroyed. If this is true, what should we think about
the weeds?
Jesus was only describing
differences. The weeds were those that looked like wheat but they have
chosen to invest their energies in the world that will never
hold still long enough to be
redeemed. (Luke 13:34) By design, the world is constantly swirling with
rapid change. The wheat represents
the people who also live in the world but have learned to focus their
passionate energy on radiating skills of spirit like hope, kindness,
forgiveness, generosity, helpfulness and peace.
These are the fruits
that surface from living in the
invisible environment that Jesus called,
The Jesus sent his followers to live among others in order to teach
them the skills of spirit that will be needed in the next world.
Few of the skills that people
develop in the area of their
animal spirits will work in an environment where nothing of material
substance exists. Discovering
and using these skills of spirit is what living in
God's Kingdom looks like. CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER Loving God, we thank you for calling us to remain in union with you.
We thank you for inviting us to remember that our greatest skills
come in the form of treating others as we would like others to treat us.
Enable us to give hands and feet to our understanding of love.
You have called us to live in our world with enthusiasm while
remaining anchored to your
Kingdom. Maintaining that balance is the greatest challenge of our
lives.
Nourish us so that
our lives remain energized and inspired to bring to others what we have
found -- the energy that creates community and peace.
Amen.
PASTORAL PRAYER Loving God, how wonderful it is to be
alive in a world that never stops changing.
While we are creatures that often prefer routine more than we do
rapid change, there is a mystery that we cannot control or know as our
journey takes us into a future that awaits our arrival. We have experienced a peaceful
transition period in We ask your blessing upon this
remarkable island, its leaders and its people.
Not only do we experience the physical beauty that we too often
take for granted, but we also have the ability to grow together
spiritually, socially and economically because of how you created us to
be. Spare
us from using the excuse of being
human to explain why we have the attitudes that we too often
display.
Jesus called his
followers to become angels in the
flesh.
Our world’s
people need to know that some of us are busy becoming the
leaven for the loaf.
Bless each of us with that calling so that |