“Clearing Out The Clutter


Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – July 26, 2020

Centenary United Methodist Church

Psalm 105:1-11; Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

 

     This morning's Gospel lesson is a summary of Jesus' attempt at informing his listeners what living in the Kingdom of God feels like.  Two Sundays ago, we discussed why Jesus' teachings were understood differently by his listeners.  Each person's listening filters were described as being like different qualities of soil.  

    Last Sunday, Jesus was teaching that his followers will always be living among others, many of whom have little in common with the values and attitudes expressed by his followers.  He described their differences as appearing like wheat and weeds.  Both seeds grow plants that look quite similar, but that is where their similarity stops.

    This Sunday we will conclude our study of Jesus' Kingdom metaphors with an assortment of images that Jesus gave his listeners of what living in the Kingdom feels like.   Notice what Jesus described once people discover the energy that turns their priorities upside down.  

    Jesus described this discovery as the thrill of finding a treasure buried in a field or discovering a one-of-a-kind pearl of great value.  Such people become like yeast whose spirit will influence everyone living around them.  However, gaining control over the spiritual energy that governs our responses to life is a far greater discovery than anything found in the material world.

    Anatole France, a French writer (1844-1924), gave his readers a marvelous image when he wrote, "The average person, who does not know what to do with this life, wants another one which will last forever." 

    Did Jesus set out to change the world?  No, he was contented and happy if one person had a life-changing experience. (Luke 15:7) Jesus never thought of himself as a person who would change the attitudes of millions of people. THAT happened, but not because it was Jesus who was striving to make that happen.

    Jesus had a life-changing experience that was powerful enough to cause him to leave his family, his profession as a carpenter, his religious heritage, and Yahweh, who had too many human characteristics that did not match the nature of God that he encountered during his forty-days of fasting. Jesus headed into uncharted water trusting unseen currents to guide him down the river of his life.

    Think about this.  Jesus had no role models for him to follow, no new laws to obey, and no teacher to offer guidance.  He had his inner world and was alone with his discoveries that felt like a good fit for him. Everything that influenced Jesus came from his inner world.

    After teaching for a while, Jesus stopped and asked his listeners, "Do you understand what I have been saying?"  Collectively, they said, "Yes."  Then he gave them the final image that spells out what it feels like to live in the Kingdom of God. His words probably went right over the heads of his listeners like showing an accountant's spreadsheet to an audience that was never taught how to read or write.  Here is what Jesus said:

Every Teacher of the Law who becomes a disciple of the Kingdom is like a homeowner who removes new and old things from a storage room. (Matthew 13:52)

     This passage has frequently been understood as a description of what happens to a person who has discovered how to combine the best teachings of both worlds -- Moses Laws and the Teachings of Jesus.  However, Jesus was telling his listeners something that was quite different. 

    He was telling his listeners to get rid of the clutter stored in their consciousness.   By letting go of it and remaining detached from the things of this world, they will discover that living in God's Kingdom is a good fit for facing everything that comes up for them in their future.

    A friend of mine was working in the warehouse of a large chain of grocery stores in the States. Finally, the season came when the stores began to receive shipments of Bing cherries. They were his favorite. One of the men overheard his words and said, "I'm glad you said something.  Let me show you what I have learned from the guys in my former warehouse."

    He located a case of cherries and said, "Oops" as he dropped the case.  It split open scattering cherries all over the concrete floor.  The man said, "Help yourself. Accidents occasionally happen while doing our job."  My friend said, "No thank you.  I prefer to buy them."  The rest of the guys gathered them up and put them at a place where they could retrieve them at the end of the day.

    That man who dropped the case was someone no one else recognized.  He was new and claimed that he had transferred from another warehouse. However, while he was dressed like all the other warehouse workers, he was from the senior management team who was looking for someone with warehouse experience who could be trusted when no one is looking. That afternoon, he asked that man if he would be interested in entering a training program for becoming a branch manager. When the clutter is out of the closet and the inner world is totally in control of our life, nothing in this world even looks tempting.

    Life becomes miserable when we hold on to worrying, unforgiving attitudes, selfish impulses, judgments, and our lack of patience and understanding. By letting go of such clutter, we will be guided by the unseen currents of energy. We are always on stage and others become influenced by what they see.  THIS is being the yeast. 

    We will always be unaware of the influence we have on others because even striving for that belongs to this world.  What we have discovered about life cannot be given away.  People need to make their own discovery when they choose to grow up.  They have learned to ignore the allure of striving toward the goal of being successful in this world. (Matthew 6:21)

    Last week, our service was opened with these words from Jesus: 

Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks will receive, anyone who seeks will find, and the door will be opened to those who knock.  (Matthew 7:7)

     People who are searching for meaning and purpose are not communicating that they are lost. Searching is the only way we discover our inner world. People are restless until they make that discovery.  We can easily become over-stimulated emotionally when we concern ourselves with the events taking place in our world.

    Everything we are witnessing today from COVID-19 to unhappy people making statements with their lives are all themes that have been recycling for thousands of years. 

    During his ministry, Jesus was providing another narrative people could follow that would lift them above the drama. By entering the Kingdom of God, the energy of people is totally transformed by what they discover.  Since we cannot change what is happening in our world, why not participate in life motivated by the same energy pattern that Jesus invited everyone to discover.  We will find ourselves living the solution which is always a good fit every day.

    The Apostle Paul described what happened to him once he discovered the hidden treasure. He became the yeast that changed the existing faith of many Jews and Gentiles.  Paul's discovery allowed him to clean out the clutter from his consciousness so that he could make room for a divine presence that became a good fit for him.  As a most dedicated Pharisee, Paul wrote:

Everything that I have spent my life learning has lost its meaning and value. What I have learned is garbage.  I have discovered that uniting with the loving consciousness that was displayed by Jesus, I have risen above the concerns of this world. I want all of you to know this consciousness that will change and nourish your attitudes and bring you peace.  (Philippians 3:4b-11)

     The drama currently taking place in our world will only influence our inner world when we allow that to happen.  No one demanded that we worry about such things.  According to Jesus' final image of getting rid of the clutter, he was teaching what happens to people when they totally detach themselves from a need to respond to the drama of this world. 

    Paul wrote,

Do not conform yourselves to the drama taking place in the world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind.  Then you will know the will of God.  (Romans 12:2)

    By clearing out the clutter housed in our consciousness, we can become an instrument that God can use to inspire others.  We cannot help how others are choosing to express themselves. That will always be their choice. The world is perfect just as it was designed to be.  The call of the material world is so powerful that only those seeking more will discover the narrative that Jesus was teaching.

    When we make the solution visible by how we live, our task is to let the light of our discovery to show up every day. What makes living in the Kingdom a good fit begins when we start with getting rid of the clutter.  This is what Jesus did. God did the rest.  We have no idea what God might do with our lives.

     

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER

Ever-present God, we are grateful that we can enter this place of worship and experience quietness within our spirits.  We thank you for the symbols that surround us, symbols reminding us of that peaceful dimension of our lives.  This awareness keeps us centered.  Jesus taught us how to rise above the influences from our world.  We confess that we stumble many times.  We become discouraged when life violates our sense of fairness.  We become upset with ourselves when our mistakes inconvenience others.  Renew our trust, O God, that your guidance is present in every experience.   Just as our successes bring us joy, so our mistakes provide us with teachable moments to refine how we think and respond to life's challenges.     Amen.

                    

PASTOR PRAYER

Eternal God, how grateful we are that living our discipleship impacts our lives in ways that we cannot measure.  We do not know how many times our anger has been diluted and dispelled because your Son reminded us to turn the other cheek.  We do not remember how many times our generosity has been kindled because Jesus said, "As you have provided for one of the least of these, you have expressed your generosity to me." There have been moments when we have felt betrayed, and we remembered the forgiving words of Jesus from a cross and we understood what he meant by "forgive 70 times 7." 

We truly feel blessed, O God, that our experiences refine and define us in degrees that we seldom recognize. What a joy it is to realize that salvation is not something that we experience at the end of life -- it is an energizing power that we have the potential to express every day.  Thank you for holding a mirror in front of us, inviting us to become all that you created us to be, and for showing us how your answered prayers seldom come in the form that we expect.   

Oh God, it is in giving that we truly learn to live.  It is in smiling that we radiate our joy and confidence.  It is through fellowship that we learn about each other.  It is by helping that we invest ourselves in others, and it is through all such experiences that we learn who we have the potential to become. Bless us as we continue our ministry together.  We ask these things through the spirit of Jesus, the Christ, who taught his disciples to say when they prayed . . .