Sermon preached on Sunday, September 26, 2010 at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church, Lewis Center, OH. If you would like to listen to the audio version of this sermon, usually somewhat different from the text below, click here.

Lectionary texts: Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15; Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16; 1 Timothy 6:6-19; Luke 16:19-31.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

What is the Human Condition?

Good morning, St. Andrew’s! In today’s Epistle lesson, the Apostle Paul exhorts us to fight the good fight of the faith, to take hold of the eternal life. But then Paul apparently proceeds to emphasize doing good works. He tells us that we “are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for [ourselves] the treasure of a good foundation for the future.” So which is it, Paul? Are we saved by grace through faith or by our good works? I am glad you have asked this question because it will allow me to continue with this sermon I have prepared. Otherwise I would have to finish now and sit down, and I know you would feel cheated if I did that.

The answer to the question, of course, is that we are saved by grace through faith. What we sometimes fail to realize is that faith will always reveal itself in what we do (or don’t do). In the first place, faith is not merely an intellectual exercise. It is primarily that which connects our thought with our behavior, and faith is invariably an active principle. As James reminds us, faith without works is dead (James 2:17). Second, although faith is a spiritual grace, it will influence our conduct in secular affairs. It is not isolated to our religious activities but reveals itself in our entire life. Last, faith in God will result in obedience to his will. When we have faith in someone or something, we trust that person or thing and will more often than not do what the person or thing demands of us. For example, if we have faith that our family doctor can heal us, we will usually follow his or her instructions and take our medicine because we trust that in doing so we will get well. This morning I want to look at two examples of faith revealed in action, one a negative and the other a positive, to help us see in who or what we are putting our faith.

In Jesus’ parable about Lazarus and Dives (pronounced DIE-veez), the name traditionally attributed to the rich man in the parable, we see a negative example of misplaced faith in material wealth. Sadly, the rich man serves as a case study for what Paul talks about in our Epistle lesson this morning when he warns us to shun wealth because love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. In the rich man’s case, it resulted in him having perverted priorities. It caused him to be so selfish and self-centered that he either consciously ignored or simply was not aware of a desperately poor and crippled man who lay at his own gate. Because the rich man had put his faith in and focus on money, and the lifestyle it allowed him to enjoy, he failed to notice the human suffering and desperate need that was right under his nose. The proximity of Lazarus alerts us to the fact that the rich man should have been reasonably aware of human suffering that was occurring, but he failed to act to help another in desperate need.

In other words, he failed to show love and compassion toward another because love always seeks the best for the beloved. After all, even after the Fall, God provided clothing for Adam and Eve. Their sin resulted in their expulsion from paradise but God in his great love and mercy toward his wayward creatures provided for their basic needs (see Genesis 3). As a result, when the rich man died, he found himself separated from the true Source of life and happiness, and apparently without hope of ever changing his situation. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. In this case it resulted in human need being ignored and in the destruction of one who could have acted in love to alleviate that need.

We need to pay close attention to what Jesus is telling us in this parable. Nowhere do we see Jesus condemn wealth. Neither does Paul in today’s Epistle lesson. In fact, he urges those who are rich in this present age to use their wealth to help those who are in need, and we all know of examples of philanthropists, many of whom were Christians, who have used their massive wealth to do just that. No, being rich was not the rich man’s problem. The rich man found himself separated from God precisely because he chose to put his hope and trust in another god in this life. He chose to put his faith in money and what it could buy him. As a result, he became self-absorbed and failed to use his wealth to help the plight of one in need. Instead, he chose to use his wealth almost exclusively on himself. In other words, the rich man’s faith in what money could do for him led him to pursue a certain lifestyle and controlled what he chose to do (and not do) with his wealth. He treated himself and failed to love his neighbor. Had the rich man put his faith in God, he would have obeyed God’s will as expressed through Moses and the prophets as Jesus obliquely suggested in the parable (read some examples from Moses: Exodus 2:17; 22:22, 25; 32:32; Leviticus 19:10; 25:25–47; Deuteronomy 10:18; 14:29; 15:4; 16:11, 14; etc., and the Prophets: Isaiah 14:32; 25:4; 29:19; 57:15; Daniel 4:27; Amos 2:6-7; 4:1; 5:11-12; Jonah 4:11; Micah 6:8; Zephaniah 3:12; Zechariah 7:10-11; etc.).

And we do not have to look very far in today’s world to see that things have not changed much since Jesus’ time. Just this past week the state of Virginia executed its first woman in nearly 100 years because she had hired two men to murder her husband and stepson so that she could collect her husband’s life insurance policy of $250,000. And the former bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, warned that much of the money going to relieve the terrible suffering in Pakistan that has resulted from massive flooding will likely not get to the people it is supposed to help, in part because of corruption and theft. Certainly we all either know someone or have heard about those who have become rich and famous, and as a result have developed an exaggerated sense of self-worth that causes them to look down their noses at those who have less than they do. Their bloated sense of self-worth is defined by the size of their bank accounts and they act accordingly toward others who have less than they do. No wonder Paul warned us that money is a root of all kinds of evil because faith in it often leads to a selfishness that blinds us to the obvious needs of others.

Where is God’s Grace?

On the other hand, we see a positive example of faith in the story of Jeremiah from this morning’s OT lesson. Instead of putting his ultimate faith in money or power or prestige, Jeremiah chose to put his ultimate faith and trust in God, albeit sometimes quite reluctantly. He found himself imprisoned because he had been faithful to God’s call to him as a prophet. He had the unmitigated nerve to call for Judah’s surrender to the Babylonians because God had commanded him to do so. Can you imagine the public reaction to someone today who claimed to be a prophet and called on the U.S. to surrender to Al-Qaeda or to the Soviet Union 50 years ago? Jeremiah’s obedience to God would have been every bit as difficult, if not more so, given that the people of Judah saw themselves as being privileged because they were God’s called-out people. They could not conceive of the possibility that they would be defeated by a pagan enemy and end up in exile.

Now in today’s story, and again at God’s direction, Jeremiah buys a piece of land from his cousin, even as the Babylonians are laying siege to Jerusalem, about to destroy it. It is a laughable situation and no one in their right mind would be thinking about buying property under those circumstances. But God tells Jeremiah to do just that and when his cousin comes to him and asks Jeremiah to buy his field, God’s word is to confirmed to Jeremiah by the events that have just unfolded. Apparently God’s word was a bit too much for even Jeremiah to believe!

But this is where we must pay close attention to the story, for here we see Jeremiah reveal his faith in his actions. Jeremiah manifested his faith in God in the secular arena. He didn’t confine it to things “religious” or “churchy.” In the midst of utter darkness, chaos, and despair Jeremiah showed his hope and trust in God by buying property, a tangible sign that showed he believed God’s promise to ultimately redeem his people. This would not have been an easy thing to do and I am sure it looked really weird to Jeremiah’s contemporaries. It looks really weird to us over 2500 years later!

Where is the Application?

But this is what it means to have faith in God’s promises to restore and redeem. It means we know and trust God so much that we are willing to risk being considered weird by those around us, especially those who have no relationship with the living God. That is why Paul tells Timothy (and us) in today’s Epistle lesson to “fight the good fight of the faith.” Living out our faith in God, especially during the darkest moments in our life, is a hard thing to do because it often calls us to be countercultural, which is never really a popular thing, despite what we sometimes hear. People really don’t want us to be countercultural because that means we are going to be stirring the pot more often than not, just the way Jeremiah and Paul and all the great saints did. It means that we will have the audacity to challenge conventional wisdom, especially when we see it leading to the exploitation of the weakest and most helpless. It means to love and pray for our enemies, especially the most heinous of them. It means that we will use our wealth to help those in need and not to seek our own aggrandizement. It means we will not insist on having our own way all the time or try to get to the top of the hill by trampling down others or using dishonest means to get there. It means we are able to speak the truth in love to others and really seek their best interests, especially when we do not like them! All of this will really make us popular, won’t it?—NOT!

Given all this, why would any sane person ever want to put his or her ultimate hope and trust in God and behave in ways that will more often than not leave others shaking their heads at us in ways that we will often find unpleasant? In the first place, we wouldn’t do so unless we have a relationship with God and know him to be utterly trustworthy and true to his promises. We know he is trustworthy and true, in part, because we remember the stories of God’s people. We remember the story of Moses, David, Esther, Paul, and countless others. We remember that each of these folks faced at least one gigantic crisis in their lives that threatened to undo their faith and them, but that they persevered and found that God was indeed true to his promises to them.

Second, and related to the first point, as we work on our relationship with God, we experience the fruit of his Spirit in our lives—love, joy peace, patience, gentleness, etc.—that helps us transcend our own crises, providing us further evidence that God is trustworthy and true to his promises. This doesn’t come easily or even naturally, but it comes sooner or later if we have Christ living in us. Christ living in us also reminds us of the inexpressible gift he has given us in his death and resurrection, a gift that has ended our alienation from God and allows us to have a relationship with him here and now as well as after our bodies die. This typically evokes a profound sense of gratitude and humility in us and causes us to want to please God by loving our neighbors wherever and whenever we can. We don’t do this because we think it will earn our salvation but because we are in love with the One who has given us a gift we didn’t deserve and can never repay.

Third, our relationship with God eventually reminds us that life is not about mortal or physical existence. It is not about comfort or power or success, but rather it is about having a relationship with the Source and Author of all life. When we begin to see life from an eternal perspective instead of a temporal one, we begin to understand that not even death can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:31-39). When we finally get this (to the extent that this is entirely possible in this life), we are willing (and sometimes even eager) to show our faith in our actions because suddenly having human approval or possessing great wealth becomes quite unimportant to us. Instead, we seek only God’s approval and to grow in our relationship with him. We remember that no one or nothing can raise us from the dead or give us life except God and we act accordingly. Do you have this kind of peace and purpose in your life? If not, what are you waiting for? It is yours for the asking!

Summary

Faith always expresses itself in action and I would like to close by telling you the postscript to the story of Jeremiah. He eventually was taken to Egypt, never to return to his beloved Judah. In fact, tradition has it that he was stoned to death by his own people in exile there. So was his purchase of land all for naught? Was God really a liar? How we answer these questions will depend on where we put our ultimate faith, hope, and trust. If we put our ultimate faith in the things and standards of this world the way Dives did, then we must answer yes, his purchase was for naught. Jeremiah was a fool who acted foolishly because he never ultimately received his rightful benefits from his purchase. Judah’s exile ended, but Jeremiah’s didn’t.

But if we put our faith in the One who loves us and gave himself for us the way Jeremiah did, we know better. We know that things of this world will pass away. We know that nothing in this world can raise us from the dead or give us life forever. We know that only God has the power to sustain us through all the difficulties, chaos, and darkness in this life. And we know that even now Jeremiah is enjoying his new life in God, that his mortal difficulties no longer matter.

How do we know that? Because we have Christ’s Spirit living in us and sustaining us, allowing us to transcend all that threatens to bring us down. Christ in us reminds us of his manifold blessings and encourages us to develop an eternal perspective of life in which we see it as having a relationship with the Living God instead of measuring success according to the standards of this world. Christ’s Spirit in us helps us experience joy and peace and to develop a sense of real purpose and meaning in our lives that can only come about when he helps us to love God and neighbor and live our lives accordingly. And as we learn to listen and submit to the Spirit’s Presence in us, we realize that we really do have Good News, now and for all eternity.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.