BE TRANSFORMED
Rev. Mark F. Bartels
Old Testament Lesson; Jeremiah 15:15-21
Gospel Lesson; Matthew 16:21-26
Sermon Text; Romans 12:1-8
Earlier this summer when someone in rural Minnesota went to their mailbox and it blew up, the police were baffled. But, soon thereafter, when someone in the state of Iowa, who lived in the country, opened up their mailbox and it blew up and then another mailbox blew up somewhere else, all of a sudden the police realized that they were on to a pattern. There was a pattern going on there.
So they began to examine the pattern. "Where were these explosions taking place? What were the materials being used to make the bombs? What would this person need to have access to? How sophisticated were these materials? What kind of education would the person need? Were the people where the explosions occurred, somehow connected to one another? Did these people know each other?" The police began to look for a pattern, so they could identify the person who was placing bombs into mailboxes.
Patterns help us identify people and things. We have patterns, right here inside the church. Look at the light colored horizontal wood and then the dark colored vertical wood. That is a pattern we see over and over, here at Holy Cross. It helps us identify Holy Cross. When we see this "V shape" that is on the pulpit, the lecterns and on our roofline, we recognize that as an identifying pattern at Holy Cross. Patterns help us identify things. And, we see them over, and over, and over again.
In today’s scripture reading the Bible talks about a pattern. It says,
"Do not conform
any longer to
the pattern of this world."
-the pattern of this world-
In other words, the scripture says that there is something in this sinful world that you find happening over, and over, and over again.
What is the pattern of this sinful world, that helps us identify the sinful world? St. Paul goes on in a few verses and tells us what the pattern of this sinful world is. He says,
"Do not
think of yourself
more highly
than you ought."
That is the pattern that we see over, and over, and over again in this sinful world. It is what we call the sin of pride. Sometimes pride is called the essential sin. Pride is, as our scripture reading today tells us, by nature competitive. It is by nature, a rivalry between you and someone else. Your sinful nature thinks of yourself highly. "I am superior. I am better." It is egocentric. It is self-centered. It is self-serving.
Pride is the basic pattern of this world. Pride is that essential sin. It is pride that comes straight from Hell. The essential sin that Lucifer, the devil, committed when he was a holy angel, was that in pride he wanted to rival the most superior being in the universe. And that superior being was God. In pride he fell.
When Adam and Eve fell into sin, what was their basic temptation? "You will be like God." They wanted to rival the most superior being in the universe, also. That is the sin of pride.
Thinking of yourself more highly than you ought is the pattern of this sinful world. Why is it that you and I, when we see someone who is "the life of the party", why do we go home with animosity in our heart toward that person? It is because we are completive by nature, by our sinful nature. We wish that we had been "the life of the party". We wish that we had been superior to that person. And, it bothers us. That is the essential pattern of this world.
Why is that when someone is wealthier than we are, or better looking than we are, or more intelligent than we are, that somehow we are jealous of that, and have bad feelings toward that person? It is because we wish to be superior. "I wish I were better looking. I wish I were wealthier. I wish I were more intelligent." We are competing with our fellow man.
Why is it that if we are good looking, or we are wealthy, or we are more intelligent than other people we are sometimes proud? Is it just because we are good looking, or are wealthy, or are intelligent? No. If everyone else had the same good looks, or the same wealth, or the same intelligence there wouldn’t be anything to be proud of. It is the fact that we feel superior. "I am better looking. I have more money. I am more intelligent." It is comparing yourself. It is competing. It is rivalry with someone else.
Pride can even take the form of what appears to be good. We may go around and talk to people about how busy are. Almost boasting about that busyness. But what is that? That is pride. "I am somehow superior, because I am busier than you are. I can carry more burdens than you can. That makes me feel good about myself. I am competing with you."
Or maybe pride can cause us to get rid of some lower vices. We look at someone and we say, "He is ill mannered. He is ill tempered. He is lustful. That is below my dignity. I don’t want to be like that. I want to be superior to that. I don’t want to be ill mannered. I don’t want to be ill tempered. I don’t want to be lustful." And, so we compare, compete, and rival other people.
Even in the church, we can find the sin of pride. We can come before God, bow before Him in a show of humility, as if we believe He is superior to us. But, then in our hearts we may turn to Him, and think, "God, certainly you will accept me. I am not like other people. I pray. I go to church. I am nice to others. I contribute." And, what is that doing? It is competition and rivalry with other people, assuming that God will accept me, because I am superior to someone else. That, Brothers and Sisters, is the sin of pride. That is the basic pattern of this sinful world. That basic pattern of this sinful world causes us to fall into every other kind of sin.
Jesus summarized the Ten Commandments this way. "Love the Lord your God with
all your heart,
all your soul,
all your mind, and
love your neighbor as yourself."
When in pride we consider ourselves superior to other people, we do not love our neighbor as our self, and we fall into all kinds of sin against the Ten Commandments. And, in our hearts, we even rival God. We think, "We are not going to do it God’s way, because our way is more important, right now." That is the sin of pride and it causes us to fall into all kinds of sin.
Brothers and Sisters, unfortunately you and I have to admit that in our sinful nature we have that sin of pride. And God, by every right, could look at us and say, "My Heaven is a place where there is no competition, where there is no rivalry, where people don’t see themselves superior to one another. And, if you think that in any way you have superiority over someone else, that you are better than someone else, then you have no right to be in my home Heaven, which is a place of perfect harmony."
Scripture makes it clear that we deserve God’s punishment, because of our sin of pride. If that bothers you, then Brothers and Sisters, let us look at what scripture says to us. Let us look at the very comforting words that scripture tells us. It gives us the great Good News, the message of the Gospel, the message of how that pride can be removed from us, in God’s eyes. In the book of Philippians, it tells us what God, Himself, did for us. This is a very profound passage, and I want you to think about this. It says,
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with
God something to be grasped
but made Himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled himself
and became obedient to death –
even death on a cross!"
Philippians 2:5-8
That is where we find our comfort. Because, what did Jesus do for us? It says, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature of God…"
If there is anyone who is vastly superior to us, it is Jesus Christ. He is vastly superior in wisdom, power and authority. And, He certainly could have come to this earth and made a full display of His vast superiority over us. He could have come as a giant, shining with all brilliance, causing the lightening to flash, the thunder to crash and the mountains to collapse, forcing us to bow down to Him in respect and honor.
But, Jesus did not come to show His superiority over us, or to rival us, which He certainly could have done. It says, "Who, being in very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant…" God did not, Jesus did not, want to display His superiority over us! He came for a different reason. He did not come to compete with us, but He came to be our servant! He came to look out for our needs.
Our needs!
Not His own needs.
God came and He thought of me!
God thought of me,
not himself!
He thought of me so highly that, even though I don’t deserve to be with Him, even though I am a sinner, He thought of me so highly that He came to take my place! God thought of me so highly that, even though I deserve to be condemned because of my sin, He took the shame, guilt and dirt of the sins that I have committed, and He put it on His own back.
He thought of me, first!
He went to the cross, and He became obedient to death, even the most shameful death that we can imagine, because God would not come to compete with us, or rival us, but to serve us and to put us first! He died on that cross and He paid for our sin.
Scripture tells us the Good News that because of what Jesus did, your sins will not be held against you. God forgives you freely and fully, and Heaven is open to you! It is wide open! God’s home in Heaven, that perfect home of harmony because of what Jesus did for you, is open to you!
Our scripture reading goes on and says, "In view of God’s mercy…be transformed." When I consider what Jesus has done for me, the mercy that He had for me and how He put my needs before His own, I want to be transformed. He thought of me so deeply, that He died on the cross. There is a home waiting for me, in Heaven. He purchased it for me, with His own blood, and that causes me to want to be transformed.
Our scripture reading goes on and explains what that transformation is all about. It means I am not going to follow that basic pattern of this world, anymore. Instead of being proud and competing with other people, considering myself superior to other people, I want to do what Jesus did for me. I want to consider them, more highly than I consider myself. I want to serve them, like Christ served me.
Look at what our reading says.
"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you:
Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought,
but rather think of yourself in sober judgment,
in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body
with many members,
and these members do not all have the same function,
so in Christ we who are many form one body,
and each member belongs to all the others."
Scripture there is setting us all on an equal plane. In the church, no one is superior to anyone else. In the church, there should be no competition between you and me. In the church, there should be no rivalry between one person and another, because we are all equal. We are all one in Christ. And I don’t care who you are. You could be the thief on the cross, or you could be St. Peter himself, neither one of those individuals had any more than the other. Oh, St. Peter may be more distinguished in his faith. But, the thief on the cross had just as much as St. Peter had. He had the full, free forgiveness of all his sins. And, because he held on to Christ, he had everything that Christ had to offer.
Now, certainly we all have the same, in Jesus Christ. There is no difference between us. We are one with each other.
The thief on the cross certainly wouldn’t envy St. Peter because he was more distinguished in his faith. He would be glad. But, he would also be glad that he held on to the same Jesus Christ. And, Peter would not look down on the thief on the cross, because his faith was weaker. He would be glad that he held on to the same Jesus Christ.
There should be no competition in the Holy Christian Church. In fact our scripture goes on and it tells us this. "We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion with his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully."
There it says that we all have different gifts. Scripture acknowledges that we are different from one another. There are some who are wealthier. There are some who are more intelligent. There are some who are more skilled with their hands. But that is only by grace that God has given us those gifts. It is not because we deserve it.
God has chosen to give each one of us different gifts, but that does not make us superior to one another. A Christian does not look at those gifts and say, "Well, God has given me such intelligence over my fellow Christians that it makes me better than them." No, the attitude of Christ is, "God has given me intelligence, maybe more than others, so I want to use that to serve my brothers and sisters. I want to look out for their heavenly needs. I want to work for them. I want to sacrifice for them."
So scripture says that if your gift is teaching, let him teach. Use the gift to teach, which God has given you, not in pride, not to compete with others, but to help your fellow Christians, building them up in their Christian faith. If God has given you wealth, your gift is giving, as scripture has talked about. Don’t see that as some sort of superiority, but rather a wonderful opportunity from God to use those gifts. Through the grace that He has given you, ask yourself, "How can I help my fellow Christians? How can I use this gift to serve my fellow Christians, who are united with me in the faith? How can I give generously as scripture says, so that with my gift of wealth, I can help my fellow Christians accomplish more for the Church?" If your gift is leadership the scripture tells us, (and there are certainly some who have more ability to administrate and work on boards and committees) that is no reason to be proud, and think that you have more power than other people. But rather, a Christian like Christ looks at that gift and says, "How can I use that gift to serve my brothers and sisters in Christ? I will not compete with them, but work together with them, and use my gift to work for them and The Holy Christian Church?"
Brothers and Sisters, by Christ we have been transformed. Paul urges us,
"Do not conform to the basic pattern of this world."
We are sorry for our sins of pride. We know that we are forgiven, by God’s mercy. So, let us go forward, transformed, eager to serve our fellow man, for the sake of Christ!
Amen.
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