The Scripture Readings
- Old Testament Lesson – Proverbs 24:7-12
- Epistle Lesson – Ephesians 4:17-24
- Gospel Lesson – Matthew 22:15-22
When I last had the honor of speaking to you from this pulpit, I asked the question, “Are you a dead stick?” The message centered on what it takes to be a growing Christian. My point was that you need new life through being saved, you need living water that comes through knowing Jesus, you need an insatiable appetite for the word of God, and you need time to grow.
You know, I just summed up a 20 minute sermon in about twelve seconds. I guess I could have saved all of you a lot of time last April if I had just done that to begin with. Anybody hoping that I’ll do that for today’s sermon? Sorry, not happening.
This is going to be a l o n g one.
In the movie Gladiator, Russell Crowe plays a Roman general named Maximus who is forced from his high position into a life as a slave who becomes a gladiator. In his first performance at the coliseum, he and his fellow slaves beat the best team of gladiators in Rome. Afterward, the emperor, Commodus, goes down to the floor of the coliseum and asks the victorious gladiator “…Tell us all your real name.”
He doesn’t tell the emperor his name, he simply says, “My name is Gladiator.” Now Maximus is in an arena with dead bodies and blood all around and he is the last man standing; obviously, he’s a gladiator. His answer means that he is what he does. And my first point this morning is so are we. We are what we do – especially when nobody is watching.
If our Lord and master came down to the floor of this church right now and asked us our name, could we be like Maximus and respond confidently, “My name is Christian?” Well, sure, we’re here in a church, it’s Sunday morning, we’re dressed up, we’ve got our bibles, the candles are burning – obviously our name is Christian. But what if God asked us later this afternoon while we’re watching the Browns – Redskins game? What if he asked us when we’re at work dealing with a difficult co-worker? Or when we’re driving and somebody cuts us off? Would it still be as obvious? The question that pops into my mind is one I heard a long time ago,
“If you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”
I’m going to put those questions aside for now and take a look at our reading from Proverbs which tells about those who don’t walk like people of God. Maybe we can learn how to walk like people of God by observing those who don’t.
Most of Proverbs is a contrast between the wicked and the upright. Verse 11 says, “Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.” This verse is not a prayer for God to deliver them or hold them back. This is an exhortation to the reader to do something. People who don’t know the Lord and don’t walk in His way are stumbling toward the slaughter. In this verse, God is calling on the upright to hold back these folks from the slaughter. What slaughter? The slaughter is God’s righteous judgment and wrath at the end of days. How do we do that? How do we hold them back?
The answer to that question may be much closer than you think. There’s a very old block of stone not far from here that has some words carved in it. Almost everyone here today has seen it; some of you probably looked at it this morning. The answer to how we keep them from God’s wrath is written on that stone. It reads,
“Mt. Zwingli Evangelical & Reformed 1859”
The word that is the answer to this question is Evangelical. The original meaning of that word meant to bring good news. We are to share the gospel with everyone, especially those who are stumbling toward the slaughter.
Evangelism used to be a part of our name here at Mt. Zwingli. And we, as a church, are still deeply involved in evangelism in many different forms. Some are very direct and some probably aren’t direct enough. Last week Pastor Keith said that we need to take care of people’s needs first, and that is true. But we must not do so at the cost of withholding the gospel of Christ, or the people we help may be moving toward God’s judgment well fed and well clothed by people who never bothered to share the good news of God’s grace.
God also warns us against failing to do this right here in Proverbs. It’s almost like He knows that we might try to make an excuse for not knowing that something like this might happen. Verse 12 reads, “If you say, “Surely we did not know this,” Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?” To me, this says that God knows our motives. We can’t plead ignorance because it has been made plain here in the Bible. It may not be comfortable for us, but it is our duty to share the gospel; maybe especially when it is uncomfortable. The scariest part of this is the last line, “…will He not render to each man according to his deeds?”
That is a question, and the writer of Proverbs often phrases things in questions whose answer is presumed to be ‘yes.’ This is a very common method of making a point that is found throughout the Old Testament. The ‘He’ is God and the answer is, “Yes, God will render, or return, to each man according to his deeds. So God’s rendering to each person according to his deeds has to do with judgment and, of course, punishment and reward. For we will all be judged by what we do, what we don’t do, what we say and what we think. And in the end, it will all be rendered or returned to us by God.
Our gospel reading today also has the word render in it. Now don’t get your hopes up because I’m on to the gospel already, I’m just getting warmed up. Our gospel reading today has the word render in it. The Greek word for render also has to do with returning something but it also gives a nuance of delivering or repaying something owed.
When talking about paying taxes to Caesar, remember that Jesus asked for a coin. It is interesting to note that Jesus didn’t take out his own coin – he asked for one from someone else. He probably didn’t have one. In Matthew 22, verses 20 and 21 it says, “And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s”
So what do we owe God? How about everything? Yeah. Everything about covers it. And what does God need from us? Nothing. That pretty much sums it up too. God needs nothing from us. But we are duty-bound, as is all humanity, Christian or not, to give, or render, to Him everything that belongs to him. And we, Christians, are further bound to follow the teachings of our Master and Savior, Jesus.
But how do we return physical things that we have, to a God that we can’t see or touch? What does He really want from us? Really. In John 14:15, Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
So how do we do this? How do we keep His commandments? How do we obey and walk like a Christian? That’s what the reading from Ephesians today is about. But first I want to tell you another story about a man’s name.
Alexander the Great rode into his army’s camp one day. And as he approached the center of the camp he saw an officer yelling at a foot soldier. He stopped and asked what the problem was. The officer told him the soldier had displayed cowardice in the last battle and refused to go into the fray. Alexander stopped his horse next to the kneeling soldier and asked, “Soldier, what is your name?”
The man didn’t answer; he just dropped his head to the ground. Alexander the great jumped off his horse and pulled the soldier to his feet. He asked again, “Soldier, what is your name?”
Finally the man barely whispered, “Alexander, sir.”
Alexander the Great, conqueror of the world, pushed him back to his knees and replied, “Soldier, either change your ways or change your name.”
God has been saying that to me for a while now, and to all of us this morning. I stand here today dressed fine as I can, all showered and shaved, as neat as I can be and I say to the Lord, “My name is Christian.” Jesus looks down at me and shakes His head, He knows better. He tells me with love, “My son, either change your ways or change your name.”
Somehow many people have the warped notion that we can live however we want to live and still call ourselves Christians. We can walk and talk the same way the rest of the world walks and talks and God is okay with that. My friends, God is not okay with that. We are called to be in the world, but not of the world. Romans 12:2 says, “…do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
This is all about making a commitment to walk with the Lord. It is about being the body of Christ in the world. It is about purity and control of our bodies, our minds and especially our mouths. Matthew 12:34 reads “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” If my words are foul, what kind of reflection is that of my heart? If I am the body of Christ on Earth and my actions are impure, how does that reflect upon Jesus?
Ephesians 4:17&18, “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God…”
The best example of the meaning of “darkened understanding” that I’ve heard lately is a joke from the comedian, Emo Philips who said,
“When I was a kid, I used to pray every night for a new bike. Then I realized that God doesn’t work that way. So I just stole one and asked Him to forgive me.”
That, my friends, is a darkened understanding of God. He turns obedience and sin around backward. Pastor John MacArthur has this to say on the subject,
“Satan drowns us in a sea of small sins… He has us laughing at sin on our televisions, in the movies and in our magazines. We hear sin put to music with catchy refrains that stick in our heads. We are entertained by sin and have thus become tolerant of it. Our conscience that once warned us of sin, is flabby and out of shape. Our warning system, our emotions, our thoughts, our “gut feelings” are corrupted and tolerant of sin.
All of this is an example of how easy it is to walk like the wicked walk, darkened in their understanding, ignorant, callous and selfish.
Wow. What a downer. Sorry. Let’s keep reading Ephesians 4.
Verses 20-24 continues, “But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which has been created in the likeness of God …”
Did you catch that imagery? Lay aside the old self, like you would lay aside a garment that is stained with sin. Put on the new self, like you would put on the robe of an angel. Walk no longer as the gentiles walk; in the futility of their minds.
So that’s it then. Just stop walking and talking like a heathen and start walking and talking like a saint? If I act like I’m good then God will accept me, right? Wrong. Dead wrong. Actions aren’t enough. Remember that the Pharisees obeyed all the laws to the letter and then some. They walked the religious walk but they were whitewashed tombs: beautiful on the outside, but dried up and dead on the inside.
It has to start on the inside. Listen closely; I’ll repeat that because it may be the most important thing I say this morning. The walking and talking of a Christian has to start on the inside or it is worthless.
I have one more story to tell you before I wrap up this introduction and begin my sermon. Remember that Jesus said in Matthew 18:3, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
I never really understood what that meant, to become like a child to enter the kingdom. But I read a book recently that helped me to understand it better. Surprisingly, it was a book by a baseball player, Paul Byrd, who until a few months ago pitched for the Cleveland Indians. He is now with the Boston Red Sox who just played in the American League Championship Series.
In 1998, Byrd was starting in a minor league game and there was a major league scout from the Florida Marlins in attendance. Byrd was informed by his pitching coach that if he pitched well enough, he’d be signed by the Marlins the next day. Minor league game often have gimmicks, and the gimmick at that night’s game was that the players were wearing old-time scratchy wool jerseys, baggy pants and socks pulled up to their knees. Byrd’s wife Kym and his young son Grayson watched him pitch the game from the front row.
That night, Byrd only lasted four innings. He gave up seven runs and walked five batters He went to the locker room and pulled down his high socks thinking that he must have looked like a clown out there with those baggy pants, pitching so poorly. He knew he had blown his chance at the big leagues and looked like a fool doing it.
When he arrived home after the game, his wife Kym met him at the door with a big smile on her face. Byrd writes,
“I want to show you something,” she said excitedly, “Follow me.”
And with those words she led me to the room where my son Grayson was sleeping. She pulled back the covers to encourage me in a way that no friend or holy man could ever impart to me through words. My son had gone through a dresser drawer, put on some dark socks, and pulled them up over his pajamas. He told her that he would not go to bed until he looked just like his daddy. He wanted to be me. He wanted to wear high socks.
When I looked down upon him that night with a lumpy throat and tears running down my cheeks, I experienced what it must feel like to God when we want to reflect our Father in a world of people that mostly point their finger at him for allowing pain in their daily games. But Grayson was a little me and he wanted to show it.
It must feel pretty good to Jesus when we want to be like him. But His holiness isn’t something to be chased after; it is something to be received. And it has to start with a deep child-like love for him. We don’t walk like Christians are supposed to walk, so that we will be accepted by Jesus. We walk like Him because we have already been accepted by Him; and we are filled with such love and joy that we refuse even to go to bed until we walk and talk just like him.
My name is Christian. Your name is Christian. We’ve got this book. Let us read it and learn it and live it; and help each other live up to that name above all names.
