"You Are Expected" -- Sermon from 5 September 2010

Text:  Luke 14:25-35 & John 15:1-17
Title:  “You Are Accepted Expected”

A little introduction here…

Paul Tillich is considered one of the premier Christian thinkers and philosophers of the 20th Century.  He taught theology and philosophy in Germany and came to the US in 1933--which seems like it would have been a pretty good time to get out of Germany.  He taught at Union Theological Seminary in New York and then at Harvard and wrote lots of books.  He also wrote a lot of sermons.   I had to study one of them when I was in seminary back in the early 90s.  It was called “You Are Accepted.”

In “You Are Accepted” Tillich was trying to get at an understanding of grace for mid-20th Century Christians and non-Christians.  Paul, not “Tillich” but “Apostle Paul” wrote in his letter to the Romans (5:20), “Moreover the law entered, that offense might abound.  But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”  As the old hymn sings…grace that is greater than all our sin.

What does this mean… “sin” and “grace?”   Are they viable words today or have they lost so much of their meaning over the years that we need to have new connotations for them completely?  No, we didn’t need to get rid of the words, Tillich offered, but we did need to come to a new understanding of them.  At heart, I believe he wanted to get at the amazing-ness of grace…that it is bigger than our sin, it’s before all that we do, and is there for us.

He wrote in Shaking the Foundations about the grace of the conversion experience:

Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying: "You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!" If that happens to us, we experience grace.

“Accept that you are accepted.”


It’s really not that much different than when we talk about grace being like a present you need to open up.  God gives you a present, his salvation paid for by his death on the cross.  And, as a sinner in need of redeeming, all we have to do is take the present, receive it…accept it.  Grace!

And it’s not that far off from something that I’ve said many times… “There’s nothing you can do that will make God love you any more.   There is nothing you can do that will make God love you any less.”    You are accepted.  Grace!

But, 20 years ago, I had some trouble with Tillich’s sermon…not that either then or now I could go toe to toe with such an intellectual heavyweight.  Turning grace into acceptance was, I thought (and I still think) missing something.  Grace is cool.  Don’t get me wrong.  It's God's free gift.  It’s AMAZING.   After all, that’s what the song says, doesn’t it?  But I really don’t want to turn grace into inoffensive pablum.   I don’t want it to be toothless.  I don’t think Jesus was crucified because the gospel was a toothless inoffensive pablum.  No, he was crucified because it wasn’t.  Defining it as merely "acceptance" seems to miss out on the response that is asked for from those of us who have received this grace.

Grace may be free, but it isn’t cheap.

Cheap grace is what someone once called “SLOPPY AGAPE.”  It’s love without all the difficult and hard things that love entails.  Grace is and always will be God’s free gift to us, but following God comes with a cost.  There is a COST TO DISCIPLESHIP.

Luke’s Gospel expresses this directly.  Jesus is speaking to a large crowd which is traveling along with him.  He’s saying cool things.  He’s doing cool things and people are attracted to this.  But Jesus knows there’s more to this than good teaching and a few healings.  He knows that there will be precious few who will follow him when the going gets tough as they near the cross.  He tells them that they need to, in vivid hyperbole, HATE their family and go against their wishes if they’re going to follow.  Later he says they need to give up possessions.  But the heart of it...the heart of this passage...I think, is that middle section of what we read:

Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.  For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it?

You need to count the cost.

There’s going to be a cost.

It’s like that great cartoon…my favorite Christian cartoon ever…that had a picture of a man lying prostrate on the ground, gripping into the earth with all the strength of his fingers, fighting as he is pulled backwards to a cross in the distance.  The caption below read, “Jim has decided to follow Jesus.”

(NOTE:  I have looked and looked and looked for this cartoon and can't find it anywhere.  If anyone knows where a picture of it might be online, let me know.)

There is a cost.

But…in the age of “YOU ARE ACCEPTED” we don’t ask much of persons.  We have a nice cozy Jesus who’s not too demanding.  Sure, a tithe is 10% of your income but we’re just happy you’re here.  Sure, we want to say that the Bible is important but it doesn’t really matter if read it or not.  Yes we think ridding the world of poverty and oppression is in line with our Savior who came to preach good news to the poor and release to the captives, but it’s more of a suggestion than a command.  Instead of picking up your cross how about you just wear one or sit in front of one for an hour a week.

You are accepted.  We set the bar low for expectations.  And that’s what we get.

You are ACCEPTED.  Not much is EXPECTED.

United Methodists are not immune…at all…to wishy-washiness of faith.  Even, of all people, Jon Stewart, late night host of the Daily Show, out of the blue offered up a critique.

A couple of weeks ago Ms. Chelsea Clinton married Mr. Marc Mezvinsky.  You may have heard about it.  I saw some clips online of the news stations trying to cover it and only reporting on how many cars were driving down the street.  Mr. Mezvinsky is Jewish.  Chelsea is United Methodist (as is as are the Bushes).  Jon Stewart, who is both Jewish and a comedian, satirized the wedding later that week.  He noted that the wedding had both Jewish and Christian elements.  The groom for instance, wore a formal prayer shawl and a yarmulke and had a traditional Jewish marriage certificate.  And Chelsea did Methodist things…meaning…there was a minister in attendance.  That's the only "Methodist" thing about the ceremony.  Jon Stewart then said the following:

Man, being a Methodist is easy.  It’s like the University of Phoenix of religions.  You send them 50 bucks and click “I AGREE” and you’re saved

Well…no.  And in fairness to Methodists around the world, the same could be said about many churches and denominations, both big and small, around the nation.

You are accepted.  That's a great part of our faith.  However...something is expected of you.
Remember Jesus’ famous words in John 15:

‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower.  He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.  You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.  Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.  I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.

We are to bear fruit.  Our lives are to be different.  We are to are to be about discipleship.  We are to follow the one we call Savior and Lord.  We are to take up our cross and follow him.  We are to recognize that there is a cost that comes with this whole following Jesus thing.  We are to grow.  We are supposed to change.  We are to mature.  We are to experience a transformation.  And if there is no growth then we…then we…well…we’ve cheapened grace.

When a little kid comes home with an egg carton full of dirt from kindergarten and a note from the teacher that seeds were planted in class today and all you have to do is water it and put it in the sunlight and little bean plants are going to spring up…you, as parent, are going to make very sure that there is some growth there.  You don’t want to have a disappointed little kid on your hands.  You want to see the look on their face when a little green shoot comes out and leaf begins to form.  You expect some change.

Well, the same goes for us.  God expects some change in us.  We don't want to have a disappointed God.

I have been doing a lot of blog posts and it has been expanding the amount of Christian web sites I go to on a weekly basis.  And I’ve been finding a lot that has rocked my world.  This week I found a website for Soul City Church in Chicago.  They’re just starting up.  When looking at their VALUES, I found the following under “TRANFORMATION” that caught my attention and led to today’s sermon title

At Soul City church everyone is accepted, but everyone is expected.  We believe that God created us to transform and through the power of the gospel God changes every element of our lives from the inside out.  We believe that as we are transformed into our true identity we experience freedom that liberates us to love our community in a way that promotes peace and health that can bring transformation to our neighborhoods, city, and the world.

And they quote from Ephesians 4:24:

“You must display a new nature because you are a new person,
created in God’s likeness-righteous, holy and true.”

I love that first sentence of that section…"everyone is accepted, but everyone is expected."
 
We don't expect much from most folks...even ourselves.  That's a great reminder there. 

You know, I’m a master at using vague generalities in my sermons.  Most preachers are.  We talk of Jesus and God and faith and discipleship and speak in such innocuous ways that there’s no challenge there.

It is good to follow Jesus.  Amen?

It is good to read your Bible.  Amen?

It is good to be nice to people.  Amen?

It is good to love Jesus with your heart.  Amen?

It is good to lead your family in Godly ways.  Amen?

It is good to go to a Christian study of your choosing.  Amen?

There’s not much cost to any of this.

But what about the specifics?  What about the nitty-gritty of faith?  What about an actual challenge to grow in our spiritual lives?  What about that?

There’s a reason why this sermon is being preached here today…on this Sunday.  We are at the start of a school year, which, in many ways is the start of church year, and is one of the major ways people keep time in our society.  It’s a day of new beginnings, as a great hymn says.  It’s a day to look ahead and count the cost of discipleship, thanking God that we ARE ACCEPTED by his great grace, but to hear that more is expected of us.  You have some opportunities to follow Jesus…perhaps more closely than you did last year.

We have a New Worship and Sunday School series kicking off next week.  This is going to tackle some of the difficult world issues out there and hear stories from those who are out there tackling it.

Says the website for our material for this study:

A World in crisis... besieged by Poverty, Pandemic Diseases, Social Injustice, Racism, Inequality and Political Oppression…

What impact could 77 million American Christians have on these problems? How different would our world be if the Church of Jesus Christ became the strongest voice on these issues? Why don’t more Christians get personally involved?

How about you?  You can invite your unchurched friends to show them that we’re not afraid to get our hands dirty in some big issues in the world…that Jesus has a word to say about this.  Specific enough?
We’re going to have an 8 week Disciple Bible Study starting up in a few weeks, hoping to find the perfect, yet always elusive time.  I was hoping for a 34-week study but it’s hard to do with 2 other persons expressing interest.  Could you do 8 weeks?

Financial Peace University will be starting up in a couple of Mondays.  We’ll do it through Community Schools to try to attract more folks so that more folks can hear how they can make peace with their money.  Are you ready for this?

Sunday School.  We need teachers.  I can’t teach this and the adult class.  Physically impossible.  I know who the usual suspects of teachers are. What about you?

Youth.  I know you’re too big for little kids Sunday School unless we enlist you as a helper.  But you’re not too big for Jesus and discipleship.  Parents take some leadership here.  Help us with the positive discipleship of your kids.

And others…    We’re going to need folks to step up in leadership around here.  We need warm bodies for the committee rosters and we need people actually serving on these committees to help this place be in ministry and mission in the world.

We need people to ask… “What can I do to help the building process along?”   “How much more should I give?”  “What can I offer”    We need people to look at this community we’re in and ask where it is that we, collectively or individually, can be the hands and feet of Jesus.  Where is our cross that we can pick up and follow?

During the next sermon series I’m hoping…hoping…to have a take home component so you and your family can pray for the issues at hand.  Will you?

God is good.  Jesus Christ accepts you and me.  But how much can he expect from us?

You are accepted.  And you are expected.

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