THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT
Year C March 24, 2019
“So if you think you are standing,
watch out that you do not fall”
Balance is a funny thing… Imagine
walking a tightrope…If you don’t have any confidence, you may wobble and fall,
and yet if you are overly confident and don’t remember to respect the fine line
you are walking, you can easily fall off.
Working with kids means I get the
opportunity to witness human nature in a unique way. Some are just so dependable it is truly
amazing, and the parents of these kids are sometimes surprised to hear this…. Many kids do naughty things even when they
are actually pretty good kids and some….Well they are always looking for
trouble but will argue black and blue with you that they didn’t do that thing
that you just saw them do.
Are adults any different?
I often try to explain to the kids that
integrity means doing the right thing even when no one is looking to see you do
it. Many great kids, given the right
opportunity will do the wrong thing. We
should know, better than anyone that this is simply the story of human nature.
Our Scripture passage from
Corinthians warns us to watch out when we think we are standing. Adults pretty much always think they are
standing, and most of the time we think our ways are right. We think we are strong and beyond the
naughtiness of children. Like Children,
we need to be open to correction and realize how frail we are.
There was an international Bible
speaker who had a terminal illness at the time I heard him speak and he had a
way of cutting to the chase and saying things straight. I remember him saying, “Don’t think that just
because you’ve been a Christian for many years that you can’t be just as easily
led to sin as anyone.”
Time after time we have seen the
great Evangelists fall and we kind of go… “ah yep…. Phony!” No… no phony…. I’m betting that there was originally
genuine evangelical determination to be the best that they could, however pride
somehow snuck in and just when they felt secure, and probably without them even
recognizing the consequence, they fell.
Saint Paul tells the Corinthians that
all the Israelites were baptized into Moses and ate the same spiritual food…. But
some of them fell too. What he is trying
to get through to the Corinthians, is that these were the very people who
witnessed the signs and wonders in Egypt. These are the people walked through
the parted sea. These people were led
through the desert by a miraculous cloud - the very presence of God. After all this, these same people then made
an Idol from their combined jewellery and worshiped it. They seem ridiculous to us, that they could
witness God in this way and still fall, but we don’t understand their culture
and their ways. And if we dismiss them
as being ridiculous and primitive in their understanding, we do not comprehend
how easy it is to fall. Their story is here
to serve as a warning for us that no matter the magnitude and intensity of your
spiritual experience, if you think you are standing, watch that you do not
fall.
But why do we fall?
The areas where people fall into sin
are in those same temptations that Jesus faced in the desert. The first temptation is the inner desire and hunger for things… more
bread, more finance, more security. And
you might recall, our first reading asks us, “why spend your money on what is
not bread?”
The second temptation is about the lust of the eye….Things we see and then
we want them… All that Jesus could see was offered to him in return for his allegiance.
I notice that when I look through a catalogue I see things I want that I never dreamed
I wanted until I saw them… Of course
none of these things is actually sinful until they cross a line… but where is
that line?
The third temptation is about pride and ego and relates to what we’ve just spoken about with feeling so
secure in our relationship with God that we assume spiritual superiority. Jesus
was told, “Throw yourself down and you will not fall…” I wonder how many of
those Evangelists were convinced, with all the good they were achieving for God’s
kingdom, they could leap and not fall.
Also note that to be secure in our relationship with God and know that
he will catch us is a good thing – but there is a line we can cross, where it becomes
pride instead of faith.
As we hear of the scandals of others and
make our judgements about how all these things happen, we need to hear the
response of Jesus when he was told about the Galileans whose blood Pilate mixed
with their sacrifices. Assumptions were
made and conclusions drawn about the sinful state of those Galileans. Jesus surprisingly assures them that their
conclusions are incorrect.
You’ve heard the saying, “there but
for the Grace of God go I”. We really need
to realize it.
There are Church people fervently praying
for the community, but never being part of it.
It is safe and smart to keep ourselves separate from the possible
negative influence of the secular community, but how can we be the salt of the
earth that God called us to be if we don’t allow ourselves to be part of that
secular world?
The great commission was to go into
all the world, but some denominations more than others believe that we need to
stay completely separate. It is true
that it can be risky and we can become absorbed by the secular, yet how can we
fulfil God’s mission if we remain behind church walls, looking at the world
through stained glass windows?
Alternatively, I know of some
Christians in the community whose Christian witness is a tragedy, charging more
than what is fair and operating businesses without integrity.
Two points about this; If we could
begin to see less divide between the sacred and secular and understand that all
the earth belongs to God perhaps we can hold all things as sacred. Secondly, there but for the grace of God go I.
When some of the Street Chaplaincy
group meet for mid-week prayer we pray for the Christians in the community and
we pray for their Christian witness. I
get rather up-set when I see Christians in the secular world doing things that
they wouldn’t do in their church world, but I understand their desire to be
accepted. I don’t go into that world
advertising my Christianity, but somehow most of them figure it out pretty
quickly. But I need to remember that I
can fall just as easily as any, so how do I keep the balance and how can we all
keep the balance?
The answer is both in our Gospel and
Old Testament reading. Jesus tells a
parable about a fig tree that is not fruitful.
Our Old Testament reading from Isaiah urges us to come to the water all
who thirst and asks us why we labour for things that can’t satisfy.
There is a gardener who intercedes
for the fig tree and explains that he will dig around the roots of the tree and
fertilize it.
When I was a school student,
computers were just coming into use and we learnt some of the basic language. There was a term GIGO… Garbage in, garbage out. A computer works on a binary system and is
completely logical, therefore the output was determined by the input.
We are the same – another saying; “you
are what you eat”…. All the influences to
which we subject ourselves, become who part of who we are. Just think for a moment about your daily,
weekly influences. Being part of this
world means we are going to have some negative influences…. But don’t be afraid
of them, we are after all, called to go into all the world, … simply be
deliberate with your gardening of yourself and ensure that you deliberately
invest in that which can make you a fruitful fig tree.
Why labour for that which doesn’t
satisfy?
Our temptations are tempting because
we have a desire for something. Isaiah
tells us that these things can’t satisfy us.
They seem to satisfy for a while, but ultimately leave us empty. When we come to God, to the living water, we
find that what we have is enough…. And what we have in him is far more
satisfying.
A few weeks ago when I looked at the
reading of Jesus’ temptation in the desert I noticed that it was an attack on
Jesus’ identity….. “If you are the son of God….” Emphasis on “If”.
I talked about our identity in Christ
and how it is a sure thing and dependant on what Jesus has accomplished and not
anything we do. We can neither judge
another person’s standing with God depending on their actions either, because we all
fall.
Somewhere between these temptations
is the all-important understanding of who we are in our relationship with God.
You may have noticed that the
Evangelists did fall…. Even though our readings tell us that God
will provide a way out. It seems like
something isn’t quite right. What isn’t
quite right is our understanding of the way
out that God provides. Sometimes
that very public fall is God’s mercy in a big wake up call. The way out that God provides is the Grace
and finished sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and ultimately our
redemption. God’s love is sure and we
are told in the letter to the Romans 8:38 – 39 “For I am convinced that neither
death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future,
nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our
Lord. “
It doesn’t seem so logical to
us. Just like the computer system, we
notice that these people have fallen and we expect that God would cut that
unfruitful tree down. It is only logical.
But Isaiah says, “let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous
their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, (not “turn” as if it is the first
time, but RETURN) that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will
abundantly pardon.”
Isaiah reminds us that God’s ways and
thoughts are far higher than ours. God’s
way of operating is beyond our understanding.
And Jesus tells us, leave it to me and I will dig around the roots and
fertilize it.
There is a saying…. Lead me not to
temptation, I already know the way. We
certainly do. A few years ago I wrote a
song called we can fly. The words beginning
from the second verse are; Lead me not to temptation; I know that road so well
- It is the place, where often I dwell
There in my heart I desire to live
life right and true - But then I stumble, and my confidence crumbles too.
It is a blessing disguised when I am
broken and down - That’s when grace comes and turns me around.
I can not earn His favour, yet I am
favoured it’s true - Just for believing in Him and His saving grace too.
Chorus -
No more need to climb, no more need
to cry.
We are lifted by His love to that
place on high
There’s a reason for singing, its the
gift that He’s bringing
Means that on the wings of His grace
We can fly.....We can fly........
Lent is a time to prepare for the resurrection. We remember the journey and focus on the sacrifice,
but we need to keep in mind that it was accomplished for sinners, because that
is what we all are. Understand that
those that fall are given the mercy and grace of God and if you think you are standing, stand in the confidence of God’s love
and grace and not in your own ability, because that ability is a mere
illusion…. There but for the grace of God go I.
If you think you are standing, stand in the
confidence of God’s Love and Grace… not in your own ability – watch that you do
not fall and show compassion and mercy to others.
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