I didn't go to church today: thoughts on the fourth sunday after epiphany
I didn't go to church today. We've been struggling with our current church, and with the knowledge that we will be moving in a little over a year--the challenge of finding another church feels overwhelming, yet we don't feel we are being fed God's word in purity right now. So we spent the day at home, and I spent the morning in my pajamas with a cup of coffee, reading the assigned scriptures for today and assembling my own thoughts. I'm not a pastor, not trained as a theologian, but I love the synergy I find in God's Word, the pure consistency of message and theme. While the assigned scripture readings are assigned by human beings, there is nearly always a theme which is apparent to me among and between them. So I wrote out a sermon for myself this morning, based on the readings and my thoughts.
Sermon thoughts: Fourth
Sunday after Epiphany
Scripture Readings:
“Put your money where your mouth is;” “Put up or shut up.” We have lots of phrases that mark the
importance of agreement between WORDS and ACTIONS. When there’s disconnect between the two, we’re
quick to cry “hypocrite!” and demand more alignment between words and
actions. Someone who is miserly with
money calling on others to be generous; a call for hard work and dedication
from someone lounging slothfully on the sidelines; a parent yelling “stop
yelling all the time!” While we despise
and are quick to call out hypocrisy, we also know that we are prone to it—our words
and our actions are very often very separate, confounded by our sinfulness and
weakness. It’s easier to say, harder to
do, what we know is right.
Our Old Testament lesson describes God’s promise to raise up
a prophet who will speak with authority.
God tells His people that He will give valid, true words to His
prophets; but that those who claim to prophecy in the name of other gods should
be put to death. Words matter to God,
too. Our text ends with verse 20, but if
we were to read further, we find God saying in verses 21-22 that if a prophet
proclaims a prophecy that then does not come true then the people should know “….that
is a message the Lord has not spoken…do not be afraid [of that prophet].” When
God speaks—through His prophets or through His inspired Word, in Scripture—there
is always alignment, there is always harmony.
God’s words are always consistent with His actions.
We find this truth present in our Psalm today as well; if we
look at the structure of the verses, they are composed to highlight the
consistency between God’s actions and his nature. For example, in verses 5 and 6, the psalmist
says “He provides food for those who fear Him; He remembers His covenant forever. He has shown His people the power of His
works, giving them the lands of other nations.”
God provides food because He is faithful to the covenant with His people;
God demonstrates His power by blessing His people with victory over other
nations. In verse 9, God’s provision of
redemption is how He demonstrates His faithfulness. God’s works align with His nature; He upholds
His promises; there is never a disconnect between what God says and what He
does, who He is. God “puts His money
where His mouth is.” If God had made a
promise of victory that resulted in defeat; if God had promised faithfulness
but instead abandoned His people, then we would have reason not to trust Him
and His promises but to doubt them. But
this is not the case; God’s words and actions are consistent.
The ultimate demonstration of God’s Words being consistent
with His actions is the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ—the physical embodiment
of God’s promised plan of redemption. As
the Psalm says “He provided redemption for His people, He ordained His covenant
forever—holy and awesome is His name.” Jesus Christ came to save us, to “provide
redemption” to fulfill God’s promise and to show beyond a doubt how “holy and
awesome is [God’s] name.”
In our Gospel reading, we find Jesus demonstrating
consistency between His words and His actions; He shows that His word has power
to produce results. The passage starts
with Jesus teaching in the synagogue, with the people “amazed at His teaching,
because He taught them as one who had authority…”. He taught with authority, not with the
second-hand-wisdom of other teachers and preachers of that day. But it was not only that the people sensed or
thought that Jesus taught with authority; He demonstrated His authority that
day. When the demon possessed man
entered the congregation of people, the demons cried out “I know who you are—the
Holy One of God!” Jesus responded to the
demons with authority, demanding that they be silent and leave the possessed man. Mark tells us in verse 26 that the evil
spirit shook the man violently and then left him with a shriek—the spirit had
power over the man, to make him shake and to cry out, but ultimately no power
to stand against the command of Jesus, God incarnate.
Jesus Christ came into the world to be God’s Word made Flesh—to
be God’s words put into actions. Those
actions included dominion over the demonic forces of Satan, and ultimately
included victory over sin, death and the power of the devil by way of His death
on the cross and His resurrection to glory.
There is no inconsistency in God, no shadow of turning in His
nature: He says and what He says
happens. God’s Word spoke the world into
being; His promises of protection and faithfulness were lived out to His people
in all of the Old Testament story; His Word made Flesh spoke with authority and
demonstrated authority over demons, sickness and death. God promised
reconciliation to Adam and Eve in Eden, and in Christ His promise was made
good.
What then can we say in response to this—as Romans 8 reminds
us—“If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all—how will He
not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” We know that our own lives are full of sin,
weakness and inconsistencies—we want to do good but fail miserably; sometimes
while we know we should want to do good, we really do not and instead revel in
feelings of greed, selfishness and pride.
We are a mess of sin and powerlessness, with words and actions
hopelessly at odds. We know that we are
hypocrites and sinners. But we also know
that in Christ, God will “graciously give us all things”—in Christ, we have
forgiveness; in Christ we are reconciled to God; in Christ, our hypocrisy and
weakness is forgiven. We will continue
to fail, but we can trust in the promises of God made real in the Word made
Flesh, Jesus Christ, the embodiment of God’s Word, perfect expression of His
divine will, His plan of redemption, His expression of love and mercy, His
fulfilled covenant and sign of His faithfulness.
Prayer: Heavenly
Father, there is no shadow of turning with You—You do not change and Your
compassions never fail. We praise Your faithfulness, the pure alignment between
Your Word, what you have promised and what You have done and continue to do for
us in Christ Jesus. We are lost and
confused in our sin; we know that we are hypocrites, constantly saying one
thing but doing another. Forgive us for
these sins for Jesus’ sake. Comfort us
with the knowledge that You have forgiven us because of Jesus Christ, because
He willingly suffered death to live out the reality of Your stated love for all
people. Bless us with Your Spirit to
live lives consistent with Your will and Your love of others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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