An "Outnaugural Adress"

As delivered on February 4, 2009 as my last sermon on teaching staff at Melbourne Community Church

Our scripture tonight [James 4:3-5:20] reveals something about where we place our hope, whether it is temporal or eternal. The rich have their hope here and store it here, which leads them to work injustice. If this thought is a prelude, may it register as a reminder to we who live in this country that we are rich in comparison to the rest of the world. While we need not necessarily feel guilty, we should be mindful of where we place our trust and hope and especially how we treat those around us.

When I thought about teaching James, the first thing I realized was that obviously this was one of those thoughts rooted in the Spirit. It was so obvious because it was something I had often dreaded while reading the letter myself, many times vowing to avoid teaching it for as long as possible. It must be of God because I would never do it on my own. But here some of us are at any rate. We have gone over how Luther feels about James’ letter once a month since the summer of last year. We have learned to quit squirming about faith and works (just to review, read James 4:17 to get a gist) and become active in our faith We have spoken aloud the similarities between the teachings of James and the teachings of Christ himself and perhaps even investigated said similarities for ourselves in the text of the New Testament.

Now considering where the text leaves us this night, perhaps you think to yourselves that we will hear more woe-ing, that I mean to admonish some more injustice as per James’ harsh rhetoric. I assure you brothers and sisters, that this is not the case. Rather I wish to lift up one of those things that makes faith active in our lives though at times we may think it in short supply.

That is Hope.

As I was reading this text again and again to attempt to teach it, It always struck me that there are a lot of difficult instructions, especially when one notices that these instructions are meant to be taken together, in order that life may be lived together and that life together would be understood as how God would have us exist in His Kingdom before the consummation of all things-and after. A tall order for those among us who have trouble getting along with everyone all the time, which is to say, a tall order for everyone. Yet James knew when he wrote his letter that his instructions were certainly possible to follow, just as Jesus understood the possibility of living out the Sermon on the Mount. These thing are not impossible instructions meant only for the hereafter, nor are they meant necessarily to oppress. In fact the opposite is true on both counts. The Kingdom that Jesus inaugurated is to be lived here in the present, and its rule is that of justice; the Kingdom by its nature in Christ’s life, teaching, death, resurrection and return IS hope to all humanity. To add perspective, if even the vilest of sinners may be saved from hell by the blood of Christ, then there is certainly enough hope left over for us to be kind to one another.

Once again, we hope because the Kingdom is here; because of the life and work of Christ; because God did as promised and came to us in order to bring us to himself. In Christ, this is the reality that we live in, that God lived among us incarnate as man. This profound mystery of the kingdom, this Gospel, should always fill us with the hope of the first believers to hear the news. In their ears, they heard the call of the master to take away the oppression not just of their own sin, but the oppression of their present circumstance. They knew, as we should now that with the coming of Christ came the end of the old way and the dawn of the new. “Strength for the day and bright hope for tomorrow. These blessings all ours and ten thousand beside,” to borrow from a hymn. The master is still calling us to live in his rule just as those first followers heard all those years ago.

Perhaps in these hard times I am being unrealistic. Perhaps I am coming off as a cheer leader, perhaps this is a bit too much Pollyanna. My response is not Pollyanna: deal with it. For as Jesus always reminded those early followers: ours is not to worry, rather ours is to be waiting, working, ever hoping for his return. We indeed live in interesting times. We have new leadership in our country and for many, that is cause for concern. Abroad there are conflicts and rumors of conflict and for many that is cause for concern. There are new and strange ideas challenging old ones and for many that is cause for concern. It is true that the world is caught in its sin: violent, lustful, vain: false. It is true that the world is a place of inequity and oppression. Brothers and sisters, these are the things that are cause for concern. The injustice that stems from the sickness of sin are those things that put our hope into stark relief. And yet! We must always be aware to give an account of our hope, not only because we want to be good witnesses, but because we know deep down that he whom in which we put our hopes is he who is infinitely good and that is certainly worth sharing. Indeed the hope that we lean on surely does not end the suffering in the world (yet) but it gives us the willingness and ability to aid the suffering in our midst, even to the point where we follow in the example of our Savior by suffering in order that there are those that do not.

This outlandish hope should make no sense to the thoroughly rational man. While we have the benefit of 2 thousand years of Christian reflection to bolster our claims to rationality, let’s be honest with each other and admit that we, by all accounts probably seem pretty crazy. Mind, I speak not because of our peculiar beliefs but because what peculiar activities stem from those peculiar beliefs. It probably seemed pretty crazy for St. Francis to leave everything his father gave him behind to wander in poverty. It probably seemed pretty crazy to hear Brother Lawrence praising God whilst cleaning the dirtiest dishes. It probably seemed pretty crazy for Mother Theresa to live among the lepers and poor of India. It certainly seems crazy to think about telling people about the boundless love of God in a world that seems so easy to ignore in its sin. Or put another way, it seems crazy to be charitable in a time when it seems the most wise to conserve and save. I guess then, that we are crazy. For that hope which makes us alive in Christ, and that love of his for all of God’s children must necessarily activate us to live lives out of an ethic of hope. We simply do not have the luxury of worry or judgment. No, it is God who is concerned on our behalf and judges according to HIS perfect law. Instead we have the riches of charity and mercy to guide our hands, those things extolled by Jesus by his teachings, his life and the writing of his apostles.

That is not to say that our new/old ethic of hope is easy. As a friend of mine is fond of saying: where does it say that the Christian life is supposed to be easy? Certainly not the Bible! I will not even say that there is true consensus on what living life out of Christological hope looks like. One may only look at the phone book and see the number of churches in our city alone to see there are a number of opinions on the matter. One may look at the great volumeof wonderful (an not so wonderful) literature written on the subject. But, dear church, I have some advice if you’ll oblige me:

1) Don’t squash your optimists. They are not all as naïve as they seem.
2) Be not a bystander to works of good. Nor look upon good works as a duty but as a power granted to you out of grace. Exercise your power!
3) Do not fear your “radicals.” Listen to what they have to say and protect them with love and prayer.
4) Pray fervently that God would use you to be a bringer of the hope found in Christ to all that encounter you: individually and corporately.
5) Finally: be bound together in love and bear with each other. Work to build the kingdom together and be waiting together for Jesus’ next visit.

Brothers and sisters, I want to thank you for the years of care you have given me and my wife, and the opportunities this church body has afforded us. It has been an honor to teach and serve your young adults. It has been an honor to rouse your members into attempts at home construction and renovation. It has been an honor to welcome the young people of our community into your doors to enjoy affordable local concerts. It has truly been an honor warbling songs of praise with you as tonight. I thank you for letting me share with you these long months. I thank you for all of your many prayers. I hope our time together was as good and true to you as it was to me. In order hat we fully celebrate our time together I think it best that we break bread together as the church has done ever since it has been a church.

Benediction:
May the Lord Bless you and keep you
May He make his face o shine upon you
And give you peace.
Go in God’s grace,
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and The Holy Spirit.