In the Shadow of Death (What to Say About Good Friday?)

Why Do People Seem to Be Such a Mess?

This was a sermon delivered at Memorial United Methodist Church, January 8, 2012

Today we begin a worship series titled Questions for God.  I remember the bumper sticker that once said, “God said it, I believe it and that’s that”.  At first that sounds good; it shows a level of belief and trust.  It assumes, though, that true faith comes without questions or doubts; as if questions or doubts are a lack of faith.   Yet, looking closely, a “God said it, I believe it!” approach to faith can actually keep us from the very thing we desire most, a deep and close relationship with God.  Why?  The answer is simple; it keeps us from asking the deepest questions of our hearts….we pretend before God. We act like we have all the answers when inside we are wrestling.  Now, I am not speaking against a simple faith, but in truth a simple faith is usually born only after we have struggled with our deepest questions. Hiding our questions from God is not the foundation of a meaningful relationship any more than if we hide our hearts from a spouse or friend.

 Further, I believe there is an inner spring (as NT Wright calls it) or maybe an inner restlessness (St. Augustine) within; something God places within us that desire to connect with God and it will be restless until we do.  Our questions and even our doubts may be an expression of that inner desire.  When we don’t ask our questions….we may be pushing away an invitation from God to take the next great step in our faith. 

And so, for these next two months, we will ask God questions of our hearts; they have come from you the congregation (back in October).  They are honest and deep questions.  The goal of this series, then, is three fold:  First, to learn not be afraid to ask God questions; second to do so with great humility-we are dealing in many cases with the mystery of God we don’t have all the answers and not everyone will have the same answers-part of being a community of faith is that we live the questions together, in a gracious way.  Our final goal is that all of this will lead us to a place of deeper faith.  And so we begin.

This first week, our questions focus on us, human beings:  What is a natural human being?  Why does it seem like we are tested over and over again?   Why has God given us freedom?  Why are we sinners?  Does God save some and not others?  Why did God make humans, knowing the mess we would make?  These are all questions that go deeper than any one sermon, but we can begin to look at them in a meaningful way.

To start, when we look at people in relation to God today, we usually speak of how far people have fallen from God’s intentions (what a mess we have made).  We only have to watch a little bit of the news, experience the rudeness of a stranger, or have our hearts broken by someone we love dearly to experience the failures of human beings.  Our brokenness can be so pervasive that we look at humans with disdain, pessimism and mistrust; sometimes we even call our failures and misguided deeds “human nature”, as if they come naturally.  There is certainly much evidence that we have fallen far from the glory of God; yet, to write human beings off as miserable creations is far from the intentions of the God of our Bible. 

In the first passage of scripture for today, the reading from Genesis 1, we are told that human beings are an important part of God’s creation.  They are created, male and female, in the image and likeness of God, made by God, claimed by God, loved by God.  Further, human beings have a special role in creation, to be stewards and caretakers of all of God’s handiwork. As early Christians used to say, human were made to “love as God loves”, to be God’s representatives in the world.  God made (and still makes) all people and calls them good.  Yet, what happened?  

One of gifts that God gave humans (and still gives humans) was and still is the ability to choose good or evil, freedom of the will.  Unlike plants or animals, God gave people the ability to say “yes” or “no” to God.  It is not even two chapters later in Genesis that we find the story of Adam, the first human, using his freedom, to choose a way contrary to God, to say “no”.  We have since seen many examples since of human beings saying “no” to the love and grace of God.  So much so that Paul will later write, “all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.” (Romans 3)

Answering the question of how human beings have made such a mess of things, the early church provided two answers.  First, some taught that in Adam’s first disobedience towards God (that first “no”), something in our human nature became distorted or flawed.  Humans became inclined toward evil and rendered unable to choose what is good.  Humans after Adam are not the same as those created originally in the image and likeness of God.  This is what many refer to as “original sin”, Adam’s sin altered the nature of every person that would come after and only God’s intervention can change that.  Yet, other early Christians had a problem with this, if human nature has been changed so much that people can’t choose what is good, how can they be blamed for choosing what is bad?  Further, if only God can change this, then the only way to explain why some people are good and some bad is that God has chosen some people over others.  This became referred to as predestination.  This seems to run counter to the witness of Jesus, who reached out to all people, and the letter of second Peter that taught God does not want any to perish (2 Peter 3:9).  Rather those early Christians who followed this thinking explained that choosing things contrary to God has become something of a habit; the problem is not in our nature, but in our choosing.  The image of God is clouded over within us, but it is still there and working with God we can recover it.  

So to this point we have seen:  humans are made and created by God in God’s image; people are given the ability to choose good or evil; and people have made a mess of things.   If the story ended here, we would have a right to be pessimistic about humanity, but it does not.  We don’t worship a God who looks at our failures and walks away from us, giving up on us.  Rather, in the Bible we meet a God seeking reconciliation with His people.  God has not stopped believing in us.  This is evident in God continually reaching out to the Hebrew people after they have turned their backs on God.  It is evident in God sending Jesus to those that everyone else has written off as sinner, impure, or self-righteous.  It is evident in God sending Paul to even the Gentiles to let them know they were a welcome part of God’s family.  Even places in the Bible where we see God angry with His people, it is never the final word, God’s anger is to awaken the people to God’s love and compassion for them….bringing them back to their true calling to live in the image and likeness of God.  As the psalmist writes in our second passage today, “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.” 

God’s work is redemption and renewal.  This is why I believe that we can’t be too overly pessimistic about people, including ourselves-why we can’t write people off; it prevents us from seeing God’s work of restoration.  We have certainly made a mess, but we worship a God who makes order out of chaos.  Why does God do this?  Why does God create us in the first place?  In many respects this is mystery, but the Bible gives clues and I believe these can be summed up in one word….love.   God loves people and that is why God doesn’t give up.  It is why God doesn’t give up on any of us here today; we are made by God, loved by God, and even when we choose poorly, we are sought by God. 

As something of a side note, I want to say a word about temptation.  As humans made by God with the gift of free choice, there are always going to be things that tempt us to choose contrary to God.  These things can become so overwhelming that they can feel as if they come from God.  Yet, following the letter of James, I don’t believe temptations come from God:   “No one when tempted, should say, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one.  But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it….”  (James 1:13-14)  God gives us the freedom to make choices, and they will not always be easy.

I want to finish with an old parable.  It is said that in the desert there are two kinds of birds, vultures and hummingbirds.  Hummingbirds scan the desert in search of small beautiful flowers, vultures look for dead, rotten things….and they both find what they are looking for.  This is an obvious metaphor for how we look at life.  When we apply it to humanity and God it is a reminder that sometimes we can become too pessimistic about human beings seeing only faults, failures and sins.   On the other side, we can be too optimistic concerning people and ignore such shortcomings.  The God of the Bible holds these in balance:  we are reminded that God creates human beings in God’s own image for a special purpose; we are reminded that humans have free choice and will often use that in bad ways; yet, the God of the Bible does not give up and continually seeks to remove the clouds that cover over His image within us.  That is the message and role of Jesus.  When we see the full picture, we can better understand who we are as people, and how we relate to God. 

A final word, the Bible reveals over and over that God doesn’t force or coerce us.  God loves and respects us enough to let us choose.  It’s as simple as saying, “God change my heart…restore your image in me!” 

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

Going Deeper:  Do you see your life as made by God for a special calling?  What does it mean for you to be created in God’s likeness?  How have you failed to live in God’s image?  How have you been successful?  How have you experienced God’s redemption or reaching out to you?  What will you do from this moment forward?