Sermon 01-17-10

Jon continued his series on “Ancient Anchors For Choppy Times” with Proverbs 10:2 and Mark 8:27-38. Discussion questions are available at the end.

Sermon Audio

“Ancient Anchors in Choppy Times: Proverbs 10:2″

Though our hearts remain sinking from the images we’ve seen all week-long picturing the horror that is happening in Haiti we still wake up on a Monday morning with the same sets of challenges, the same sets of concerns, the same call to live faithfully in the midst of our everyday lives that has been greeting us for weeks.

One of the longest held beliefs about the Bible is that it interprets itself.  Or said differently, “Scripture interprets Scripture.”  It’s not always a very good idea to take a single passage or a single verse from the Bible out of the Bible and build an entire moral code off of it or a theological system from it.  That’s the danger in what is called “proof texting”, borrowing a single verse from the Bible and then accusing someone of something from it, or rationalizing a certain behavior because of it.  When you remove from the word single verses you remove them from their context and their context always informs their meaning, and the context of every Bible verse is the whole Bible.  You need the whole Bible to understand most fully any part of the Bible.

This morning we’re going to spend our time around a single verse.  This verse:

Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit,
but righteousness delivers from death.

That’s Proverbs 10:2, and it’s absolutely loaded with gospel direction,

Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit,
but righteousness delivers from death.

But I don’t want that single verse to stand on its own, I think it’s understood most fully, mostly completely, when surrounded by the larger witness of the scriptures.  So keep the verse in mind:

Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit,
but righteousness delivers from death.

And listen to this, we’ll return to our verse in a minute:

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”  And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”  He asked them, “But who you do say that I am?”  Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”  And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly.  And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan!  For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If they want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.  For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?  Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?  Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

That was Mark 8 v. 27 through 38.  Were you able to hear how Mark’s Gospel called out to Solomon’s Proverb:

Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit,
but righteousness delivers from death.

The two sort of interact with one another, they help us understand each other.  We’re going to spend some time with Proverbs 10:2, we’ll ask Mark 8:27 through 39 to help us understand it most fully.  You may want to turn to each in your Bibles.

Here we go:

Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit,
but righteousness delivers from death.

I

Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit,

That’s where we’ll begin and that sounds to me, if I’m listening well, like how we get what we have is as important as, maybe even more important than, getting what we have.

Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit….

What strikes me as interesting about the beginning of that Proverb is the combination of verbs: gained and profit.  The Proverbs acknowledges treasures may be gained, things may be accumulated, success may cover the surface, but don’t be misled those treasures don’t profit, those things don’t last, that success isn’t success at all.  How we get what we have is as important as, if not more important than, getting what we have.

Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit…

When I was 8^th grade I cheated on a Science test.  Question # 14 Mr. Sanderson’s Physical Science class.  It’s a long story, I think I’ve bored you with the details before, I won’t do that again.  Because I had cheated, I had the correct answer, and when he returned my test the next day, I saw on top in big red letters “A”.  There was no joy in that “A”, there was no accomplishment in cheating.

But how many other ways do we do the same sort of thing, cut a few corners, offer just a small word of untruth, not so much step on anyone in our pursuit of success just disregard them.

Treasure gained by wickedness do not profit….

So return with me to Jesus and his disciples in the villages of Ceaserrea Philippi.  Ceasarrea Philippi was named in honor of the Roman Emperor who was also called Caesar and its distinguished from the other Ceasarea on the coast, where Herod had one of his palaces, by the name Philippi named after Herod’s son Herod Philip.  To honor Caesar, Philip built a large, white marble palace dedicated to him and used to worship him, the emperor.  The town itself was built on a sizable hill and overlooked a large valley.  Dotting the landscape of Ceasarra Philippi were all sorts of other temples dedicated to the god Pan, from whom we get our word “Panic”, between the Greeks believed the god Pan prompted irrational fear.  Pan was depicted by a statue of a half human half goat looking thing, legs of a goat, upper body and face of a man, with horns.  Pan was the primary god of Cessarea Philippi.  He was the god of wilderness, a fertility god, worshipped in ways I’m not comfortable mentioning this morning.  I’ll allow you to connect the dots–he’s the god of fertility and was worshipped accordingly.  Here are a few pictures of what Jesus and his disciples would have seen on that day standing just outside of that town.

So to this beautiful city, decked in white marble, with glorious temples devoted to Pan, a center of Roman power, and Greek religion, Jesus brings his disciples.  And listen again to what he says to them:

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. .  He said all this quite openly.  And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Peter, trying to argue for Jesus’ honor, “Jesus Messiah’s don’t die, Jesus what are these Pan worshippers going to think of all this talk of suffering, rejection and death.  Tell a different story today Jesus.  You are the Messiah.”  Jesus not only says to Peter, you’re not thinking right Peter, but then speaks in a louder voice, calling the crowds from Ceasserrea Philippi closer and says:

If any want to be my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel will save it.  What does it profit them to gain the whole world but forfeit their life?

Jesus wasn’t messing around, “What does it profit a person to gain the world but forfeit their life?”  What does it profit a person to satisfy themselves fully all their lives only then to die a beggar’s death?  How you get what you have is as important, if not more important than, getting what you have. Or:

Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit.

Jesus’ way of salvation does not include self satisfaction, self fulfillment, though the world with its gods will suggest satisfaction and fulfillment are all that really matter in life, the way of Christ, they way of the gospel, the way of our faith is the life marked by a willingness to serve rather than be served, to find life for ourselves by giving up of ourselves, to experience profit and gain not by accumulation but by sacrifice and selflessness.

Against the backdrop of Caesar power and Pan promises Jesus says, follow me to get you want but beware getting what you want is costly, saving your lives will mean losing your lives, getting what you want means giving all you have.

The Christian faith calls us to say “No.”  No to ourselves, no to only ever satisfying ourselves, and somehow, someway, just as Jesus suffered, was rejected and died only then to come back to life, to offer, so it is for those who follow him, by saying no to ourselves, we say “yes” to Christ, by giving up of ourselves, we gain the world and heaven.

If you don’t mind a Eugene Peterson quote, this is from a book titled “Subversive Spirituality,” “No is a freedom word, only humans can say no.  animals can’t say no.

So say no, besides “What does it profit a person if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life?”

Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit….

II

But we’re moving along, we’re moving along to this:

But righteousness delivers from death.

Righteousness delivers from death.

You know, just to be honest, on the surface of things, I don’t know that I agree with that, can I say that?

Righteousness delivers from death.

If that were altogether true then why do bad things happen to good people?  If that were entirely true than why are Christian brothers and sisters suffering in Haiti today?  If that were true than how come the one you know and love, well, I better slow down…

Righteousness delivers from death.

In the Proverbial sense it is true, rules are set up for our health, and strength, for our order and when we abide by them we do avoid death.  The chances of being in an accident increase significantly when you speed, or run a red light.  The rules are set up for our safety, “righteousness delivers from death.”

But I can’t help but read that proverb without thinking about Jesus:

Righteousness delivers from death.

Listen again to Jesus calling out to his disciples and the crowd:

If they want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake and for the sake for the sake of the gospel will save it.  What does it profit them to gain the whole world but forfeit their life?  Indeed what can they give in return for their life?

There you go, there it is:

Indeed what can they give in return for their life?

The question is rhetorical because the answer is obvious, nothing.  You can’t give anything in return for your life.  No matter how much you have, no matter how much you’ve done, it will not, cannot, and simply does not gain for you salvation.

And the wonderful promise of the Christian faith is this, Christ by his life, through his death, from his resurrection has obtained for us righteousness and gives it to us, covering us with his righteousness.

That’s why Paul can say, “since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified (made righteous) by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

That’s why the Christian faith can promise, “If, because of one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.”

All of which is why I can’t read Proverbs 10:2 and not think about Jesus,

Righteousness delivers from death.

Righteousness delivers from death.

And Christ is our righteousness, and Christ delivers from death.

I had an interesting opportunity this week.  On Thursday afternoon I visited an inmate at the Oak Harbor jail, I had never met the man I was going to visit.  It’s a long story and I won’t go into the details of how I got there, and I won’t give you the name of the person I was visiting just because I haven’t asked his permission.  But I will tell he was there for some traffic offenses that accumulated in his life that he tended to combined with some bad habits that were wreaking havoc on his life.  He was just about to go into rehab when the cops knocked on his door.  He is serving 120 days.  I found it kind of an intimidating thing, I haven’t had a lot of experience in jails.   I walked in to the OHPD, nervous, asked if I could visit an inmate, they told it be about 20 minutes, I wondered why.  I sat in the lobby of the police department trying not to look suspicious (what if they kept me there), trying to act like I knew what I was doing (what if someone noticed I was a rookie).  After about fifteen minutes a police offer said, “Come with me.”  I thought, “really?”  He told me to wait in a different waiting room, just down the hall, each steel door closing and locking behind us a reminder I’m not in control now, I can’t go where I want to go now.  The police officer asked me for ID, I gave it to him and started thinking “Did I pay that parking ticket from last year?”  he gave it back to me and had me wait a little longer.  As I was sitting there he escorted out another visitor, a real big man with a stud stuck through his lip, and a tattoo on his forearm.  I tried to look like I wasn’t intimated but I was.  After a few more minutes the police officer escorted me into what felt like a 3 by 4 foot concrete room with a glass window in front of me with those steel grid lines to protect me, I wasn’t if that was comforting, a steal chair to sit on, a table to rest my elbows on and a phone to talk through.  The inmate made his way to the same set up on the other side of the window.  Behind him were shelves of orange outfits.  He sat down said, “hello, thanks for coming.”  I said, “Hi, thanks for letting me visit.”  (I wasn’t sure if I meant it though).  With visions of Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship Ministry running through my mind we proceeded in conversation.  He pulled out from behind him, I guess it must have been stuffed in his back pocket or something, a Bible.  He said, “Is this the right one to read?”  I said, “Looks good,” looked a little closer it was the King James version, said it was great, if he wanted a different version I’d find one for him.  He went on to describe for me “the tank” as he called it, the 10 by 10, I think he said, room, where he and three other guys spent their time, other than each other a tv was their only companion . He’s been reading the Bible, he’s been working through the Gospel of Mark and the book of Psalms, his grandma suggested it.  He said, “This thing really works.  It’s the only way I can find any calm in here.”  We went on to talk a little bit more, asked if I’d lead a Bible Study, I told him of course I would, I’d be honored.  So on Tuesdays at least for now, if you’re looking for me I’ll be in jail.

I left the jail, grateful that I could, and went on with the rest of my evening.  Two things stood out me as I left my inmate friend, in the tank, his only source of comfort is the Word, being delivered in small ways while in the midst of confinement.  Christ meeting him there in that 10 by 10 concrete blocked room with steel doors and a tv, delivering him.  And then, I than I started think, you know he and I aren’t really all that different.  He’s in jail, wanting to get out of the tank, having done some things he shouldn’t have done, but each of us are in as desperate need of deliverance as the other, and the only way either of us will ever experience deliverance is through Christ himself.

I he said, “I want to get out of the tank.”  I thought “So do I.”

Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit,
but righteousness delivers from death.

I want to get out of the tank.

Righteousness delivers from death.

Jesus Christ is our righteousness.

So with my inmate friends story as the backdrop listen again to Christ’s call:

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”  And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”  He asked them, “But who you do say that I am?”  Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”  And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly.  And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.  But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan!  For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If they want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.  For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?  Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?  Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

I want to give you the chance today to accept Christ’s invitation.  If you want to follow Jesus, and you haven’t committed yourself to him yet in life, signal my attention in the lobby after the service and we’ll talk more about what that means.

If you want to get out of the tank, listen:

Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit,
but righteousness delivers from death.

Amen.

Discussion Questions

1. Jon suggested, “The danger in proof texting is in removing single verses from the context of the overall scriptural witness and thereby running the risk of misinterpreting them.” Do you agree? And, what is the overall witness of the scriptures, ie what is the “larger” story of the Bible?
2. Though Jon didn’t note it all in the sermon, what does Jesus calling out to the crowds near Ceassarea Philippi, “Deny yourself… take up your cross…”, say to us about engaging non-believers with the message of the gospel?
3. The sermon highlighted the importance of saying “no” (see Peterson quote). Why is saying “no to ourselves” so difficult?
4. If Christ is our righteousness, and there is nothing we can do to ”achieve” salvation how do we continue to impress upon people, particularly our young ones, the importance of obedience?

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