What Time is It?

September 4, 2011 12th Sunday of Kingdomtide

Exodus 12: 1-4, Psalm 149, Romans 13: 8-14, Matthew 15-20

Have you noticed that things have changed during your lifetime? I certainly have. The things you have noticed may depend upon your age, but since I was a kid, a lot has.

· Sodas: years ago you went to buy a soda, you only had a few choices. Get a Coca-Cola or Pepsi, maybe an RC Cola, or a Nehi great or orange, or 7-up. In fact, all the drinks you could get fit in one cooler. The labels didn't list the contents, the calorie content nor the sodium either. Today, it's different…

· TV and movies: now don't get me wrong, I enjoy having all the channels that we have today, and the plethora of movie choices, but when I was a kid, we had 3 channels: ABC, CBS, and NBC… There was no such thing as cable TV.

· Medical treatment: if I got sick when I was a kid, my mama took me to see Dr. Hagna... I think he was about the only doctor in town But today, well you know there are specialists, anesthesiologists, orthopedic surgeons, podiatrists, it seems that today medical treatment is determined mostly by what part of the body is sick. It's changed.

· Another thing that's changed is our road system: today most of our roads are paved. I grew up most of my life on a country dirt road in what some people would call "the sticks." Today that old farm sits on a nice paved road.

Each of us has our own memories of the way things were when we were kids. Maybe like me, you sometimes long for the simplicity of those days, and it's sad to realize that we can never go back to those times.

The world is truly changing. One half of the population of the world now live is in urban areas. Every month 5 million people in the developing world move to a city. In his book, Triump Of the City, Edward Gaiser says that cities make us richer, smarter, greener, healthier, and happier. Gaiser says that cities are our species "greatest inventions." I'm not so sure about that, but it does appear that when people live life in close proximity, they are better able to collaborate and help one another. That is also true for the community of God, the church.

Of course, cities have their share of problems. Paul's letter to the Romans was written to city dwellers. Rome was an engineering hub of innovation, the paving capital of the ancient world. The phrase "all roads lead to Rome" was no idle slogan, it was true. Ancient Rome was the New York City of its day. And the apostle Paul in his letter was reaching out to that urban population.

Now, we may feel that the things Paul was saying to the Romans might not apply so much to us folk who live in the country. But, I'm afraid that country folk deal with many of the same issues as urban dwellers.

Paul understood that people everywhere strayed from doing what is right. He realized that many people lived in the darkness, practicing all kinds of drunkenness, quarreling and jealousies. (Translation: drinking, fighting, and laying out all night.) He encouraged them to stop, to wake up, and "put on Christ." Yet, what did Paul mean to "put on Christ"?

This week Ed and I have been talking about our Halloween costumes, and what we want to "be" for Halloween. You know how it is. On Halloween people dress up in all kinds of outfits and put on all kinds of personas. Last year Teresa was a wizard. Cale was a sea captain. And Luke was Spiderman. Is that what it means to put on Christ? Is that what Paul was talking about? Was he saying that we are to change ourselves in some physical way, the way we wear our hair, the clothes we dress in? To put on Jesus, are we supposed to wear a linen tunic, grow our hair long, and put our feet into flat sandals?

I don't think so. When Paul speaks of "putting on Christ" I believe what he means is that we must experience a change within. To put on Christ means that our whole being must change from the inside out so that the world notices that we are different. I know a preacher who has put on Christ, but if you saw him on the street you might not think so.

Duncan Overrein is one of the pastors of Crossfire United Methodist Church. Duncan is a biker. I saw Duncan two weeks ago at the Rural Church convocation, and I got to tell you, he was looking just as rough as he ever did. As I said, Duncan is a biker, but a man who has given his life and his heart to Jesus. And even though he may look like the meanest, toughest, Hells Angel you've ever seen, he is a man who loves others and serves God to his full potential.

What Paul is telling the church at Rome really had nothing to do with whether they lived in the city or the country. Drawing from the ten commandments of the Old Testament, Paul told them what they shouldn't be involved in, those things which break the laws of God: adultery, murder, theft, desiring the possessions of others.

Rather, Paul said, here's what you should be doing: blessing your enemies, taking care of those weak ones among you, rejoicing with those who rejoice, weeping with those who weep, and loving others as you love yourself. Paul said that we are to put on the light of God as an armor against the darkness of the world.

As Christian people together in this community that we call Pisgah United Methodist Church, we are called to live to differently. We are called to be different from the world. That calling is not to look different, but to act different. To put on Christ means that we put on... Or maybe I should say put in our hearts the love of Jesus. Putting on Christ in this way, through the love we show to others, is how we witness to our faith in Jesus.

Tony Campolo tells the story of a young man named Richard Bellinger.[1] Richard was a young boy who lived in South Carolina and whose father was a Baptist minister. Richard knew that his father always wanted to book his best on Sunday morning, so one Saturday night young Richard decided to shine his father shoes. So he took his father shoes, cleaned them up, polished them, shined them the be best he could, and took them secretly back to where he found them.

The following night his father but a silver dollar on the bureau in his son's room with a note commending his son for what he had done, and telling him that the dollar was his reward. The next morning, when Richard's father put on his shoes, he felt something hard and round in one of them. He took off the shoe and reached inside, and there he found the silver dollar he had given to his son the night before. Along with the dollar was a note that simply read, "I did it for love."

Richard story is an example of putting on the love of Christ. What Richard had done for his dad was not done because of a reward he would receive. What Richard did for his father was because he loved him.

When Jesus came to earth to rescue us from our trespasses and sins, when Jesus willingly placed himself at the mercy of those who hated him, and when Jesus gave his life so that we might live, he did it for love.

We all know that the world is a constantly changing place. For many people life is a harsh existence where there is little joy, few happy moments, and even fewer acts of love. Maybe you are here today and you are thinking about someone who needs an act of love that only you can provide. I hope all of us will take to heart what the apostle Paul said to the Romans: love is the fulfillment of all the laws of God (Rom 13:10).

Jesus said we will be known as disciples by our love (John 13:35). The question we want to answer today is this: when someone who does not know Jesus meets you, gets to know you, watches how you live your life, sees you interacting with your family, wife, husband, kids, parents, and neighbors, will they know that you have woken up? Will they seeing Jesus when they see you?

Amen.

[1] Tony Campolo. "Let Me Tell You A Story." W.Publishing. 2000. 93.