1 Corinthians 1 : Matthew 4 : Sermon

Transcription

1 1 Corinthians 1 : Matthew 4 : Sermon This past week has the week of Prayer for Christian Unity. That is an interesting choice of words when you think about it. We do not designate a week to celebrate Christian unity, or even a week to demonstrate Christian unity, but a week to pray for Christian Unity. There is an implied recognition there that we have a problem, and that we require some divine intervention if we are ever going to do anything about it. We do not, as far as I am aware, have a week of prayer that Presbyterians might be a bit more sombre, or a week of prayer that pentecostalists might be a bit more enthusiastic. These are not difficulties that we face, but Christian unity that is recognised as being difficult. So what is the problem? The theme for this week of prayer is a verse found in our reading this morning, where Paul writes Has Christ been divided? It is a rhetorical question of course. The answer is no and it is assumed that we all understand that. But the question is asked in order to point out how utterly ridiculous is the idea that the church could be divided, that a group of people committed to following Christ could go off in different directions, that a community which understands itself as in a sense the body of Christ, could break apart. Paul points out that idea is utterly ridiculous. Yet we know the history. We know how things have evolved since those words were written. Here in Geneva, here in this building, people of sincerity and faith have held such strong convictions about the gospel and such deep concerns that others have wandered too far from it that they have felt the need to take a stand and make a statement. Some agreed and followed them, others disagreed and followed other leaders, and the process of dividing, of breaking apart, continued. And while the Reformation may be a particularly clear example of that process, it has been repeated many times in many places, and it continues many times and in many places. So we can all want Christian unity, we can all agree it seems natural and good and right, yet we find it so difficult to create, or to maintain.

2 And one thing we are confronted with this morning is that the process of division, of leaders disagreeing and going in different directions, of some following and others not, began round about the same time the church itself started. Already, perhaps little more than 20 years after the crucifixion some were saying I belong to Paul, and some I belong to Apollos, or I belong to Cephas, or I belong to Christ. so that Paul has to ask what's going on here, Has Christ been divided? I m never sure if it is a disturbing thought or a reassuring thought, but division and the struggle for unity has been part of church life since the beginning. Which suggests to me that the struggle to hold it all together the struggle which we have been encouraged to pray about this week, is not just a structural issue to do with denominations or church politics, but that there is something deeper going on. It seems to me that a lack of Christian Unity, or indeed any kind of unity, is not just a problem of leadership personalities or theological disagreements. In just about any congregation other than this one I would feel confident in challenging anyone to explain the theological differences between ourselves and other denominations, and not expect to be interrupted with an answer. I'm not going to risk it here! But I want to suggest that we might be missing something important if we think about our lack of unity only in those terms. Unity is not the same thing as uniformity, so differences are not a problem in themselves. Perhaps if we have a problem with unity, we should see it as a spiritual problem rather than a structural problem. Which is unfortunate, for if it is a structural problem it is easy for us to blame other people. We can blame the Vatican, or we can blame the Orthodox, or we can blame the minister. All of that is perfectly fine and easy and possibly justifiable. But if it is a spiritual problem then there are questions to be asked closer to home, and no one likes that! Nonetheless I suspect that the inconvenient truth is that some part of the human make up, and therefore some part of our human make up actually feels quite comfortable with division, and even comforted by it. Some part

3 of us needs a group to belong to, and a clear sense of identity. We need to feel that we are somehow different from others, and perhaps in some subtle way, superior to others. It is that part of us which always seeks to divide the world into friends and enemies, us and them, goodies and badies, true believers and heretics. And it is that part of us which the gospel seeks to address and to heal, and to transform. But until we are healed and transformed, the defensive and divisive part of us will always find ways to express itself. It will express itself even in churches, or dare I say, it will express itself especially in churches. It may strike us as a great irony, that religious divisions seem to be stronger and deeper and long lasting and more bitter that any other kind of division. Yet that may be because religious language can be the perfect shield the perfect protection, to keep us from actually being touched and transformed and healed by the gospel. Remember that it was the outcasts and the broken and the lost who most responded to Jesus, while the strongly and firmly religious just wanted rid of him. I'm suggesting that if Christ appears to be divided, it may be because people like us are rather slow at actually taking on board what he teaches, rather slow at being transformed by his gospel. What does the gospel tell us? There is only one God that was the great message of the Old Testament. Each nation had their own gods, and they drew their identity and their sense of well being by trusting their gods to look after them. This led to a very violent and fearful world for what ethical restriction is there in slaughtering your neighbour if you convince yourself that your neighbour has no interest in your god and that your god has no interest in them. To say that there is one God that God created all life, that God cares for all people, is a radically different way of thinking and it leads to a different way of living. This was the message of the prophets and when people repeatedly failed to grasp that message, when generation after generation failed to take it on board, Jesus came to live it and to demonstrate it. A thoroughly Jewish man, he scandalised those who used religion to justify division by healing foreigners and welcoming outsiders, and eating and drinking with those considered unworthy of such inclusion. Openness and inclusiveness and unity were at the heart of his message.

4 So it is a Samaritan man, rather than the law abiding priest who becomes the hero of his story. So it is the son who went to a foreign land who was given a party rather than the son who stayed home and did the right thing. So we are told that the only one of the ten lepers who was thankful for being healed was the foreign one. So the man whose faith Jesus said was greater than any other he had met was not a Jew, but a Roman centurion. The gospel is all about Jesus breaking down the barriers we use to divide ourselves, and demonstrating that before God we are all the same. He taught that we should love our neighbour, which everyone would have agreed with. Then went even further: "You have heard that it was said, 'you shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:43-45) We are all the same. The notion that we are, or ever can be divided, be separate from one another, in an illusion. It is an illusion constructed by the human mind to allow us to feel superior to others. Faith in Jesus Christ breaks that illusion, for we cannot, if we trust him at all, hear his stories and still maintain it. Through faith in him we uncover this truth. Through faith in him we become free of the illusion, and if the son shall set you free you shall be free indeed. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galations 3:28) That is the gospel message. Unity is not an ideal for us to create, but a truth for us to discover and experience and live. Of course we will struggle to really accept that. Everyone else has so why should we be any different? There is a voice in all of us want to object. We want to say, but those people over there are wrong, they do bad things. Yes indeed they do. The gospel confirms that they do. But it also confirms that being in the wrong is something which unites us, rather than a justification for division. for all have sinned and fall short for the glory of God (Romans 3:23)

5 It is when we allow that truth to seep into us, where we are humble enough to confess our own need of forgiveness, that God's spirit might begin his work of transfiguration within us. Julien of Norwich said The love of God creates in us such a oneing that when it is truly seen, no person can separate themselves from another person. Church can be a good place to hide from that kind of change, but because it is the place where we are repeatedly exposed to the message of Jesus it can also be a good place to experience it. Which is why we are divided, and also why we know that ought to be praying for unity. For if we cannot demonstrate the truth of such unity, where else are people going to discover it? And in such a divided world as this, the need to discover it is surely great and urgent. The boundaries which we use to keep us separate from one another are an illusion. So we can, and we should join Jesus in his great final prayer: I pray that all may be one (John 17:21).