06/08/2008 The Last Pick for Kick Ball
06/08/2008 The Last Pick for Kick Ball
THE LAST PICK FOR KICK BALL
Sermon # 1 in the “First Families. Families First.” Series
Do you know what it’s like to be the last pick for kick ball, or any team sport for that matter? Do you know someone who was the last pick? What’s that like? (Take some time.) Ponder that.
There’s a problem preaching about Jesus: He’s perfect! Now, don’t get me wrong, perfection is a great attribute. I mean, it’s hard to worship, revere, & hold in awe the Son of God if he isn’t perfect. (What’s the point? How do we worship a Messiah who’s a bum? Right?) So, we certainly require model behavior & high standards to aspire to, but as I said, there’s a problem.
Many of us wonder, with all of our imperfections, hardships, & issues, if all our striving is worth it. John Wesley said that we’re “going on to perfection,” to which we cynically respond, “Yeah, right.” Jesus had it tough many days & he was perfect. How can you & I ever expect to do well considering our conditions?
The fact is: no proper preacher would ever only preach & teach about Jesus. Actually, to only preach from the New Testament is a bona fide act of heresy.* Christians value both the Jewish Scriptures of the Old Testament/ Covenant & the New Testament/Covenant. After all, Jesus & most of the leaders of the early church were raised on the Jewish Scriptures, exclusively. That’s proof of the Old Covenant’s merit. It has much to teach us.
One of the most important things which the Old Testament figures teach us is that God regularly chooses & uses imperfect individuals, entire dysfunctional families even, to carry out His will. In Genesis alone, from where the sermons will be drawn this summer, we find some genuinely flawed characters – personalities with “issues” & neuroses, as well as major moral failings in terms of their sexual behavior, marital fidelity, their honesty or lack thereof, aggression & abusiveness, manipulative natures, even perversely criminal acts. These persons are not individuals we’d want to have teach our children in Sunday School, are not persons we’d hire as Student Ministries Directors, are not the kind of folks we’d present to the church for ordination as pastors . . . or are they?
Again & again, throughout thousands of years, God uses terribly imperfect persons to accomplish His will. Even ones who try to thwart God’s will, He uses. Certainly, one could rightly ask, “Well, who else does God have, if not imperfect humans?” Exactly! Notice that God regularly achieves the salvation story not only despite us, but in spite of us. God is the master at making lemonade out of orchards of lemons.
And God starts with the first persons themselves, Adam & Eve. It’s the story of having everything one could ever need in life, but even that isn’t enough. (Talk about the difference between wants & needs! They find paradise inadequate!) They had it all, but wanted something else … & got it. They sure(ly) got it! And when they got it, they got more than they ever bargained for in terms of trouble. Every problem ever since can be traced to this one original act of sin -- this Original Sin.
But what did the first couple do? Eve said the serpent was responsible. Adam said it was Eve’s fault. We deny blame & shuffle it around, too. Tort law is based on blaming other people. We even blame God. The real answer to why bad things happen to good people is not that it’s God’s fault, but the result of fallen humanity, of humans with the God-given gift of free will, making the wrong choice. We only have ourselves to blame, as the saying goes. All sorts of bad things, from forgetfulness to cancer to congenital defects to murderous rages to death itself, all have their origins in human imperfection. Where does that imperfection originate? I already answered that question. Now, if you want to blame God for giving us free will, that’s okay, but would we really want to be pre-programmed automatons with no freedom of choice? God wanted his creatures to choose to love Him, not be forced so to do.
That’s exactly problem, though, isn’t it? Many of us want to love God, but find it so difficult. Our hearts are in the right place, so we work at loving God, want God to see & acknowledge our sincere efforts, & hope that what we do earns God’s love. It doesn’t always work out as well as we anticipate, & we know that, but we keep on trying, anyway. Don’t we? We have this spiritual side to us, but admittedly, often become rather skeptical. We forget that God believes in us, even if we don’t believe in ourselves. God also believes in us, even if we don’t believe in God. How’s that for grace! We’re the imperfect ones with doubts, questions, & misgivings, not God.
The characters in Genesis, & there are some real characters (!), find blessing, find that God is filled with mercy, find that God relies on them. And it doesn’t stop with Genesis, but continues for the history of humanity. God keeps calling & raising up the most unlikely persons. Rather than destroy the first man & woman, God chooses not to start over. Yes, a punishment is exacted, but everyone gets over it & moves on. (There’s a model for not holding grudges – on both sides!) There is something about the pair which God finds worth redeeming. Through them, all of humanity traces its origins. God’s actions represent real hope for humanity … because God doesn’t give up on us.
Interestingly, we don’t seem to possess God’s hopefulness. (Yet) if anyone should be discouraged, it’s God. When it comes to humanity, God is well within His rights to be major-league disappointed, in a grand funk, clinically depressed in a catatonic stupor even, but we’re the ones brought low. (One doctor told me a few weeks ago, that ½ of his patients are on anti-depressant medication; he’s an endodontist, not a psychiatrist!) I agree with the 20th century’s premier Protestant devotional writer, Oswald Chambers. He states that many of us possess a hopelessness about others because we do not realize God’s intentions for ourselves (My Utmost for His Highest, June 1). We personally feel so bad about our lives & our status in life, like we’re the last pick for kick ball. We then project that dejection & discouragement onto others. Because we don’t allow God’s Spirit to work in us, we convince ourselves that God’s not working in others. We acknowledge our sins & shortcomings, disregarding the potential & the possibility with which God endows each of us at our creation, which God redeems through the work of His Son, which God brings to life through the Holy Spirit’s empowering presence in us.
As the Apostle Paul says in Romans 9:16: “…it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy.” And again, from Paul, this time quoting the prophet Hosea: “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ & her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’” “And in the very place it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they shall be called children of the living God” (Romans 9:25-26).
Talk about the last picks at kick ball. It was not Abraham’s first son, Ishmael, but his last, Isaac, through whom the Hebrew nation was blest. Is was not the elder twin Esau, but Jacob, the younger. It was not the oldest, Reuben, but the youngest, Joseph. It was not Aaron, but Moses with his speech impediment & murder conviction. It was not Jesse’s first, but his last, David, who became king. It was not the chosen Jew, but the Moabite woman, Ruth, who was chosen & listed in Matthew’s genealogy. It is the prostitute, Rahab, who also joins that august list. It is Mary, the lowly handmaid, who bears God’s Son.
The point is: it’s God who does this. (It’s) not them, not us. We need to be open to it, but it’s not our work to do. This stuff is God’s domain. What we must do is believe, not work for God, not work to get to God, but believe in God & God’s promises, especially the promise of atonement through Christ’s life, death, & resurrection.**
The message this summer is that God’s plans always, always come to life. Sometimes, many times, even most times, those plans happen because the most unlikely individuals cooperate with God. God has some real surprises for the last picks at kick ball.
In the Name…. Copyright 2008 by G.D.Knerr at
* - During the current 15-month period when preaching from multiple texts in a sermon: 19 sermons have been from the gospels, 18 from the rest of the New Testament, & 16 from the Old Testament. When using only a single text for a sermon: 8 have been from the gospels, 4 from the remaining New Testament, & 9 from the Old Testament.
** - How do we believe? Pray. That’s talk to God & listen to God. Read & study the Bible. That’s also a way to listen to God. Worship & participate in the sacraments which allows us to receive from God because we give to God in a way God prescribes. Serve others & meet God through them. Meet & talk to other believers in a heart to heart fashion that allows God to speak to us.