Christ United Presbyterian Church
October 20, 2013
Sermon – “Open Your Heart”
We all know the “squeaky
wheel” theory. At first glance it would
seem like Jesus’ parable this morning is telling us to be “squeaky wheels” in
order to get God’s attention. That’s not
what it’s about.
The parable talks about the
fact that often the justice of this world is dispensed for the wrong
reasons. The widow didn’t receive
justice because the judge was convinced of the fairness of her pleas. He says: “Though I have no fear of God and no
respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will
grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.” He gave her what happened to be a just
outcome so that she would go away and stop bothering him. It was for his convenience - not for the sake
of justice.
Do you think that you can
pester God into getting your way? Do you
think that you can wear down God’s resistance to your pleas so that eventually
God will give in and give us what we want?
Do you think that you can work your way in God’s good graces by praying
over and over again?
Understand this: nothing that we get from the Lord comes our
way because we have done anything to deserve it. Everything that we receive from the Lord
comes our way because of God’s own faithfulness and love for us.
This parable is about
unceasing faith and unceasing prayer in a world that often doesn’t care about
either of those things. In our epistle
lesson this morning Paul recognizes all of this and advises Timothy: “… proclaim the message; be persistent
whether the time is favorable or unfavorable. [2 Timothy 4:2]” This parable is a lesson in contrasts: the contrast between God’s faithful justice
and the fickle injustice of the world.
This parable is about who’s
justice we should have faith in: the
world’s or God’s?
It seems that by nature we
are impatient. Last week the Nobel
Foundation named three American economists as the winners of the 2013 Prize for
economics. Despite the fact that
millions of people would like to be able to predict tomorrow’s stock market
prices, all three Laureates have performed detailed studies of stock prices and
concluded that past prices cannot be used to predict tomorrow’s price of an
asset. However, their data seem to
demonstrate that prices will follow a predictable pattern “in the longer
run." [“The Prize in Economic Sciences
2013". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 19 Oct 2013. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/2013/]
“Longer run” is not clearly
defined.
We all want results
tomorrow. We want the value of our
assets to increase tomorrow. We all want
the answer now. We all want the social
ills and injustices of this world resolved today. Why doesn’t somebody do something?
Why doesn’t God do something
NOW!
The kingdom of this world is
a broken, sinful place. Injustice and
cruelty abound. Look at the images of
politicians from last week who were more concerned with photo ops with veterans
who wanted the various war memorials reopened than they were with feeding
hungry children. This nation abounds
with foolish and cruel injustice.
God does have an answer for
us NOW. Unlike asset prices, the answer
that God offers us is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. God’s past blessings to us are an indicator
of the blessings we may receive today and tomorrow. In God’s “longer run” we can glimpse the
vision of a new world restored to wholeness and defined by love.
I love old hymns. As music some of them have run their course,
but as poetic statements of faith many of them are unmatched by anything except
perhaps the Psalms. This is from “Watch
and Pray”:
Christian, seek not yet repose,
Hear thy gracious Savior say;
Thou art in the midst of foes:
Watch and pray. [words by Charlotte Elliot]
Hear thy gracious Savior say;
Thou art in the midst of foes:
Watch and pray. [words by Charlotte Elliot]
“Seek not yet repose.” In
other words the time to sit back and watch isn’t here yet! As Paul told Timothy: “… proclaim the
message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable.
[2 Timothy 4:2]”
But I think this hymn from
the mid-19th Century best addresses our concerns today:
Stir me, Oh stir me, Lord, till prayer is pain,
Till prayer is joy, till prayer turns into praise;
Stir me, till heart and will and mind, yea all
Is wholly Thine to use through all the days
Stir till I learn to pray exceedingly;
Stir, till I learn to wait expectantly.
[words by Mary Head]
Like that widow in this
morning’s parable, we place our stubborn faith in the fickle powers of this
world. Jesus reminds us that God alone
is faithful always.
Perhaps this is the
problem. Placing our faith in God,
building our lives on the foundation of trusting God, means just what that old
hymn proclaims: “Stir me, till heart and
will and mind, yea all [that
is all of me] is wholly Thine to use through all the days….” Placing our faith
in God means placing our heart and will and mind at God’s disposal through all
our days. It means that we must act now to show those around us what life
in God’s kingdom is meant to be. It
means pursuing and standing up for justice, charity, love, kindness and
gentleness in the midst of this world, a world that doesn’t cherish those
values.
We don’t do it to please
someone else; we don’t do it because it may produce a good photo op; we don’t
do it because we want someone else to like us.
We do it because it’s what living today in God’s kingdom means.
Jesus said: “As you go,
proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ [Matthew
10:7]” When Jesus announced the nearness
of God’s kingdom he wasn’t suggesting that we put a toe into it once in a while
to see if it was comfortable. He wasn’t
suggesting that we see whether or not it is sensible to live in God’s
kingdom. He was inviting us to REPENT,
that is to turn around, and live today in God’s kingdom, proclaiming its
reality in the midst of a broken, unjust world.
That’s what Paul means when he says:
“… proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time
is favorable or unfavorable. [2 Timothy 4:2]”
We trust pretty consistently
in the fickle institutions of this world.
Jesus calls us to open our hearts
and give them wholly to God. The kingdom
of God is a new thing. The reality of that sinful, broken, deadly world was
shattered by God’s new reality, and he invites us to live in it today.
God’s kingdom is a brand new
reality founded on God’s new covenant with us, sealed in the blood of Christ
and celebrated in his resurrection. The
boundaries of this world were broken and a new world brought to us in the
resurrection of Jesus. He has redeemed
us for life today in that new kingdom.
Stir me, Oh stir me, Lord, Thy heart was stirred
By love's intensest fire, till Thou didst give
Thine only Son, Thy best beloved One,
E'en to the dreadful Cross, that I might live.
Stir me to give myself so back to Thee,
That Thou canst give Thyself again through me.
[words by Mary
Head]
Use all that we are through
all the days that we may live in God’s kingdom now, proclaiming the message
persistently regardless of the world’s judgment. Stir us, O Lord.
Which kingdom will you choose
to live in this week?
Amen.
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