Proper 6 (C) Did You Enjoy it?



Proper 6 (C) Did You Enjoy it?
July 2, 1995
By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell


I have a Jewish friend in Walla Walla who believes that in the last analysis God will judge us according to our deeds. If our constructive good deeds outweigh our destructive evil deeds, we can expect that God will have us. 


I have known many people who think of themselves as Christians who believe the same thing. Their aim is to make themselves right with God by their own actions. We have to jump through all the hoops we think that God has put in front of us. (We do it out of pride).


There are two major problems with this approach; 1) It doesn’t work. 2) It hammers the joy out of living. 


There are only three options open to those who believe the must achieve perfection by keeping God’s laws;


    1) Option one, they are honest enough to admit their human frailties and stay away. 


    Example) My Dad used to say that the reason he didn’t go to church was because the roof                           would fall in on him. He said that he didn’t want that to happen for the sake of all the                 good people in attendance.


    2) Option two, is the give it your best shot and then drop out in despair, or to disassociate yourself                              from the hypocrites you got to know while “in the game.”

    

    3) Option three is to be one of the hypocrites that cause honest fold to distance themselves from the                      phonies who think they are perfect.


    Example: There was a lady that I met who proudly told me she hadn’t sinned since 1936! How        would you like to have her looking over the shoulder of your life.


As followers of Jesus Christ, it is imperative that we understand the difference between trying to make God’s honor roll by actively working to earn His love, and passively believing by faith that our good relationship with God has been established as a gift from Christ.


It’s the difference between misery and joy. We Episcopalians once said in our General Confession, “O Lord, have mercy upon us miserable offenders. Spare those, Oh God, who confess their faults. Restore those who are penitent; according to the promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord.” When we accept God’s love in Christ, we start each new day renewed. No matter what we have done or left undone. This gift of love allows us to stand up tall and take on what needs to be done to the glory of God. the key to Christian living is Gratitude!


It's easy to understand why Paul was so adamant with the leaders of the early church when they began to slip back into their old Jewish way of thinking. 


When the old gang came down from Jerusalem to check things out there was a political shift back to the rule of law. Basically, they were saying (again) that the only way to make God happy is to keep the Jewish laws. They insisted that the law must be kept, even though they knew it couldn’t be done. 


Paul stood up and said to Peter’s face, and in front of all his old cronies, “Do you want to go back to that?”


I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So, I quit being a ‘Law Man’ so I could become God’s man. Christ showed me how and enabled me to do it. 


The difference between active justification and passive justification is like trying to make it rain (which we can’t) and letting it rain (which it will). We cannot produce God’s grace; we can only receive it. 


A doable spiritual life is simply putting ourselves in a place where God’s love and truth can wash over us, and where we can hear that quiet inner voice that God uses to point our lives in His direction. 


The only way to live in a joyous Christian life is in our deep gratitude for all that God has given us, and especially as we have responsibilities in relationship to each other. Living, as we do, in pure grace, it’s important that we do not misinterpret ourselves as people who bring goodness to God. No, God brings it all to us. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is, and by what He does for us, not by what we are and what we do for Him.


The power to live creatively comes from knowing that we are loved. 


Our Bishop of Eastern Oregon has wondered if there will only be one question asked at Heaven’s Gate, “Did you enjoy it?”


If we know the love of Christ, the answer to that question will be YES!


If we have spent our lives trying to prove ourselves worthy – we will likely say, “It was rough, especially with this miserable burden of uncertainty.” Christ said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”


We are invited to enjoy Him as we enjoy life.


Amen

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