Sermon prepared for Messiah Lutheran Church, Auburn WA

for the 8:30 contemporary service, 9/24/00

by Gregory S. Kaurin, associate pastor

 

Text: James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

 

Puffing the Devil Away

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Beginning of service:  Satan’s best weapon is distraction.  He’ll even use just causes and right motivations against each other.  He wants to distract us from our unifying goals and from our basic unity in Jesus Christ.  In honor of that basic unity, let’s all stand and welcome each other to worship.

 

The sermon:

 

Two weeks ago, I described the congregation to which James was preaching.  Can anyone remember their biggest problem?  [Inactivity.  They weren’t doing anything.]  James was frustrated because instead of doing the mission of church—not only were they not doing much—but also all the petty bickering distracted them.  That kind of bickering was in the church from the beginning.

As with any church, there were several big egos, smart fellows, and wise leaders, and each of them had a few followers.  So, there were lots of great agendas, missions, goals and ideas, but nothing was getting done.

This went on week after week. Imagine the apathy, and the good intentioned, hard working people that were caught between all these different goals, ideas and thoughts.  What do you think that was like?

At Messiah Lutheran Church, we’re fairly healthy.  We’re blessed with a number of hard-working staff and lay members.  But we have similar things with which we struggle.  Alongside all our good intentions and hard work, we get distracted.  This message of James applies to us, too.

 

James wrote, “Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.”  One thing I want to be clear on: James was not a strict “Herr Pastor,” moralist, not a “do as I say or get a ruler over the knuckles” kind of guy.  And James wasn’t telling people to run around busily doing good works, just for the sake of doing work.  If that were case, I’d look in his letter and find a big list of “do this, and this, and this.”

I don’t find that.  Instead, I hear him calling for an attitude adjustment.  Like all the rest of scripture, he knows that it starts here, with the head and heart.  When the head and heart are in right place, then the hands and feet will follow.  It’s the head and heart that are in charge.

 

Two weeks ago we talked about the “Law of Liberty”: Those who have been shown great mercy need to show mercy.  From that law, all sorts of great attitude adjustment will follow.

First, James wrote that such a person will have a “gentleness born of wisdom.” What does the wise person know?  The wise person knows the mercy of God.  Knowing such a mercy gives you room to be merciful and gentle with others.

Second, James wrote that this wisdom from above is “pure.”  That means it is cleansed and focused.  It’s clean because the person knows God’s forgiveness.  And knowing that provides focus.  You no longer have to be overly concerned for yourself.  Instead, you can focus outward where God’s Mission is.  You can focus on this person in front of you, then the next, or the next task.

Third, James wrote that the wisdom from above is “peaceable, gentle, and willing to yield.”  Because of patience, mercy and a forgiving heart, you know that there are some battles not worth winning.  It isn’t worth it if it sacrifices the mission.  Those are called distractions.

 

I honestly think that distractions are Satan’s easiest and best tools that he uses on us.  And distraction comes from every direction.

There is guilt, our constant worries.  Sometimes your conscience, your guilty conscience distracts you: “Oh, why did I say that, why did I do that?”  “I was so clumsy; boy, that was sure stupid!”  Sometimes we got to let go and trust God’s forgiveness enough to forgive ourselves.

You know what Martin Luther said once?  (And this is really crass, but Luther was crass, in the pulpit and at home.)  He once said “When I get to fussing over what I did or did not do, I begin to realize it’s the devil trying to trap me in guilt instead of trusting God’s forgiveness.  So here’s what I do: I [break wind] and tell the devil to add that to his list and send him on his way!”  Puffing the devil away.

Hollywood often creates a big impressive frightening devil.  The truth is, the devil is both weaker and stronger at same time.  He’s only strong because of the prevalence of evil and destruction around you.  And in your life, he’s only strong through subtlety: the doubts and anxieties, selfish, even self-righteous religious pride.  These are his best weapons.

But for all his strength, trickery and deception, you have everything you’ll ever need to puff the devil away into the night and shut the door on his tail!  Put your hand on your forehead.  What’s up there?  [The mark of Christ, the seal of the Holy Spirit.]  That mark stands between you and everything, between you and everybody, and it’s infused into your life.  You have the power of the Holy Spirit and the cross of Christ!

What did Jesus say from that cross?  [Father forgive them.]  How did the Father answer?  [On the third day, he said, “Yes!”]

 

So shut the door!

 

But it’s not just guilt that distracts us.  It can be religious pride that gets in the way.  Even worthy causes and legitimate issues can be a distraction.

The last couple of synod gatherings down in Tacoma have been filled with time spent on the Lutheran-Episcopalian Agreement that was recently passed.  Some of you may not know much about it, and you don’t need to.  But for last several years, there has been debate after debate over this issue.  Some people have legitimate concerns.  I do.  I have legitimate and theological arguments both for and against the agreement that we’ve made.

So, some of my friends wondered why I wouldn’t join the debate more vocally.  My answer is that even legitimate concerns, even the causes that seem most righteous and huge, can be a distraction from the real mission of the church, and congregation

I watched a very irreverent movie this weekend: Dogma.  (Horrible language, very controversial, and base.)  But in it, one woman tells the main character what she finds wrong with her faith.  The woman says, “I have a problem with any religion that treats God like a burden instead of a blessing.  You people don’t celebrate your faith, you mourn it!”

So, I am not going to pretend to be a Martin-Luther-wanna-be over some arcane interpretation of “apostolic succession,” when there are babies being born and baptized, and people celebrating and mourning …LIFE.

We get too caught up in things, doing things the right way at the right time.  I tell you, if we were so theologically and liturgically astute that we performed our religion perfectly, it would kill our faith.  Such wisdom that splits the hairs of doctrine and religious stances does not come from heaven, but is earthly, unspiritual and devilish.

Why?  Because it buries the message of forgiveness and mercy.  It ignores the law of liberty and mercy, and places us back under the weight of fear and inaction.

We mourn our faith when we bury it with structure and detail instead of exploring it, like children invited into a world that we don’t comprehend.  Enjoy the diversity, and the huge possibilities of faith. 

I know, I believe, I trust and I hope that when I get to heaven, I will be surprised at every turn.  I’ll be surprised by whom I meet there, by all its new forms.  And when I look back on my life here, I will be surprised and thankful to learn what all of this means, and I will be surprised to learn all the things that were meaningless self-imposed human doctrines.

 

I do take seriously the issues of faith, doctrine and theology—that’s part of my job.  But when they take precedence over the central proclamation, when it makes us red-faced or divides us from others, then it is distraction.  It is the toe yelling at the finger, saying, “Be more like me, a toe, otherwise you’re not a real Christian!”

We each need to come to the table with enough humility, and what James calls wisdom, to know that in every case I might be wrong, …and that is forgivable.

 

Except for this one thing: I am a child of God, forgiven by the sacrifice and power of Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit.  Imagine the gentleness you can wield with that knowledge.  Imagine how you can reprioritize things that would otherwise distract and rock your faith.

 

I was tempted last night and this morning, not to set up anything for worship.  I was tempted to pull us all back to the basics of what we need to worship: just a place to gather and a time.  If we get too tied up in the right and wrong ways and things of worship, then we are again distracted.

I was also tempted to do it out of sheer frustration.  All three pastors want to see this congregation, including this service, thrive and flourish.  We are coming at it from all angles, hoping to increase the technology we use and hopefully by adding a Director of Worship and Music to our staff.

But there is a missing ingredient.  And that missing ingredient might be you.  For instance, there is no way that a pastor should be singly in charge of setting up chairs and sound equipment, and the sole arranger for songs and special music and instruments.  I can’t tell you how thrilled I am, like two weeks ago, when there were people here to help set up.  It made my burden fun!  Especially now, while Pastor Steve is on sabbatical, there is no better time to demonstrate in tangible ways that God is a blessing and not a burden in your life.  Be active, and if you see something that needs to be done, then it’s probably you that is being called to do it.

James was preaching to a people that sat on their haunches bickering and criticizing, but getting nowhere and doing nothing to help.  We are a long way from that, but don’t let it happen to you or your congregation.  Let go.  Get involved, and have fun with it.  Bring your kids and friends.  Sing boldly.  Work hard.  Because there is someone who worked so hard for you.

 

Puff the devil away.  “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”  He is present, already beside you.  Turn and look around.  There God is, and here at the font, here in the sacraments and here in each other.  Puff the devil away, shut the door on his tail, and let’s get some work done!  Amen.

 

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