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“No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back
is fit for the Kingdom of God.”
St. Luke 9:61
Throughout the years I have accumulated all sorts of earthy wisdom -
In addition to the spiritual wisdom for which one strives to gain.
One piece of wisdom that I have added to my storehouse of my own
Poor Richard’s Almanac is:
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish…..and you never see him again on weekends.”
And then I have learned bout how important it is to put first things first. When I began my Ministry at Trinity church, Jasper, Texas - I was told about a very elderly Priest from New England, (about 85 years old), who would come to Jasper to fill in during the Winter months - to get away from the severe weather back in New England.
Anyway - one Sunday as he was preaching - the Priest collapsed - and as Dr. Dickerson and others were carrying him out - as everyone thought he was dead - the Old Priest revived and said - “Wait a minute,” - “What,?” said Dr. Dickerson,
The Old Priest said: “Don’t forget to take up the offering.”
From this - the wisdom I have learned is that:
Some Episcopal Priests have returned from the dead just to take up the offering.
Well so much for earthy wisdom.
I don’t have too good a memory - but I somehow seem to remember stories -
Stories though which are somewhat mundane -
but still nevertheless - present very important object lesson.
***Bishop Sterling’s Story: “Not as long as I’m driving this bus.”***
As Shakespeare once wrote: “Ah - therein lies the rub.”
It is so true that when we set out to serve the Lord and we are so pumped up and dedicated - and before you know it - our own ideas - our own will - our own desires seem to get in the way.
I have discovered that this is really where the rub comes in - this is where the rubber meets the road - this is where many of us fall back and part company with the Lord - indeed the One whom we set out to follow in the first place.
There is no doubt about it - this verse today - is one of the hardest of Jesus’ sayings
For it ranks second - it ranks next right after:
“If anyone would follow me - let his take up his cross and follow me.”
* * * * *
It is the distractions that tempts us -
It is the appeal of those things that catch our eye -
It is the glamour of those things that we do not have -
But which so many other do have - that puts us in a tension -
that makes us keep looking back to see what we are missing out on -
* * * Plowing and the Farm House * * *
I don’t know about you - but that has been the story of my life - trying to be obedient and trying to follow the Lord - but at the same time I always keep looking back -
Being pulled to see what I am missing out on.
Jesus warns us about keeping our eyes on other things - instead of following Him.
This drove St. Paul to utter depths of frustration -
when he finally cried out:
“Who will deliver me from this body of death?
For St. Paul said he tried to do God’s will - what he really wanted to do -
but that he ended up not doing God’s will - exactly what he didn’t want to do
No wonder he cried out: “Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
At one time - I thought that this verse only applied mainly to the Clergy -
We Clergy - who are always so tempted to veer off in another direction - by some kind of attraction that would pull us away from our real task and Ministry.
However - I can honestly say - that I don’t have those distractions very often - probably not more that 15 - 20 times a day.
*****
Some years ago - I once asked the Vestry to stop before we transacted any business and take some time out to pray - to pray to first discern God’s Agenda .
That is - what it was that God Himself wanted us to do.
They rose up in arms - quite alarmed that I would presume to propose such a motion - You would have thought that I had asked them to burn the Church down.
The very idea they said- for we have our own agendas to work on - and they were quite sure that there agenda was God’s agenda. W R O N G !!!
Yes - we each have our own personal agenda - however - Do we presume that it is also God’s Agenda? - Do we presume to have an Agenda - without first Praying long and hard to discern just what it is that God truly wants of us?
St. Paul in his Epistle to the Philippians tells us:
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…..”
One of the first steps in discerning God’s Agenda - is first to try to discern
The Mind of Christ Himself ---WWJD? What would Jesus do?
To be sure - this is what Jesus did Himself -
“Father - not my will - but Thy will be done.”
Jesus told His Disciples - “My meat is to do the will of Him who sent me.”
Doing God’s will is what energized Jesus - Being obedient to God - is what motivated Jesus - Jesus’ dedicated his entire life was to fulfill
The Mission for which God sent Him.
In the Prophet Isaiah God says:
“Your thoughts are not my thoughts,”
Your ways are not my ways.”
Let us not presume that our will is synonymous with God’s will.
Let us not distort the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
* * * * *
Will Willimon’s: Father-in-law
It is so easy - it is so easy for our wills to be mistaken for God’s will…..and yes - there are times - when we have no trouble presuming to bend God’s will to our own.
However - that is a violation of the third Commandment -
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord Thy God in Vain.”
For that is what the Third Commandment means - for it just doesn’t have to do with profanity - but to profane God’s name is to attribute to Him -
our own thoughts and ideas that are contrary to His.
Calvin Miller in his book “The Singer,’ -
which is the story of the Gospel of Mark cast in allegorical language -
something like J.R. Tokien or C.S. Lewis would write
says this:
“Obscenity is not exposed flesh - but exposed intentions.”
What Calvin Miller is saying - is that all too often - we take those minor things -
such as prudish ideas - and make them so very important - while we soft peddle or even ignore the more serious and the more blatant offenses - such as our own…..
- well - you name it.
How many of us do what Jesus accused the Pharisees of doing?
Jesus told them: “You strain at the gnat - but you swallow the camel.”
For we each have own favorite and private blind spots that we try to conceal
or worse even yet -
t
hat we even try to pass off as God’s way - or the right way.
How often do people stand firm and will not budge on minor issues -
but would never say a world about crucial things like:
Injustice - Poverty - Hunger - Racism - Violation of Human Rights -
Greed and Oppression?
James and John wanted to bring down fire to punish the Samaritan
For not receiving Jesus and His Disciples -
However - that was not the way of Jesus -
For we need the Light of Christ to help us to see in our Spiritual Blindness.
* * * * *
As a Christian - I will begin to take people seriously when these issues are important and crucial to them - However, as St. Paul responded to some of his detractors:
“Trouble me not - for that which cometh upon me daily -
the care of all the Churches.”
As we come to our Celebration of Independence Day - this coming Wednesday -
We give thanks for this wonderful land - this wonderful country.
I am not a flag waver -
However Betty and I have traveled throughout this World
And there is not for us -
Not one Country that comes even close to the blessings
We have in our own United States.
In spite of the shortcomings of our Country -
still whatever we do - as we continue to strive
“For a more perfect Union,” - all that we do must always be measured and
It must stand alongside the Plumb Line of God’s Justice -
and not our own personal agendas -
Our own personal agendas - that sometimes have a jaundiced view of
how to correct thing and how to make things better.
As we all work together to “Form a more Perfect Union -
We keep out eyes on the Lord - We keep looking forward as we follow Him -
We do our best not to be distracted -
We earnestly try not keep looking back at our own oftentimes distorted prejudices.
For if it is Freedom that we truly want -
Then it is only in His Service and in His obedience -
That Perfect Freedom is ever possible.
To do other than this - is to sow the seeds of our own devastation.
Story: Oscar Wilde
“The Moon is so very beautiful…..”
“Yes - but you should have seen it before the war.”
For life has a way of bringing down to the dust -
Those kinds of personal preoccupations - of pride - of glory - of grandeur -
of pretense and delusion -
That are not informed by God’s will -
That are void of God’s ways and God’s Commandments
To put our hand to the plow and not to look back means for one thing -
To earnestly and sincerely work for justice and peace -
And to help promote a Society that fosters Respect for
The Dignity of every Human Being.
It means not to be distracted by the voices of discord that try to slander
Those who are different from us, those who are different from -
our customs and our ways -
But to keep on following our Lord to wherever He leads us.
The real truth is that none if us is fit for the Kingdom of God -
But it is in the Following our Lord - it is by being in His Company
It is by not being distracted - but by walking hand in hand with Him -
that He leads us into that Kingdom
The Kingdom of God -
Of which we could never gain entrance -
Without Him.
Text:
Jesus said to him:
“No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back -
Is fit for the Kingdom of God.”
A M E N & A M E N !!!
jdp+
