St.
Martin in the Fields Church, Atlanta
What we perceive as difficulty, and
disappointment might in actuality be God’s preparation for new and exciting
chapters in our lives that are as yet undiscovered.
O God be in my mouth as I speak for you and fill this
place with your great grace, that we may leave this place less of what we use
to be and more of what we ought to be, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
“But Joseph said to them, Fear not for am I in the place
of the God? As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good,
to bring about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do
not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones. Thus he reassured them
and comforted them.”
As I get older and hopefully a little wiser, I have become
aware that spiritual growth in a priest’s life comes from the inspiration that
you draw from other Christian men and women that you meet on your journey.
When you meet an extraordinary person, hopefully a little
bit of them rubs off on you and with a little help from God you can then pass
along a little of their spirit to others.
When I first heard of John Claypool’s death last week, I
found myself naturally thinking about how I could rub a little of John’s life
onto you.
We first met during a preaching mission at my former
church several years ago and that initial acquaintance developed into a warm
friendship that I treasured.
For those of you who did not know John, he was formerly
rector of St. Luke’s Church in Birmingham, and in his retirement was teaching
at Mercer’s University’s school of theology here in Atlanta.
A well-known preacher and author of eleven books, John was
someone who in his written work and teaching ministry touched the lives of many
people particularly when it came to dealing with a loved ones death.
The empathy for people who had suffered lost did not come
easy for he himself had lost his own daughter to a form of leukemia when she
was only eleven.
Yet from this terrible ordeal and through an abiding faith
in God, John inspired all those he met to be less of who they use to be and
more of who God wanted them to be. Yes my friends, those are his words not mine
and I am grateful that he shared them with me.
Although I am aware there are many things that demand our
attention today: the anniversary of September 11th, continuing
relief efforts following the hurricane, and Rally Sunday, I want to spend some
time with you sharing some thoughts about our lessons that were influenced by
John’s theological vision.
In many respects John’s theology addressed all of the key
questions of human existence; why are we here, why we suffer, and what awaits
us in the life to come.
So I believe these reflections ultimately will in some
small way touch on the events of our present day and they cannot help but have
some bearing on our mission and ministry at St. Martins in the coming
year.
As I have said previously and John would have agreed an
important part of Christian life is built around the way that stories from the
Bible shape our lives.
In the book of Genesis one of my personal favorites is the
story of Joseph. He’s the one who had the coat of many colors.
The story of Joseph has about everything you would want in
a television soap opera like the O.C.
It has jealousy, betrayal, attempted murder, lust, death, and lots of
action.
These broad outlines of his life, remind us that as much
as things change there is a lot within us that is not very different from our
Biblical ancestors. Joseph’s story also
describes three important truths about God that can comfort us when we feel
overwhelmed by the floods and famines of human life.
The first lesson we learn from Joseph’s life is that
change is possible. All too often cynical people settle for a pessimistic view
of human nature. You have heard the phrase, “A leopard can’t change its spots”.
The person who collected the stories in Genesis understood
though the complexity of our existence. They knew there is much good and bad
that dwell within all of us.
When we first meet Joseph, he is just a spoiled brat. As
the favored son, he wears a long robe with fancy sleeves not good for working
outside but just lying around his tent living a life of leisure.
To top it off Joseph has the audacity to tell his older
brothers that he has dreams that imply one day they will all bow down to him.
In the culture of his day, younger brothers were expected
to keep their mouths shut since the older siblings ultimately held all the
purse strings upon their father’s death.
One day while the older brothers are sweating and toiling
with the sheep in the field, they see the lazy and “full of himself” child
approaching.
At first they want to kill him but cooler heads prevail
and instead of death, he is sold to slave traders who take him to Egypt. The
brother’s dip the hated robe in blood and tell their father that a wild beast
killed his favorite son.
It is here where change begins to occur in Joseph’s
life. With an unshakeable faith in God
and in spite a few setbacks Joseph rises to be the Pharaoh’s right hand man
because of the ability he has to interpret other people’s dreams.
In the course of the story, we see how Joseph changes from
a selfish person to one that is willing to forgive and care for his family and
his brothers. Despite what others may have done to him, he is able to save his
people from starvation.
The second thing that Joseph’s story teaches us is that
perfection is never a prerequisite for God to begin his work with an
individual.
What we see in the story is not an individual who
automatically starts off being a saint. No he is like so many of us;
Self-centered, and always seeking the easy path in life.
Yet as John Claypool once said, “God really is willing to
take us where we are and patiently move us toward where He wants us to be.”
Joseph’s story is not about where he starts off in his
fancy robe. No, instead it is a story about how he chooses to live his life once
he has found himself at his lowest point.
Perfection is the end point of our spiritual journey not
something that we achieve at the beginning or even in the middle.
In fact perfection is not something we need for God to
love us. Think about how many times well-meaning Christians have gotten that
one wrong.
My friend John put it this way, “Most people are familiar
with how last verse of Matthew chapter 15 is translated in the King James
version: “Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is
perfect. But in the original Greek, the imperative “be ye” and the future “ye
shall” are spelled the same way.
Had that translation been “Ye shall be perfect, even as
your Father in heaven is perfect”---that is put in the form of a gracious
promise—I believe that would have been closer to the truth of Biblical religion
and perhaps saved us from the notion that perfection is what we must do on our
own to qualify for God’s love”.
So no matter who you are, no matter what brought you to
St. Martin in the Fields Church this morning, God loves you already. You don’t have to do anything to earn God’s
love.
And most importantly of all, God wants to give his
life-changing love to you. Ye shall be perfect and that wonderful promise can
start for you today.
Finally the third thing that we learn from stories about
Joseph is that all human life is to be regarded as a gift.
This is one reason that we see Joseph putting his brother
through the paces at the end of the story. He knew that they had once cast him
into a pit, into slavery and into what might have been certain death in a
foreign land.
He insists on his brother’s bringing back Benjamin, his
father’s new favorite son to Egypt to see if they had learned anything about
what they had done to him. Did his brothers finally know that life was a gift
from God?
The key moment comes when Judah the one who had originally
sold Joseph into slavery offers to take Benjamin’s place after the silver cup
has been discovered in his belongings.
He says to Joseph who he still does not recognize, “Now
therefore let your servant, I pray you remain instead of the lad as a slave to
my lord and let the lad go back to his brothers. For how can I go back to my
father if the lad is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would come upon
my father?”
Remembering the pain and sorrow that his actions had
caused his father when they had faked the death of Joseph, Judah now is willing
to take the place of his brother.
Judah has learned how precious the gift of life is and
having been entrusted with Benjamin’s life by his father, he is ready to answer
for his past sins and take his brother’s place as a slave in Joseph’s
household.
This is the turning point in our story as Joseph breaks
down in tears, embraces his brothers and reveals to them his true identity.
Of course, things could have turned out quite differently.
Joseph could have bided his time, and taken his revenge on his brothers.
Yet the story shows that revenge and hate have no part in
the life that God wishes us to have in the church today.
Joseph even tells his brothers that God is always able to
accomplish his life-giving purpose even when they might have done things that
seemed terrible.
He says to his brothers, As for you, you meant evil against
me; but God meant it for Good…”
God took the hardship of his life as an opportunity for
Joseph to one day save his people from death and bring about the eventual
reconciliation of his family.
Joseph’s story reminds us of the both the unknowability
and the goodness of God’s ultimate purpose for our lives.
What we perceive as difficulty, and disappointment might
in actuality be God’s preparation for new and exciting chapters in our lives
that are as yet undiscovered.
This is how a story like Joseph’s, can change the approach
we take to our lives as Christians and give us all confidence that we need to
face the challenges that lie ahead.
God is not done with us yet and thankfully, God is ready
to help us change our lives and in doing so, be able to change the lives of the
people that he has called us to serve.
There is no greater call and no greater mission that we
could possibly ever have as a church than this.
Let us pray.
Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to thee, so
guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills that we may be
wholly thine, Utterly dedicated unto thee; and then use us we pray as thou
wilt, and always to thy glory and welfare of thy people; through our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. Amen