A few years ago, a pastor was invested as the new rector at Christ Church Charlottesville. Paul Zahl's sermon topic at the investiture--"Just Give Up." During the sermon, PZ said that, if he had any advice to give to Paul Walker as the new rector, it would be to "give up." You could hear nervous titters of laughter from the congregation. If these words shocked me, someone who's listened to PZ for years, I can't imagine what the poor congregants were thinking. 'Just give up' doesn't sound like any Christian admonition or advice that I've heard before.
Yet, this is what Jesus was trying to convince the Pharisees to do. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus made it clear that we can't keep the Law. He analogized hate to murder, lust to adultery, and said that we are called to be "perfect as our father in heaven is perfect." Jesus did the same thing in His parables. Not one of us would act like the Good Samaritan--becoming unclean to help an enemy, then providing over-abundantly for him. Like the Rich Young Ruler, not one of us would sell everything and give it to the poor. So, if Jesus is trying to convince us to give up, what implications does this have for our Christian life? Can we finally law down our merit-badge list of things that Christians do? If we lay that down, are we called to do anything?
This morning, Debbie and I were discussing that life is not random. Last Sunday, our SS teacher was teaching about sovereignty, and I asked him if he had ever seen the movie 'Signs.' Yes, he had and he said: "Ellis, the longer I live the more I realize that life is not random." Not to spoil the movie, but God uses weakness, quirkiness, and even death for redemptive purposes. Shymalan (acting in his own movie) says: "It's as if it was meant to be," when he's asked about a tragic event in the movie.
Debbie and I were discussing how, if we just acknowledge that life is non-random, we see God working everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. Last week, our cleaning guy was coming, and Debbie told him not to clean our son's room since he left it in a mess. Debbie and I were discussing how to deal with this--take his car, ground him. Our intentions were actually good. We wanted to prepare him to live by himself at college. We hadn't decided what to do. We had discussed this with our son before, but he didn't think that cleaning his room mattered. That nite, we were watching 'Raising Hope' with him. 'Raising Hope' can be inappropriate at times, but the love that the characters have for one another, and the humor that they share with one another, is simply amazing.
In this episode, the father and grandparents of Hope, a 2 year old, were debating about whether to spank her to deal with the 'terrible 2s.' The discussion turned to whether the grandparents had spanked their son, Hope's father. They claimed that they did, but it turned out that they hadn't. "No wonder he never learned to keep his room clean." "No wonder he's still living at home with his parents." Our son then understood why we wanted him to clean his room. It came from an outside source. It is so difficult for teenagers to hear or receive any advice from their parents. Keeping your room clean obviously isn't that big of a deal, but lack of self-control can bleed over into other aspects of your life.
Obviously, this a mundane example, but God lives in every aspect of our lives, mundane or otherwise.
Debbie recalled a Candid Camera episode where the flowers on the table were rigged to move. Rather than trying to figure out what was going on, or marveling at the moving flowers, the people got up and moved to another table. Debbie recalls being saddened that the folks were ignoring the wonder in their lives. Debbie then said: "How can we ignore the wonder of Jesus in our lives?"
Which brings me to sanctification. Per Jesus, we are called to 'just give up,' and look for God's actions in our mundane lives--the entry of God's kingdom into this world. It can't help but gladden our hearts. It can't help but cause us to be thankful. With thankful hearts, we can love our difficult families. With thankful hearts, we can face difficulties such as sickness, job loss, and death. With thankful hearts, we can even forgive ourselves, and then others.
Happy Thanksgiving.
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