Sermons
"Religious Luggage"Pastor Ken Hilston |
Luther had a great knack for getting to the point, at least most of the time. He wanted to make sure his flock focused on the essentials of the faith. Luther even had a word to call IMPORTANT things for the faith that however were not essential, adiaphora. Things called adiapohra were important, and might support the faith, but they could at times be changed, and still would not jeopardize the faith. The adiaphora is never THE faith. How you exactly worship or pray, changes, but not WHO you pray to. You can't be careless in prayer or worship, but be careful when you demand to others things have to be done that way, or else!
Of course we find it hard at times to distinguish between what is adiaphora, what is essential, and what is just a faith curiosity. And it seems, it is easier to be interested in the adiaphora and what is simply curious.
One day someone asked him what God was doing before He created the world, and basically Luther said, God was going around, gathering the biggest sticks He could find to hit over the head anyone too concerned over the unessentials. If the Lord God wanted you to know something specifically, He would have told you. First things first. Don't let the unessentials clutter your theological mind and take away from the unessentials!
We all carry a lot of unessential religious baggage around with us, worried about all the unimportant things, and all too often, casual about the essentials. Yes, its all right to be curious, but realize those things are only a curiosity, not foundational, helpful but not critical. Of course the curious things are safer to banter around with, because they seldom expect anything of any consequence from us. However, they do give us an upper hand over those less "knowledgeable" in the unessentials! Usually, those excess ideas and religious thoughts prop us up, while giving us the permission to look down on the "less prepared" in the faith.
People in Matthew's congregation found it easier to think about different laws and social status things. Most time was spent trying to decide who belongs and their organizational hierarchy. That was much easier to discuss, for those in power already, than what our Lord had to say, "even if you hate your brother or sister, you have committed murder." The sanctity of all aspects of life is more disturbing to investigate than who was clean or unclean in the faith and whether they were or were not deserving of being in worship with us. What our Lord says addresses the whole congregation, no matter how it is constituted.
Caring about others, and reconciling ourselves to others is much harder to legislate and define, yet our Lord reminds us, "if as you go to bring your offering up to the altar, and remember you have a quarrel with your neighbor, first, reconcile yourself to them, and then finish up your worship. First things first." Of course, that does not come easily. People might wonder why you didn't publicly make your offering. You might start to look like one of the lesser members of the flock.
I was thinking after looking at all the new airline rules, maybe our Lord needs to charge us for all our extra checked baggage in the faith. Airlines, rightly or wrongly, do not want any more baggage than they have to carry because it takes more energy to fly, costs more fuel. Just maybe, with our excess unessential faith luggage, it might explain why our faith has a hard time soaring, why it is hard for our spirits to be up lifted, and then becomes more difficult to see Christ in our neighbor. That extra luggage is heavy, and weighs us down!
People are getting sneaky. The item on Monday alerted people to all those bringing on extra carryon luggage, "don't expect to find space in the overhead bins. Everyone is trying to get around the new fees and sneak as much as they can overhead." We were used to, up to a few months ago, jamming as much into our suitcases as humanly possible, sitting on them to make sure they closed, but for all our extra effort, we got to take all those things we probably really didn't need in the first case.
To all this hecticness and panicky packing our faith luggage, our Lord commands us, "come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." Not only is most of our faith luggage unnecessary, it is also called by our Lord a burden that makes it harder for us to not only do our Lord's will, but be relaxed, and enjoy being close to Him.
The prophet Isaiah has a unique and scalding look at our religious burdens, those burdens that don't appear to be burdens on first sight. In his 46th chapter, he paints a vivid portrait of the end game of these burdens. The people of Israel while in exile first were jealous of the idols of Babylon, their attractive religious baggage, Bel and Nebob. Babylon seemed stronger, so their gods must be more powerful and therefore, true. The people of Israel were impressed with these idols that inspired much hope.
However, the Lord God had appointed Babylon's enemy, Cyrus, to overthrow Babylon, including Bel and Nebob, and thus free Israel. Isaiah recounts a religious processional of the defeat of their gods, how their gods in the short run seemed the answer, but now in the long run, have become not only the problem, but a tiresome heavy burden.
Isaiah 46:1ff "(their gods) Bel bows down, Nebo stoops, their idols are on beasts and cattle; these things you carry are loaded as burdens on weary beasts. 2 They stoop, they bow down together, they cannot save the burden, but themselves go into captivity. 3 'Hearken to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from your birth, carried from the womb; 4 even to your old age I am He, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.'"
This sorry portrait exposed the religious burdens, and from time to time, was presented to God's people as a religious warning. Here their faith had to be protected, rather than the other way around. Not only were the idols running for their lives, but were burdens to be carried, even causing the cattle transporting them to stoop down low to the ground. This heaviness, this lethargy gives us a clear picture of our lives when we try to provide in the faith, what our Lord wants to provide for us.
Maybe initially, those interesting tidbits of the faith, warm religious feelings or amazing answers to what seem secrets, support us. Eventually, when life does not provide all the comfort we desire, those supports cannot be leaned on. They only lean on us as excess confusing religious baggage, as we chastise ourselves for trusting what has so little really to do about the foundation of our faith. We have become experts in religious trivia, trite answers and easy solutions, all on the periphery of the faith, where at least initially, things seem safe, safe from harm, and safe from the real expectations of the faith.
Isaiah gives us that picture where basically we are yoked to what is only a burden, yet offers the sky. Those burdens are only deadweight, what in our minds we pretend will work well for us, but are only shiny ideas on the outside, with nothing on the inside, their current Golden Calf. At times, we are strong enough to have the luxury of carrying around those empty, yet heavy burdens, the extra suitcase at the airport that didn't use to cost you so much. As with a yoke, we don't even realize at times what excess weight tags along with our curious lives. And yes, it is a yoke, where we relinquish our control to what really is nothing, yet oh so heavy, and has no idea where it is going. It is always dangerous when we decide what yoke fits our lives.
We also have a yoke our Lord provides for us in the faith. However, as one person proclaimed in the faith, our Lord's yoke fits our lives. Yes there is always a yoke in life. But His, fits us for what we truly need in life. His fits who we were created to become. Being yoked, we do not have to look back, only where He sends us in life. It might be frightening to look back and see who and what at times we might be yoke ourselves to!
Maybe we think our Lord gives us unwieldy burdens, such as loving our brother, neighbor or enemy, but what about the burden of spending our time figuring how to outwit and ignore the needs of those who also bear the imprint of Christ in their lives. Yes, we can think up reasons why one person is better than another, but so can they! Yes, we might use our faith energy to push them out of the way for a while, but that game of tug of war with life, does become an added burden to all of life. Of course, that is a game that only decides just how beaten up we are in life. It is only a game, we know, we can never win.
True, we have to trust that our Lord is leading us where we can best make use of our faith energy. And when we know that, we know that our faith energy will be used where it makes a difference. The One guiding us is the One who took the biggest burden upon Himself on Good Friday. He knows the burdens of the world. He knows we do not need to, nor can, carry them ourselves.
In many ways, Isaiah described for us that One who yokes us to Himself, describing His yoke, what He does, and has done for us. " I have borne you from your birth, I have carried you from the womb even to your old age, I am He, and to the time of gray hairs I will carry you. I have made you , and I will bear you; I will carry you and I will save you."
To those yoked, our Lord says (Matt 11:28-30)
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. My yoke fits you!"
It is strange, that for all but the infants, the babes, all this is foolish. The so called smart ones choose what truly is a burden, that goes nowhere. They would really be surprised when they look back to see what they are yoked to. Amen