" Tell the World to Shove It"

Do you have days when you would just like to tell the world to shove it?

What do you do to escape the hectic madness of living in the world?

What does Jesus mean when he tells his disciples and us, we are to live in the world but not of it.  Let us explore that theme in today’s message.    

May 17, 2015 readings:  Acts 1: 15-17, 21-26,  1 John 5: 9-13, John 17: 6-1

There is something very tempting about escaping from this crazy world we live in with its financial pressures, and the lack of down time that seems ever so prevalent in our lives today.    Advancements in Technology haven’t really opened up more free time as it promised.  In fact it has actually absorbed much of the free time we once had.  Many of us are caught in the vicious circle of trying to live life to the fullest as presented to us by the standards of our world.   The pressures to live a certain way begins with the choice of a life style.  We can choose to live in the world and of it, or we can choose to live in the world but not of it.   What’s does that mean and what’s the difference?   Lets take a careful look at these two concepts.  

It doesn’t matter what job or career you identify yourself with, they all come with baggage, standards and conditions that have to be adhered to.  A person is not going to an interview for an office position dressed in a T shirt and speedo shorts and expect to get the job.   No, you may have to acquire a shirt and tie, or skirt and blouse for the interview and then you might even find there is a dress code requirement for the position.  Even the homeless and the beggar on the street have codes of standards they live by.  In Jamaica if you beg on the street and have a corner that is productive, you can be envied and considered rich by your colleagues and there is great deal pressure placed upon you concerning how you are going maintain your position.  It’s not easy out there folks, no one escapes the pressures of living in the world.   Everyone, no matter where you are on the economic indicator, wants to live life to the fullest but what is the perception here?  Usually, it is a worldly perception that requires you to achieve something first and then you spend a lot in order to live life to the fullest.  Hence you live in the world and you live of the world. 

Deep within your Spirit though, there is this mysterious longing to find a way to live a life of simplicity and contentment.  The camper, cottager or woods person who travels light and simply, they know the feeling.   Are you with me Church?   Making due with less, using whatever is at hand, being creative, inventive, and sense of beating the system.  Leaving the hectic world behind.   Hence you begin to experience a small portion of living in the world but not of the world.   And that’s experience gives us our first taste of living in but not of the world. We are not there yet because that was just a teaser.

Religious faith has also been known to intensify this longing, especially if you have had a spiritual experience or a glimpse of God’s unconditional love, joy, or peace in your life.   The spirit does not hunger for the luxury of a resort getaway, nor just the simplistic living of a camper or cottager but hungers for community and a way of life that avoids the clamour and conflict of the world.   Many religions of the world are known for their attempts to achieve such a communal arrangement.  There are monasteries, convents, reform movements, and retreat centres all over the world.   The central focus here is to separate themselves from worldly living, meaning living outside the world, in order to maintain a faithful holy life through study, prayer and piety.  This may sound great and I am sure God uses them as he uses all who attempt a closer relationship with their Creator.  But we are still not quite there yet folks because they are attempting to live a life separated from the world.  This too is not yet where God wants us to be.

Apparently this thinking was beginning to take shape within the community of believers during Johns’ time.  Jesus could sense the danger here for the chosen 12.  Instead of being a presence in the world, this thinking could cause them to hide from the powers that were opposed to the teachings of their Master in an attempt to avoid conflict and keep to themselves.   If this had become the way for the early churches I would not be writing this sermon today.  Jesus knowing his time with them was short and where this thinking could lead the disciples, he prays for them this prayer.  Found in John 17: 6-19 He prays:  God, give those you gave to me, the courage to face the world head on.  Not to hide away but to face the reality of their world with faith.  Jesus knows that faith even as small as a mustard seed can move a mountains.  He also know that the worlds standard of living, that of achieving, of money, power and materialism are not realistic. They will drain and discourage his disciples because all these things are date.  Some marked only good until, and or an expiry dated.   But the kingdom standards, a way of loving others as we love ourselves, a way of serving, and sharing  with all who are in need will never end and this is the way to live IN THE WORLD but not OF THE WORLD.  Meaning entangled with temporal worldly standards as opposed to God’s eternal standards.  Do you suppose we choose our eternal destiny?

I really didn’t understand what this meant for me until Carolyn and I went to Jamaica to minister in the small community of Red Ground in Negril for three month in 2012.     When we arrived we were to live in a manse that was completely surrounded by wire fencing, with a locked steel grate and steel gated windows and doors.  It was strange because the majority of the people we were to serve in the church also lived behind security fences, gated entrance and locked doors.  Yet the people we ended up serving did not come to church I served, nor did they had a wired fence around their home, and often no locked door.  In fact many didn’t even a home or a door.  These were the people from the community of Red Ground who came often to manse looking for help, needing or wanting money, food, clothing, or the minister’s signature on an application form so the person could apply for a job.  They didn’t know me nor I them they just need a signature of a clergy.   I spend two or three days working with a family member to raise enough money to get a young boy out of jail in Savlamar.  He had been taken by the police because of an unpaid fine.  After another two day of visiting the boy in jail we finally got his fine paid so he could come home.   The contrast was overwhelming at times and my heart cried out in both compassion and confusion many a day.   Yet at the same time it was accelerating, full of excitement, where there was life and death, where you had to face the reality of their world every morning.   There were conditions and situations that we often had to face with fearless faith, just to see us through the day.   As we got to know the community and as they and we began to trust each other, the fence, the gate and the locks became more and more a hindrance than a safety factor as the call to mission, living in but not of kept getting stronger and stronger in both Carolyn and I.  I didn’t know it then, but I know now, that Jesus’ prayer was meant for anyone who will try living in but not of this world.    My prayer for you individually, for this Pastoral Charge and those who may be reading my blogg is, let’s face our reality with the faith we profess, even if it is only as small as a mustard seed folks, it will move mountains.  Living life to the fullest can only be found following in the ways of our Lord.  Not to worry, for God will provide for all your needs whatever your decision, for you are the beloved.  Let us pray.
                                  
                                           "I'm Gonna Live So God Can Use Me"