The Temptation of the “Many”

Text:  Ephesians 4: 4 There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to the one hope…--  5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,  6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. INTRODUCTION:  My dear friends in Christ, Our present culture likes to teach that there are all sorts of gods, all sorts of ways to heaven, and that all religions are equally true.  Let’s call it the temptation of the “many” or the many mantra. The temptation for sinners—even with the best of intentions—is going to be to go with the  “many.” There’s a many, many, many, many, many, mantra. The world divisively turns us to the many, many religions and divides us.
I. You can see the “many mantra” in the world’s insistence that there are many ways to heaven, that Jesus is just one of the many.
	A. Now even among those who seem Christian we hear, the many, many, many, many, mantra.  And it’s common to hear: “I believe in God.  I believe the Bible is a good book.  And then I believe whatever I want.”….  And many follow this route.
			1. The thought presented is that Religion is personal, private and individual, and our individual paths to enlightenment are cobbled together from bits and pieces we picked up in Sunday School, sophomore religion class and our latest Google search.
					a. The notion that there are authoritative creeds, confessions, and standards, challenges our inner individual like speed bumps on a stretch of open highway. b. The isolated individual is the judge of his or her own truth.  If it feels right, smells right, tastes good, seems like the right thing to do, then it must be good and true. c. Unfortunately, many have learned this subtle art in church and Bible classes, where they have pondered the question, “What do this Bible passages mean to me?” rather than “What does this objectively mean?” Any notion that beliefs can be right or wrong offends our subjective sensitivities….
			2.  Thus each of us is the judge of our own truth, the master of our own destiny, the god of our own religion.  And this is idolatry of self which leads to our ruin and destruction.  In effect we all become little gods – and then  there are many, many, many gods
	B.     And of course this effects the church:
			1. As little gods we determine what we want to hear, not what God wants us to hear.  God’s word is subjected to the many, many  sensitivities of man.  The voice of God is replaced by the voice of many men.  Salvation among other things is undermined. So even, among Christians, it’s tempting to opt for a manmade “many” mantra. 2. And we see the process as we look at denominations.  Painful though it may be to acknowledge, the reason that there are so many different denominations is not because God has so many different facets or provides different plans of salvation: it’s because people—often with the best of intentions—misinterpret Scripture in a way that doesn’t agree with others, and thus a new church body forms. The large number of denominations today doesn’t testify to a godly diversity, but indicates the many different ways in which man has interpreted the Bible in accordance to mans’ many, many sensitivities.  We need to be constantly on guard against allowing our sensitivities to set our beliefs.
II.     God in His mercy delivers us from ourselves.  He turns us from “our way,” to Jesus’ way.
	A. Our way leads to death.  But Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  His way through suffering, cross and resurrection leads to life eternal.  And there is no other way.
				1.  Only Jesus can adequately deal with sin.  Only Jesus’ death carries the value to pay for the sin of the whole world.  One death, but it’s the death of God for us. 2. [video]  The Hanging Tree was a classic Gary Cooper western film. In that film a young man had been shot and he was dying. Cooper takes out a knife, digs into this young man and pulls out the bullet, stops the bleeding, and bandages him up and nurses this young man back to life. Later on, after he had recovered from his wound, he looked at Gary Cooper and said, "Sir, for what you have done to me, what should I do for you?" Gary Cooper, in the movie, says, "You're going to be my servant for the rest of your life, because that is how long you would have been dead if I hadn't saved you." When God looked down at us He saw us mortally wounded, and took out the knife of His grace, and dug out the bullet of sin that we might enjoy His life forever. Now he calls us – not like Gary Cooper with coercion – but in love.  And we gladly serve Him for the rest of our lives on earth, and throughout eternity because we know his love has saved us from eternal suffering.
	B.   One. One. One. One. One. One. One.  The word “one” appears seven times. St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is all about the Church. In Christ we are all one. In Christ the Church is united.
				1. On the one hand, Christianity is intensely personal: not only do we declare that Jesus died for the sins of the world, but we also declare that Jesus died for you. But since you are now part of the Church, it’s not just between you and Jesus.
						a. Sin isolates and divides; God gathers and unites in His Son, Jesus Christ.  Nothing of the Christian life and faith is ever purely a private, individual matter, neither our sin nor our salvation…. b. He puts us into Christ.  He preaches the Gospel into our ears.  He baptizes us into Jesus’ death and life, a washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.  He gathers us into His family. c. Therefore, in humility and gentleness we say, “I am here for forgiveness, but I am not the only one here.” And with patience we say, “We are all here because we are all sinners in need of forgiveness. Some may do distracting things, but they are my family in Christ. I will bear with them, even as I try not to be a distraction to others.” Humility, gentleness, patience, all of these maintain the unity under Christ.
				2. And Paul tells us: We believe, teach, confess and worship in common together.  We share common creeds and confessions.
						a. The Bible is the Church’s “community property,” God’s gift to the whole Church, and the Church congregates to hear the Word preached and taught.  b. The creeds and confessions of the Church guide and govern our conversations and guard us from repeating the errors of the past.  The Church is always engaged in holy conversation, hearing God’s Word and repeating what was heard. …
III. We need to learn to trust God’s objective Word and not our subjective feelings, to say “no” to the desires of sinful nature to have things “my way.”…. .  Thus St. Paul describes the Christian faith in such a way as to emphasize how the Gospel unites us. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. Seven times he says “one.” The message of the Gospel makes us one in Christ, for He has joined us to Himself.
		A. Our unity in the church can be illustrated like this: The late humor columnist Mike Royko relates a story told him by his "friend," Slats Grobnik (a rough-edged Chicago character of his own creation who frequently shows up in his columns). Slats, who that year was selling Christmas trees, told of a poor couple who showed up, late in the season, in search of a tree. There wasn't much left on the lot, and certainly nothing in their price range (which was next to nothing). Finally, they came up with a Scotch pine that looked okay on one side, but was bare on the other. Nearby was a similar tree that was much the same. They asked Slats if he'd sell them both trees for $3. Realizing he wasn't likely to sell either sad-looking tree for any price, Slats agreed. A few days later, Slats was walking down the street and saw a beautiful tree in the couple's apartment window. It was thick, full and well-rounded. He knocked on the door and asked them where it had come from. They told him how they had placed the two trees close together where the branches were thin, and had interwoven the good branches. Then, they had wired the trunks together. "So that's the secret," Slats asserts. "You take two trees that aren't perfect, that have flaws, that might even be homely, that maybe nobody else would want. If you put them together just right, you can come up with something really beautiful.”  God takes us, who aren’t perfect and puts us together to make something beautiful.  That’s one picture of the Church.  B. And that something beautiful is put together to work like this: 1. [The Movie: Witness, The barn-raising scene,]  Much gets done united in Christ 2.  And as we work He turns us inside out—from the “many” mantra—to Christ in faith and to our neighbor in love.  Like this: I read a story recently about a circuit riding preacher during the frontier days of our land. He was a humdinger of a preacher named Jesse Lee. He once preached a sermon on Acts 17:6 that reads like this in the new King James Version: “These that turned the world upside down have come here also.” The thrust of his sermon was that sin has turned the world upside down, and the design of the gospel and the business of the ministry are to set the world right side up again. Well, the people of the town decided to have some fun with this passionate circuit rider and so the next day when he rode into town nearly everything looked ridiculous. Everything that could be turned upside down had been turned upside down: wagons, signs, gates, etc.  The people of the town got a laugh at the preacher’s expense, but at least they got the point. The purpose of the church is to turn the world upside down or better right side up.
CONCLUSION:    You and I have a tendency to look to the mantra of the many.  But God turns us right side up.  He gives us the unity of the one.  Through Jesus He makes us one in Christ.  And He unites us to be God’s agent, Christ’s body at work in the world.  Amen.

Living in the Rainbow Promise

Text:  Genesis 9: 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."  12 And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:  13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.  14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds,  15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.  INTRODUCTION:  My dear friends in Christ, At least two generations ago Judy Garland captured our imaginations as she dreamed of a place “Somewhere Over the Rainbow, way up high, there’s a land that I heard of, Once in a lullaby”  It is a better world to which we might escape when trials and troubles threaten to overwhelm us.  “Somewhere over the rainbow, Blue birds fly; Birds fly over the rainbow, Why oh why can’t I?”  We know the feeling.  Wistful sentiment about a mythical place that is over the rainbow.
I.  But you and I live “under” the rainbow as did Dorothy in spite of her wistful song.  Dorothy was even subjected to that tornado – that’s a very “under” the rainbow kind of thing.
A.   And “under” the rainbow bad things happen.  Sometimes even the best people that God ever created suffer horribly.
1. People who sing in the choir, people who teach Sunday School, people who serve for years on church boards no one escapes completely.
		a. And the vexing part is that we can only answer the “why” in generalities – which does not always satisfy completely. b. A young minister was in his office when a lady a stranger to him came into the church and into his office. “Are you the minister here?” she asked. “Yes, I am,” he replied. “Come with me,” she said curtly. They went out to the front of the church where she had her car parked on the street. Stretched out in the back seat, the minister saw a twisted figure of a man. She waved her hand referring to that man, and said, “This is my brother. Paralyzed by an accident caused by a drunk driver. If you are a man of God, do one of two things: (1) heal him, or (2) explain this tragedy.” He could do neither. Well we can explain in a general way a tragedy in a better way than this pastor.  We do know why we can’t fly over the rainbow. It is because we are sinful. Sin has brought changes into God's creation with which we still have to live and contend.  Some of those changes are the tragedies we face when we live under the rainbow.  And we can’t fix this on our own.
2.  And with sin there is something in our very nature that is rebellious, that is self-seeking, that would put ourselves upon the throne rather than God.
		a. I am reminded of the story of the little girl who had done something wrong and her mother told her to go to the corner and said very harshly to her, "You will sit there until your father gets home." The little girl stuck out her lip and said, "I'll stand in the corner but I won't sit in the corner." Her mother went to where she was standing, took her shoulders and forcibly sat her down. When the father came home he asked the little girl what she was doing sitting in the corner. She said defiantly, "My head tells me I'm sitting in the corner. But my heart tells me I'm still standing." b. What do you do with a disobedient child? What does God do with his children in the light of the fact that we all fall short, we all miss the mark? We all have a lot of rebellion within our souls. It did not work for Him to destroy humanity and start over as he did with Noah. He knew that it would not be long until humanity slipped back into the slime again. What is He to do?
B.  It can be stated like this. THOUGH GOD IS DISAPPOINTED EVEN IN THE BEST OF US, HE LOVEs EVEN THE WORST OF US.
1. Because of His love He sent Jesus into our world.
		a. We can envision it like this: You see God is like the father who told his son he would send him to sleep in the attic, with only bread and water for his supper, if he were disobedient once more. The child disobeyed him again and was sent to the attic. The father could not eat. He had the boy on his mind and heart. His wife tried to console him: "I know what you're thinking. But you must not bring the boy down from the attic. It would only cause him to lose respect for you and disobey again. You must not break your promise." Her husband replied, "You are right, I will not break my word--but he is so lonely up there." He kissed his wife good night, entered the attic, ate bread and water with the boy and when the child went to sleep on the hard boards, his father's arm was his pillow. b. Somehow I believe that God is like that father.  And Jesus is him coming into the attic to be with us – Jesus is God coming “under” the rainbow to be with us in our sin tainted world.
2. So the answer to the question: What to do about the sinfulness of humanity? Is Jesus.
		a. What Jesus embraced with his birth, with his life, he also embraced with his death. Jesus embraced the Earth. Jesus was born as an earthly child. He lived as an earthly man. He died, as an earthly criminal. Jesus’ life and mission and death as the Second Adam were wholly tied to this Earth. On that cross Jesus embraced our sin.  And that sin was drowned in His blood.  b. So the reason behind the cross is: the sin of the world could not be dealt with by destroying all the inhabitants except for eight, because sin was in those inhabitants, then God would save all the inhabitants of the world by the willingness of one person to offer his life as a sacrifice, a ransom, as a substitute, for us.
II.  And now we don’t wistfully long for “somewhere over the rainbow,” we don’t live “under” the rainbow as we did before, but now we live “in” the rainbow promise and more.
A. After the tragedy of the flood God gave the rainbow promise.  Rainbows follow storms to give hope
	1. Every rainbow is a sign of the promise made with Noah, his three sons, and every living creature. And since Noah's sons are regarded as the ancestors of all nations, it was an inclusive covenant for all people, for all eternity. The bow in the clouds is the sign that the covenant is sealed, that God is dependable, and is true to his word. 2. Then Centuries later, a new covenant was struck and a new sign given. The bow itself is still in the clouds, but a greater sign has appeared to remind us that we are not only delivered from the threat of global flood, but from sin, death and the devil.
		a. The second sign is the Cross  b. And after the tragedy of the cross came a sign of hope above and beyond the rainbow – the resurrection.  Jesus has conquered sin which is the reason for death.  Jesus rose and thereby conquered death.  Jesus is victorious.
B.   And now we are given hope because our God is gracious and patient. In the New Testament Peter tells us that the rainbow promise is connected with Christian baptism, as he recalls for us the days of Noah and how eight persons were saved through the water (1 Peter 3:20). As the flood cleansed the world from the effects of sin, so the waters of baptism cleanse us. Our sins are washed from us onto Jesus. And we are given what Jesus has done, we are given hope.  Now we live “in” the rainbow. In this great hope there is power to face the stormy seas of life.
	1. But Sometimes we still seem to live “under” the rainbow – the sin-tainted world, our sinful flesh still affects us.
		a. Some of what is happening here can be summarized by this: Out of Scotland comes a story about a man named Joseph Craik. Years ago he became known all over Scotland as "the man who turns inkblots into angels." Joseph Craik was a talented and creative penman who could write and draw beautifully. He was appointed as writing master in a village school in Scotland. Often, as children will do when they are learning, his young pupils would leave inkblots on their pages. While most teachers would chastise the students, circling the inkblots in graphic red and taking away points for sloppy penmanship, Joseph Craik would do something quite different and delightful. Taking his talented pen in hand, and beginning with the blots made by the children, he would add a line here and another one there, and out of the inkblots would come pictures of angels! So when the students were given back their papers, they weren't all marked up with harsh criticisms. Rather, they were wonderfully decorated with exquisite angels! The children were delighted and pleased and encouraged. And Joseph Craik became a legend in his own time, known far and wide as the man who turned inkblots into angels! God is working, molding, to make us more like Him all the time as we live “in” the rainbow promise. b. And as He works in us we can look at the signs of hope – the rainbows, the cross, the resurrections and we have hope.  Now when suffering comes; I can point you to a rainbow and a cross and say to you: God has not forgotten us. God has promised that He will not forsake us when the flood waters of sorrow and suffering threaten. Hold on to that promise live “in” the rainbow.
	2.  And as we live “in” the rainbow here, we live expectantly.  Soon, all too soon for most of us, we will be living “in” the rainbow of heaven.  God has promised this – the rainbow, the cross and the resurrection are guarantees of this promise.  And God keeps his promises.
CONCLUSION:    So many live wistfully dreaming of “somewhere over the rainbow.”  But in reality we all live “under” the rainbow where storms causes by a sin-tainted world assail us.  But Jesus came “under” the rainbow with us.  He drowned sin, the cause of our sorrows in His blood on a cross.  Then He rose – death could not hold Him.  Now we have the sign of the rainbow, the cross and the resurrection.  And because of these signs we now live “in” the rainbow promise.  We are given hope.  Now we know that even when tragedies occur in this life “under” the rainbow, we are brought to see that we are “in” the rainbow promise.  And we are “in” the rainbow promise that carries us through the storms of life to heaven.  Amen.