May 30 Trinity Sunday "Hot Coals"

Readings: Psalm 29, John 3:1-7, Romans 8:12-17, Isaiah 6:1-8
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, on Sunday May 30th, 2021

Isaiah was a creature of habit. He was a believer in God. The things of God were important to him. Faith was a matter of action as well as intellectual assent. So, as he often did, he went into the temple to pray. He had no expectation that God was about to meet with him in a deep and life-transforming manner. In fact, the thought that such a thing should ever happen to a regular guy like him, probably never crossed his mind.

Can we identify with him? I am guessing that we have come into church this morning, because that is what we do on a Sunday. It is a part of our lives. We believe in God. We seek for God’s will to be done. We acknowledge that we need God’s help to get us through our days. Chances are that many of us are happy having a relationship with God on that sort of level.

In fact, anything more than that may actually stress us out, even more than the stresses that we come to church to try and cope with, are already stressing us out! Maybe the last thing we need right now is a dramatic, life changing, earth-shattering encounter with the Almighty. There is a lot to be said for the notion of a 'Comfortable God'.

Isaiah at a later date would declare, 'Comfort Ye, Comfort Me, my People'. Jesus calls us to rest in His love. And are we not Presbyterians, finding comfort in notions of decency and order, taking pride in the appearance of being in control and having things ordered and in a logical pattern? The last thing we need is a change.

Did I say 'Change?' How can I resist the change jokes!

How many Lutherans does it take to change a light bulb? Only one. But it takes the whole church to organize the dinner that goes with it.

How many Baptists does it take to take change a light bulb? Well, the preacher will talk to it, but ultimately it has to make the decision to change for itself.

How many Methodists does it take to take change a light bulb? 'Change?' said the committee, 'What is that? We don't understand the word.'

How many Presbyterians does it take to take change a light bulb? Again, only one. However it is a six year long process requiring overtures to the General Assembly and a majority vote of the Presbyteries.

The thing is, no matter what our religious flavor, we all have strategies in place to keep the wheels of our religious traditions well-oiled and avoid the sort of dramatic confrontation that Isaiah had with God in the temple, the sort that moved him out of his comfort zone.

The problem with being in the comfort zone is, of course, that nothing ever changes. Everything is lukewarm and every day and as predictable as finding Christmas cards in Hallmark in November. I suspect complacency results in our ministry to the world being compromised. We become so consumed with keeping the wheels in motion we forget about those who don’t have wheels!

Isaiah discovered something. When God is on our case, things change. When God draws near, you change, or you are consumed. When the Spirit of God starts to move, the wind will blow, and the sparks will fly.

That morning when Isaiah ambled along to church, the unexpected took a hold. He has a vision of the glory of God. Isaiah 6:1 'I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.' In Isaiah’s vision God is robed in kingly attire. This is not a little god, this is a Godzilla of a God. Huge. Think about that phrase; 'The hem of His robe filled the temple'.

In terms of our sanctuary, just a little bit of the cloth on the bottom of God's robe filled the place. That is a big robe. That is one huge vision to get your mind around. And then there are angels and seraphs buzzing around and music filling the air.

Today in the church calendar is Trinity Sunday, and we read that the angels, in the presence of God are singing a threefold anthem, 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.' I know sometimes when we have the 'Holy, Holy, Holy' hymn, and the sopranos sing that top line, boy it makes the rafters tingle. That is nothing, Isaiah 6:4 in the temple; 'The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.'

The imagery is like that used in Acts 2 when the upper room on the Day of Pentecost suddenly became a place infused with the glory of God. Mighty rushing winds. Tongues of flame falling upon the disciples. The presence of a God whose glory filled the whole earth.

The challenge this passage places before us is to consider that our vision of God is just too small. That the lack of holiness in our lives is directly related to the lack of vision we have in regard to the holiness of God. That we have a God that is constructed from images that comfort and contain rather than the wild, untamed, un-named, glory of Isaiah’s God whose temple visions scare Isaiah half to death!

Isaiah’s response? Let him use his own words; Isaiah 6:5 'I said: 'Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!'. Isaiah’s vision of God did nothing to comfort him or cause him complacency.

It reminds me of the imagery of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: His truth is marching on.”

This vision shook him to the core of his being. Yet at the same time it placed him in a situation where he was prepared to do with his life, whatever God required of him. It was a vision that revealed his sinfulness in the light of God’s holiness. He declares, 'I am a man of unclean lips'.

Picture that. The light of God shining so intensely into your life that every sin, every compromise, every wrong thought, or deed is lit up like the streets of Las Vegas at the peak of holiday season. Lit up for all the world to see.  'Woe is me. I am lost'.  What happened in Vegas, did not stay in Vegas after all.

God is light. Light that lights things up. That is what light does. Lights things up. Reveals them. Makes them incredibly easy to see.  That can be a scary thought. If that’s how God is then no wonder, we often prefer the shadows. No wonder we want to stay in our comfort zone. That kind of God could be dangerous. Wasn’t that just the reaction that Jesus incited in his opponents? They could not take the light. They preferred the darkness.

John’s Gospel 12:5 'The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it'. Going back to the 'How many people to change the light bulb' jokes, it is almost as though sometimes we are like a group of people who want to remove the light bulb because it is working too well. It is making the place look untidy by revealing the cobwebs and mess that needs dealing with!

But the light does not undo Isaiah. An angel comes with a hot coal that is placed on his lips. 'Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out. ' An act of grace. It is in response to this act of grace that Isaiah then declares, 'Here am I; send me!'

I cannot recreate you for you exactly what happened to Isaiah with the hot coal on his lips. Maybe you could smother your chicken in Tabasco sauce at lunch and see if that gives you a zing. It will not convince you of the reality of God’s call on your life, but it may give the people at the next table a smile.

God has not come to us with a hot coal. God’s love has been revealed to us through something far more intense. Through a cross upon which Jesus died a torturous death, praying, 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing'. We have a glimpse of the Glory of God that Isaiah was never able to view. We have a cross and an empty tomb, which reveal that not only does God tower over the earth, but over death and hell, and evil, and all that would detract from life being lived in freedom and wholeness.

That should be enough to move us out of our comfort zone. The question we should ask is 'Does our faith in God mean enough to us to change the way we live? To shine a little more, so that we dare to commit a little more and actually achieve a little more in the way of being the people God wants us to be?'

We are headed in the right direction. Like Isaiah we have come to the temple to pray. Christian growth seems to take place with us kicking and screaming against God every step of the way. We really do not want to move out of our comfort zone. We fear the sort of changes God may have in mind.

But it should not be that way. Can we reflect on the greatness and glory of God? Can we seek to nurture in our spirits a sense of awe and the mystery of God? Can we recognize the radical, revolutionary, hot coal-like, awesome actions of God in Christ’s death and resurrection? Are our hearts prepared to be empowered by the Holy Spirit who can sometimes be found in the wind and flame, but at other times in the stillness of the quiet following the storm?

If we apply ourselves to such things, we are, I believe, moving in the right direction. Who knows, maybe this Sunday will not be your average Sunday. Maybe somebody here and now is hearing the voice of God saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go?' Maybe you are that somebody? Indeed, it is probable, in a world where 'the fields are ripe for harvest, but the laborers are few', we are all people that God is calling to particular areas of service.

The right response to make to the call of God is “Here am I; send me!” If we make the excuse that 'We are not worthy', then God comes with the hot coal of Christ's forgiveness and says, 'No, you are not worthy, but through the forgiveness of the Cross and the empowerment of resurrection glory, my Holy Spirit will guide you!'

Isaiah went, as he often did, to pray in the temple. It turned out to be a day that changed his life. Are we prepared this day to allow this not to be your average Sunday? Are we prepared to allow God to change us and remake us? Will we embrace the call that God places upon our lives to love this world with all the strength God gives to us? 'Whom shall I send, and who will go?'. Isaiah declared ‘Here am I; send me!'

What will be our response to this challenging passage of scripture?

The Reverend Adrian J. Pratt B.D.

Message from the First Letter of John. 5. God Birthed Faith

 

 'Sin, Forgiveness and Love ' (Messages from the First letter of John)  “God Birthed Faith”
Readings: Psalm 98, Acts 10:44-48, John 15:9-17, 1 John 5:1-6
Preached at Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church, NY, on May 9 2021

Our reading this morning, from 1 John 5, brings us to the end of a series that has dealt with his themes of 'Sin, forgiveness and love.'  Last time we saw how it was John who penned the awesome words; “God is Love.”  In this morning’s reading he again brings us back to the theme of love, but this time he reminds us that unless we act upon the love that God offers to us, then we have not really got it.

Our reading today takes us a little further than just suggesting that because we are loved we should love others. John suggests that our loving actions need to revolve around a center. In the household of faith, John tells us that our center is faith is Jesus Christ. He writes in verse 5 “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

Some may ask, “Isn't John's focus on faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God a little restrictive?” What is the big deal about believing in Jesus? Isn't it enough that we are generous and charitable and get along with each other? Why does John insist on muddying the waters by telling us we need to get our focus right about what we believe about Jesus Christ?

As far as John was concerned there could be no separation between belief and action.  'In fact,' he says (Verse 3) 'This is love for God: to keep His commands.” Earlier in his letter he spoke about people who had become so sophisticated in their believing that they had fallen into all sorts of wrong ways of thinking that led them into wrong ways of acting. For John what you believe determines what you do, and what you do shows what you really believe.

 John believed that faith is something that God has to birth within us through the action of the Holy Spirit. Faith is something that in John's gospel is described as being “born from above” that effects the individual as though they had been “born again.” Genuinely believing in God, for John is about having a God birthed faith. He gives us some reasons.

•    Only a God-birthed faith could give us a true love perspective.
•    Only a God birthed faith could create true community.
•    Only a God-birthed faith could conquer the world.

1. Only a God-birthed faith gives us a true love perspective.

In previous chapters John has been incredibly careful to define what he means when he uses the word love. He always uses the Greek word 'agapé'. There were other words in Greek that he could have used. They had a word for family love 'storgé', they had a word for physical love, 'eros', they had a word for brotherly love 'philia'. John uses none of these but uses the word 'agapé' which was particularly descriptive of the kind of love that was seen in the life of Jesus.

'Agapé' love described a life lived for the benefit of others. A love that healed and recreated and went beyond what was expected. A love that lifted the fallen and was more concerned for the needs of the other than needs of the self. John outlines this love in chapter 4:9-10 “This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins.”

John sees Christian action as a response to what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. The act of God in Christ is the motivation and the centering point for loving the world.  When we get it right about who Jesus is, and why He came, it changes the way we live.

It changes the way we see others. We cannot look down on anybody else or see any person as beyond the reach of God. Because Christ died for us, He died for them. Through the eyes of Jesus there is no “us” and “them.” All people are people who need the love and grace of God.

“That's love” says John. It is not a feeling. It is not an emotion. It is not something we fall in or out of. It is not being benevolent or feeling charitable. It is not giving out of a sense of guilt or acting out of duty. It is centering our life in Jesus Christ, being empowered by the Holy Spirit, opening our hearts and lives to the grace of God, and acting in gratitude for the blessings of salvation Jesus obtained for us through His death and resurrection. Only a God-birthed faith gives us a true love perspective.

2.Only a God-birthed faith creates true community

John also insists that if we say that we love God, but do not apply ourselves to loving each other, then we are deluding ourselves, and the truth is not in us. He goes as far as saying that people who act like that, think they are children of God, but in actuality are walking in darkness, not in the light.

In previous chapters we see that John takes sin seriously. One of the most pernicious of sins is that of failing to work at creating community. We had these words in our reading this morning: - (verse 2) “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out His commands.” The stress is on centering our lives in Jesus Christ and allowing Jesus to be the hub around which our community life revolves.

To truly be a community of faith we must look to Jesus and see each other through the lens of the love of God. If we look to each other, if we look to having common interests or being like-minded as a center for our life together, then we become nothing more than a civic organization organized around a particular sense of values.

There is nothing wrong in having community organizations. They can do some great things. But they are not the Church of Jesus Christ. The Church of Christ has a higher calling. To be a place where all people can discover the love of God in Jesus Christ. A place where the outcast can find a home and those who feel unloved can be embraced by God's love. An oasis amid a barren uncaring world where the hurting can find healing and the hopeless be inspired by the action of the Holy Spirit renewing their lives.

Unless we make Jesus Christ our focus... none of that can happen. Unless we make Jesus Christ our center... we quickly become exclusive rather than inclusive. Believe me, I understand bills need to be paid, the building needs looking after and that we have to plan our programs and have our meetings and maintain our records. But, please, never let us stop asking “Why?”

“Why are we a church?” Because God has called us to be a community that demonstrates to the world what living a life together focused on Jesus Christ looks like. Because God has a task for us, a task that can only be accomplished through our faith in Jesus Christ, a faith that we demonstrate by having love for each other and inviting others to be in on it. Only God-birthed faith gives us a true love perspective. Only a God-birthed faith creates true community.

3. Only a God-birthed faith conquers the world.

1 John 5: 4-5 “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

Conquer the world? Lord, who are You kidding? Lord, it is all I can do to hold my life together! You expect a 'pulled in one thousand directions, conflicted, stressed out, not always sure what I'm doing or what I really believe, things to do, places I need to be, person' like me, to conquer the world?

Friends that exactly why what we believe about Jesus Christ is so important. Verse 5... one more time... “Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”

When John says 'Believe' he is not asking us to intellectually give a reasoned response to a number of theological formulations or do a checklist on the Apostles Creed.  He is challenging us to consider where we are coming from, what our lives are revolving around, what we are centered upon.

If we can get it in our minds, that we, you and I, here today, at this time, in this place, are God's ultimate concern, than it can change the way we see ourselves, those around us and everything about our lives. If we can see that God's love really is so committed to us that in and through Jesus Christ, God can transform everything we are and everything we do, then it's going to make more than a little difference to the way we live.

It as we allow God to make a difference in us, through the working of the Holy Spirit, that our lives start to make a difference to the world. It happens in simple ways.

Like inviting a friend to church.  Like visiting or calling one of our shut-ins. Like being a little more attentive to prayer and Scripture reading.

Like helping with one of our mission projects. Like, if God has unexpectedly blessed us financially, including our church family in that blessing. Like not waiting to be asked to take something on that needs doing, but seeing the need and responding, just because we can. 

Like committing to regular support, with our time, talents, and treasure of our local faith community. Like moving ‘What happens in my church” a little higher on our list of life priorities.

To do any of that, in a way that becomes joyful and fulfilling, and not burdensome, it is vitally important we have our center in the right place.  

John reminds us. in his first letter, that the center for both our personal faith and corporate life as a church is our faith in who Jesus is and what God is seeking to do in our lives... about the life of God's world, experienced in and through the Holy Spirit. Why does he do that? Because...

•    Only a God-birthed faith can give us a true love perspective.
•    Only a God birthed faith can create true community.
•    Only a God-birthed faith can conquer the world.
 
Let us seek to be people whose confession of faith is more than words and endeavor to be a church whose focus is so clearly on Jesus Christ that others cannot help noticing Him!

And to God's name be all glory. Amen.

The Reverend. Adrian J. Pratt B.D.