Part 4 of "Come as you are, be empowered by the Spirit"
Psalm 104:27-35, 2 Corinthians 4:7-18
James McTyre
Lake Hills Presbyterian Church (USA)
We're continuing our series called, "Come as you are, be empowered by the Spirit." We've talked over the past weeks about how we all are, in terms of stuff that doesn't change. You know, most of the time, when someone says, "How are you?" you say, "Fine." Which is the truth. Sometimes. We're all "fine" sometimes. Probably not as often as we say it. If you were to answer truthfully, your answer would change depending on the day, your mood, your hormones, the stock market. But how are you in terms that don't change? That's the point of this series of sermons. "Come as you are," well... How are you? Really? And so we've talked about how you are CREATED by God, LOVED by God, and SENT by God. God created you in love to go and do good works, just like Jesus. And we've also said that if you believe the Bible, you also believe some of the ingredients that went into Jesus are the same ingredients that went into making you. You are made in Christ to go and do good works of faith that God planned for you from the beginning.
So, last week we were talking about how you are SENT by God. This week, I want to lift up the dirty rug on that. What happens when your SENT has WENT? What happens when your get up and go done got up and went? It's easy to be all "Rah, rah, God!" on Sunday morning. But what about Wednesday morning, about 3:45am, when you're lying in bed, staring at the ceiling? It's easy to be all, "Yes Jesus loves me," on Sunday. Everybody's smiling and shaking your hand and saying, "How are you?" and you're saying, "I'm CREATED, I'm LOVED, and I'm SENT by God." (Oh, come on. I know you're saying, "Fine.") What happens when you're un-fine? What happens when you're de-fine? What happens when "de-fine" is what defines you? What happens when you don't feel well enough, or joyful enough, or hopeful enough to be SENT anywhere? What happens when you're broke down? Or gone broke? Or broken? How do you get put back together?
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If you're trying to decide what you want to be when you grow up, can I make a suggestion? Orthopedic surgeon. Maybe you don't want to do that, but my advice if you want to make enough money to have a pretty big sized boat is to specialize in installing replacement parts. On people.
Let's do an experiment. I want to see how many people have artificial parts. Raise your hand if you've had a knee replacement. A hip replacement. A heart valve replacement. One or more stents in your arteries. Raise your hand if you've had a major organ replacement. If you've had a implant in your eye. Raise your hand if any part of your body has been augmented, lifted, tucked, upsized, downsized or supersized. Raise your hand if you've had a tooth replaced, or a crown, or a filling. If you or you child have had tubes in your ears.
Remember the TV show, "The Six Million Dollar Man"? Loved the beginning. "We can rebuild him. (Rebuild him?) Make him stronger, faster, better than before." That was my favorite show for a long time. (Some of you are going, What the heck? He had two bionic legs, one arm and one eye.) And then they came out with "The Bionic Woman." (She had two bionic legs, an arm, and an ear.) And then, they had the bionic dog. (Seriously. Proof that anything worth doing is worth overdoing.)
Bionics used to be sci-fi stuff. And now, half (or more) of our little congregation has been rebuilt. Half of us have been made better than before. Or at least, closer to how we used to be. Now they're talking about how by about 2050, if the planet's still here and if human beings are still the dominant species, we'll be able to download our brains. Aren't our grandchildren going to love that?
Bionics used to be sci-fi stuff, but now it's an everyday thing. You can be rebuilt. You can be made stronger, faster, better than before. Or at least better than you were a few months back. 100 years ago, if you had any of these replacement parts, you'd be considered a miracle. If you've had any replacement parts, you're a miracle of science, a miracle of biology and lots of other stuff that would make Leonardo Da Vinci say, "Mama mia! That's awesome!"
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But it's not just body parts. How many of you have a cell phone? Has it ever stopped working? How did you fix it? Did you get out your soldering gun and your tiny little tweezers? Of course not. You took it to the cell phone store. And you begged and pleaded and signed a 22-year contract extension in order to get a replacement.
How many of you own a car and the "Check Engine" light has come on? "Check engine." Well, that's descriptive. Open the hood. "Yup, the engine's there. Checked it." But the light's still on. You have to take it to your licensed, certified repair Ph.D. "Oh, well sir, looks like you're going to need a new flux capacitor." "Well, can't you just fix the old flux capacitor?" "That would require a number seven metric titanium flux capacitor attenuator. You probably remember that the number seven metric titanium flux capacitor attenuator was outlawed in December of 2010."
We live in a culture of replacement. Car stops running? Replace it. Cell phone breaks? Replace it. Government's broken? Replace it. How about your kids? Or your parents? Haven't really found a legal way to do that one yet. Maybe it's just better to spend all your time with other people's kids, or ignore your parents. Pretend they don't exist. Replaced. How about a marriage? Come on. You know people who do this. Every seven years or so. Replace him. Replace her. We live in a culture of replacement.
Which is weird, because, we're always complaining we want somebody to fix things. Fix the government. Fix Social Security. Fix the kid. Fix the marriage. We talk as if stuff can be fixed, but we live in a world where very little is even fixable.
But almost everything can be... replaced.
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What if God replaced... you? What if God was going over the numbers for the last quarter and saw you weren't really living up to your potential? What if God said, "Me bless her little heart. She's been wallowing in sin for years and she just doesn't seem to be able to get it going"? What if God said, "You've dishonored your mother and father enough, young man"? What if God said, "Tsk. The performance reviews consistently say, 'Needs spiritual improvement,' and I'm just not seeing it"? What if God replaced you?
(There's a cheerful thought. Thanks a lot, preacher. Just remember, the door swings both ways.")
What if God replaced us? What if God bought into the culture of replacement? What if God who the psalm says, "Rejoices in his work," what if God who "sends [the] Spirit and renews the face of the ground," what if God said, "You know. I never really cared for those Bible verses. Gimme an eraser. And while you're at it, these people just aren't doing so hot. Send in the entire second string."? What if God replaced us? What if that was God's standard operating procedure?
If there was ever a candidate for replacement, it was the Apostle Paul. If ever God would have looked down and said, "What was I thinking when I made HIM?" it would have been Paul. Paul - or Saul, as he was known early in his career – Paul was the Number 1, top of the leader board, Persecutor of the Year for ten years running. He was top dog of persecuting those religious weirdos called, "Christians." Paul loathed Christians. Paul helped arrest and even kill Christians. He lived to get those crazy people off the streets. If ever there was a person you'd think God would have said, "Yank him off the mound and send in some relief" - send in a substitute – send in a replacement - it would have been Paul.
That's what we would expect. That's the way things work in a culture of replacement. Right? That's what we would do, if we were God. Right? Recall him, replace him, return him. Exchange him for one that works. That's the way things go in this world. Right?
But God doesn't play by our rules. God sent Jesus to appear to Paul in a blinding vision. And then, God sent Paul... to be healed. God didn't replace Paul. God rebuilt him.
The old saints of the church, like John Calvin, who wrote about God years and years ago, used to use the word, "Regenerate." They wrote about how God works on us throughout our lives in a process of regeneration.
If a starfish loses one of its arms, it can regenerate a new one. If a lizard gets its tail cut off, it grows a new one. There are documented cases of grown men and women, with the right medical treatment, actually re-growing, regenerating a fingertip. (I won't tell you what's involved. OK, it's powdered pig bladder paste.)
Paul became what the classic Christian writers would call, a regenerate soul. We might call him a fixed soul. A rebuilt soul. So instead of being replaced, this man who was the #1 persecutor of Jesus was rebuilt by God. Paul who was the #1 persecutor of Jesus became his #1 follower. There are more letters by Paul in the Bible than there are gospels of the life of Jesus Christ.
So one day years later, years after his conversion experience, Paul was writing a letter to a really messed-up little church in Corinth that he had helped found. He wrote these words:
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being RENEWED day by day.
What I think Paul is saying there comes from deep within his own experience. He knew that there was a time when some people – some good, Christian people – might have wished that God would throw him away. But instead, God renewed him. God rebuilt him.
And Paul's message for this little church in Corinth that was kind of eating itself alive was that even though you might look at those people who are actively helping you lose your religion, even though you might look at them and think, "God, could you just send in some replacements?" – even though you might look at YOURSELF and think maybe YOU should be replaced, you're not the one in charge.
God's in charge. God doesn't think like you do. God doesn't replace; God restores. God doesn't remove; God regenerates.
God rebuilds.
Listen to what Paul says next in his letter to the church in Corinth. He says:
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
Jesus had a two-word summary of this. He called it, "Born again." Some churches celebrate being Born Again as a one-time, life-changing moment. Kind of like Paul, when Jesus appeared in that blinding vision. And that's wonderful. If you've had that kind of experience, praise God. The writers from the Presbyterian traditions think of it less as an event and more as a process that takes a lifetime. You're born again, and again, and again. That's why so many of our ancient church writers and leaders used the word, "regeneration." It's a process. It's a growing. We endure the birth pangs and growing pains – and I know, those of you who have given physical birth are thinking, "Ow" - we endure the birth pangs and growing pains not just once, but in an ongoing, regenerative way. It might hurt, but it's not punishment. It's preparation. And so Paul can write,
our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
God is not getting ready to replace you. Not now. Not ever. God is rebuilding you. Every day. You are REBUILT by God.
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The earth is filled with wonderfully adaptive creatures. Given enough time, the earth and all that's in it can adapt and adjust to changes. The starfish, when it loses an arm, adapts. Instead of five arms, now it has four. While that fifth arm is regenerating, the starfish learns to get by with what it's got. I don't think starfish have brains capable of self-awareness, so it probably doesn't sit around on the couch, hanging with Spongebob and eating Cheetos saying, "Man, when that fifth arm grows back, I'm going to be so great again." No. The starfish just goes on with four arms. It adapts.
We're part of the earth and all its creatures, too. But we have self-awareness. We have choice. We can choose to adapt. Or not.
The very word, "regeneration" assumes something's missing to begin with. And like the starfish, you may not even be aware of what you're missing. You may have unconsciously adapted in order to survive. That's what kids in abusive homes do, all the time. They just adapt. They adapt to their environment in order to survive. That's what people who live in homes where there are addictions, or mental illnesses do. They adapt. Happens every day. They don't think about it. It's just a survival instinct. If I do "A" I get hit; if I do "B" I don't. I'll do B. It's not a conscious choice most of the time. We adapt. We're like the starfish. We adapt.
But the very word, "regeneration" also assumes there's growth happening, too. And it's growth that might be so slow and so subtle that we might not even notice. So many of you who have kids who are now off at college say, "It happened overnight. I blinked my eyes. Last week, I was changing her diapers. Now she's a Drama major." No, it didn't happen overnight. It took 18 years. It just took you 18 years to adjust. It took you 18 years to realize the change, the growth, the generation and re-generation happening under your nose. Just because you don't notice it, doesn't mean it isn't happening.
Maybe you feel stuck. Maybe you feel like saying, "That sounds interesting, but walk a mile in my shoes." Maybe you want to say, "I'm tired of changing. I'm tired of adapting. Let the world adapt to me for a while." Maybe you do. But just because you're not aware of your own regeneration, don't assume it's not happening. Just because you aren't able to see it doesn't mean it's not there. Just because you keep hoping for one thing doesn't mean God isn't rebuilding you in another way. In another place. It might take a long time. Your rebirth, your born-again-ness may not be obvious to you. You know what? It's probably not obvious to the starfish, either. But it happens just the same. With or without your participation. With or without your choice.
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"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen."
Interesting that these words were written by a man who was stricken blind by Jesus. Think about those words, though. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.
How is that even possible? I think what Paul's saying is that we need to realize that there's always more going on in the world, that there's always more going on in us, than meets the eye. How do you fix your eyes on what you can't see? That sounds like a contradiction.
I guess the first step is admitting to ourselves that there's more going on in us than we can choose, or direct, or decide. As for myself, I sure hope so. But then what? Even if you confess that there's more going on in you than meets the eye, how do you figure out what it is?
Based on what I know about the Bible, I'm thinking both Paul and Jesus would say, pray. You've got to pray.
But here's the thing. I think most of us pray out of our culture of replacement. We want God to fix things, and fix them while we wait. Just like your brakes. In 30 minutes or less. Immediately. Most of the time, we pray for God to fix things. Fix them now. Dear God, fix my mom. Fix my dad. Fix my kids. Fix my financial situation. Fix my job. Fix my spouse. And, OK God, if they can't be fixed... replace them. Which doesn't mean you really want a substitute. (I don't know, maybe you do.) I think what we're really asking is for magic. Please, God, let me wake up and go, "Poof!" and everything will be fixed, my problems will be replaced with solutions.
What if instead of praying that God will do magic on command, what if we prayed NOT from our culture of replacement, but what if we prayed out of God's culture? God doesn't replace; God rebuilds. God regenerates. What if we prayed out of silence? What if we prayed not by asking for a quick fix, but prayed by searching. Prayed by really getting honest, really getting aware, really getting truthful with ourselves about what's happening right beneath our noses? What if we prayed - not asking for anything to be fixed - but instead concentrating, searching for what God's already doing, that 99% of th time we don't even see?
What if our prayers stopped being wishes for God to see (and fix), and started being confessions of what we don't see (and can't fix)? What if our prayers stopped being about what we want replaced, and started being statements of belief that God is already rebuilding?
What if we all prayed that way? Might we then become a whole church full of believers, focused not on ourselves whom we can see, but on God, whom we can't? What if every church fixed their eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen? Can you imagine what that might do?
Whether you see it or not, whether you admit it or not, God is rebuilding you. Whether you can see it or not, whether you can admit it or not, God is rebuilding us. God is rebuilding us, as a church. God is showing us how to adapt. God is showing us how to survive. God is growing new life. In you. All around you. You are REBUILT by God. Be empowered by the Spirit.
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