10.8.23 "Rubbish" - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 Psalm 19; Philippians 3.4b-16

I’ve always loved the Apostle Paul.

A man who believes with ferocity … intent, purpose, clarity and focus … no one’s fool … no one gets anything by him … he knows his stuff … he’s well-trained in theology and tradition; he knows his Bible frontwards and backwards … he knows how to put his thoughts together … how to argue and debate, to make a case for the faith.

On the Damascus Road, he was on his way to root out any talk about Jesus as the Messiah … for Paul, also known as Saul, this messianic notion was pure nonsense, and dangerous to the welfare and future of his people …

On the Damascus Road …

Let there be light!

And a voice:

Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

“I’m not persecuting you, LORD … I’m defending you … I’m doing what’s right, what’s needed, what’s necessary … I’m one of your staunchest believers … I’d die for you LORD … you know that - you know me through and through … I’m on my way to Damascus to root out the lies, the falsehoods, the deceptions … I’m on my way to Damascus to tell the truth.”

Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

Saul is puzzled.

Who are you, LORD?

Saul uses the term LORD … the LORD, God Almighty, the LORD of heaven and earth … the LORD God of Israel … the Holy One … 

LORD, who are you?

On the Damascus Road, fateful words that changed Saul’s world … words that would change much of the world in the next 2000 years …  

I am Jesus!

From this moment on … Jesus becomes the LORD God Almighty … everything about the LORD is now focused in Jesus … 

Jesus, the Anointed One, the Christ, the Savior, 

Son of God, Son of Man, Son of David, born of Mary, 

the LORD of life and death … 

in whom we live and move and have our being.

As for Paul, Saul is his Hebrew name … Paul is his Roman name - 

Paul was born and reared in Tarsus, a Roman city, in what is now modern-day Turkey … Roman Citizen buy birth/Hebrew by faith … Paul is of two worlds … the world of his Jewish Faith, and the world to which Christ called him, the Roman World, the world of Gentiles … and so it was, that Paul, this man of two worlds, now came to be known by his Roman name - Paul, the Apostle of Jesus, the Apostle to the Gentiles, Apostle to the world.

In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he makes a point: the fundamental, radical, equality, of everyone before the Throne of God.

1700 years later, we find the same idea in our Declaration of Independence, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Our nation has squabbled about this from the beginning … there were plenty of folks who believed inequality to be the bedrock of life … 

Senator James Henry Hammond declared to the Senate, March 4, 1858: 

In all social systems there must be a class to do the menial duties, to perform the drudgery of life. That is, a class requiring but a low order of intellect and but little skill. Its requisites are vigor, docility, fidelity. Such a class you must have, or you would not have that other class which leads progress, civilization, and refinement.

Hammond denounced Thomas Jefferson and declared:

… ‘slavery is the corner-stone of our republican edifice;' … I repudiate, as ridiculously absurd, that … dogma of Mr. Jefferson that 'all men are born equal.'

Hammond goes on: 

"I firmly believe that American slavery is not only not a sin, but especially commanded by God through Moses, and approved by Christ through his apostles.”

We fought a civil war, on the very question: are all people created equal, by God? … or has God, in fact, created lesser beings, to serve the greater beings?  

Paul the Apostle confronted this in the great city of Corinth, where status was everything … Paul fought against it, tooth and nail … no, no, no, shouts Paul - in Christ, we’re all equal … we’re all one before the throne of God.

Paul coined the metaphor of the body:

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”  ….  … God has so arranged the body … that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

Paul wrote to the Christians in Galatia:

As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Paul knew whereof he spoke … Paul knew all about prestige, privilege, and status … 

his birth, his ancestry, his education … 

his poise and conviction, his zeal for the cause … 

when it came to bragging rights, Paul won every contest.

But life is not a contest … 

On that Damascus Road, Paul learned how to handle all of his achievements, all of his abilities, all of his status … 

Paul learned how to give thanks for all it … because it’s all a gift, every bit of it, a gift … his family, his training, his energy, his faith - none of it achieved, all of it received.

Paul now recognizes how deformed was his soul, how misshapen, twisted, and broken he was - he measured himself against others, and found others to be inferior to him … he found himself to be superior … on top of the heap … better than most, and maybe even better than all.

And that, says Paul, is pure rubbish … nonsense, silliness, foolishness, and worse - rubbish.

Do you wanna know what Paul really says?

Cover your ears … I’ll try to be polite - he says, “It’s all excrement” “dung” - the Greek word is skubala - we had fun with that in seminary! … skubala - sounds dirty, doesn’t it?

We might use other slang words … but whatever the point, the point is clear:

His attitude of superiority was just so much skubala.

Everything is a gift … 

Not to set him apart from others, but to equip him to serve the world, the common good, the needs of humanity … 

where there is loss, Paul speaks of gain … 

where there is death, Paul points to life … 

where there is hate, Paul affirms love … 

where there is fear, Paul welcomes grace, 

where there is division, ill-will and dissension, Paul celebrates the love of God … 

Paul moves his work and purpose into the singular, great truth of life: all are created equal, endowed with the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Is this not faith, hope, and love?

Is this not grace, mercy, and peace?

Is this not truth, beauty, and goodness?

Is this not life, liberty, and salvation?

All of this has wide-reaching implications for the world … our Democracies, our nation, and the life we live.

When we’re tempted, because of race, creed, color, or ethnicity, or station in life, to claim superiority … when we hear such things said by preachers, politicians and pundits - remember Paul the Apostle, and don’t hesitate to say, skubala!

Amen and Amen! 

October 1, 2023 "All" Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

Psalm 78.1-4; Philippians 2.1-13 

Who hasn’t said a time or two, in a moment of distress, or anger … “To hell with you! … and I hope you rot there forever!” … and if we didn’t say it aloud, we thought it to ourselves.

Hell … the underworld … Dante’s “Inferno” … above which is posted the sign: Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.

Hell has played a significant roll in Christian history … there is very little in Scripture to fit the images of hell conjured up in Dante’s Inferno or in the lurid images of Hieronymus Bosch …

For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church taught that unbaptized children would go to a version of hell … a place called Limbo - they wouldn’t suffer so much, as just being there alone, forever separated, from mother and father … from the church, from Christ …

The need for baptism was so great, anyone could do it, a friend, a neighbor, a nurse - a few drops of water, and it was done - the child was baptized … even a time lapse was allowed, between death and the waters of baptism … but get the baby baptized, now … don’t wait, don’t make a mistake …

Many a Billy Graham Crusade ended with the plea, “come forward, receive Jesus as your personal savior” … lest you die alone, and go to hell, to suffer eternally for your sins.

Missionaries went out to convert the lost …

Just the other day on the 210 freeway, a sign hanging on a bridge, “Jesus saves you from hell.”

While still a seminarian, I was assigned to lead an adult Bible Study at a nearby church …

One evening, the subject of hell came up … I expressed my views, that hell might very well be real, but not co-equal to heaven - heaven is forever, hell, but for the time being.

A gentleman stood up … agitated … he began to tell us how there was a hell … eternal fire, damnation … he went on and on, he face grew red, his hands waved, flecks of foam on his lips … he loved the notion of hell.

And that said a lot about him … not so much about God, or Christ, or love … his faith was mirror image of love - something upside down and backwards, something hideous and malevolent … he wanted people to burn - to suffer in hell, forever and evermore! 

There have always been serious questions about hell … the Bible touches upon elements of separation from God … but does the Bible teach a place of eternal torment, pain and punishment, forever and forevermore? 

What we have in the Bible is better, far better, and more beautiful!

The hope of Isaiah and Jeremiah, 

the love of Jesus, 

the universal vision of the Apostle Paul … 

third and fourth century theologians, 

monks and priests and philosophers … all have seen the love of God as winning the final and complete victory.

Including the likes of Karl Barth, one of the greatest theologians of the 20th Century, and folks like me, ministers, pastors, missionaries, who’ve given it serious thought, who’ve done the study - raised good questions.

It’s all about Jesus:

Jesus dies on the cross and "descends into hell” says the Creed … it’s called “the harrowing of hell” - to storm its gates, quench its fires, reclaim the lost … redeem the damned.

1 Peter 4.6-8:

For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does. The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.

Does God’s love cover a multitude of sins? Really? 

Is there a place where sin wins the day, 

where sin defeats the love of God, 

where God gives up on someone? 

Is there a place, where sin has more power over God than God’s love over sin? 

Our hearts cry out for punishment, when we think of Stalin, Hitler, or Tojo … crimes, heinous, terrible, vicious - only some kind of divine retribution makes sense.

But does it make sense that even the worst of all human beings should forever, forever, forever - be shut away in an undying hell? 

A prison of fire and death, endless torment, pain forever? Never again, a chance to see God, to turn around, to repent, to open up to divine love, to become a human being rather than a monster?

Is this what you want? 

What if one of our children should turn to the dark side of life? What about our parents, or grandparents, and who knows their secret sins? Could there be a heaven without our children, or grandchildren? Could there be heaven without our family? Without our friends?

And what is God if large parts of God are missing? Are we not all a part of God?

God’s creation is within Christ, and Christ within creation - if any part is missing, God is diminished … God is less than what God could be … God can never be fully God.

Whatever we are, whoever we are, we are all the people - who’ve gone before us - our DNA, our language, our culture, our faith, our fears and longings … 

We are all of the people, and they are all one of us - one God, one humanity … one God, one creation.

If I go to heaven, and some of those I love, and some of those who love me, are not there, will never be there, will never be a part of my life ever again, then I am no longer the person God created.

Has creation gone so wrong, God can do nothing about it? God is helpless before our willfulness? Or worse, God doesn’t care? Or even worse, does God have some bloodlust to hurt and punish and destroy endlessly those who denied God? 

Millions of every-day people who were Muslims, Hindus, or Jews … all dying forever in pits of fire and brimstone?

And if God can’t, or won’t, do anything about it, then what kind of a god are we dealing with?

Paul the Apostle is compelled and moved by a universal vision:

At the name of Jesus, every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.

The name above every name, says Paul … for ALL! In heaven and on earth, and under the earth … 

Every creature, great and small … 

every broken spirit, every evil moment, 

ALL the tragedy and terror of life …

ALL the sins of the world, on his shoulders … and there, in that moment of sorrow and pain, wearing a crown of thorns, the great Son of God, the Son of David, takes away the sins of the world.

This is the end-game:

This is how it ends, and it’s the end that gives shape to our love, our faith, our programs and work, here and now … the redemption of everything. 

In life, in death, forever and a day … 

God’s heart is open!

God’s love is for all!

So everyone is invited to the LORD’s Table!

In a world where there are ditches, we build bridges; in a world where there are walls, we install the doors.

How it will all work, is not mine to say … millions of years, billions of years, lightyears of eternity and time, or in the blink of an eye … the love of God wins the day … this is the good news … the good news of glad tidings - brought to the shepherds in the hills by the angels of heaven … this is the Star of Bethlehem … this - is Christ the LORD.

World without end.

Hallelujah and Amen!