April 15, 2007 Building a Bridge from Easter to daily reality of practical discipleship, linking back up with our journey through the entire letter to the Romans

Source Scriptures: Romans 13:8-14, Romans 2:5-8, Woman caught in adultery

Transition from last Sunday (full definition of love expressed by Jesus that includes both deep compassion and high accountability along with the range of options in the middle) to today (we are to imitate him)

Why does Jesus do this? Is he some sort of idiot, a hothead with a serious problem of losing his temper? Or is this sort of approach deeply important to his message of the kingdom? What if the message of Jesus was so deeply profound, so transformative, that the standard way of doing things wouldn’t work, or was terribly inadequate to address how deeply broken humanity was?

“Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature”

In the deeply philosophical and incisive words of Nike Corporation, "Just do it." Shed your old life, embrace the new. The old life kills, the new life brings depth of meaning and beauty and truth. Shed the old, embrace the new. I could say that. I could turn this message into a synthesis of Joel Osteen and Ben Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac, quoting a Proverb, then lecturing you on the values of temperance, stability, and orderliness. I could do that. But I've grown tired of that self-help approach to the Christian life. Stop doing A and B, start doing C and D, and make sure your heart is right, and be optimistic. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, I could live into the example of the old Methodist preachers, of which my great-grandfather was one (though he was very different from some of the typicals), the ones where you made sure not to sit in the first two pews because of the flying spittle from their mouths and the extreme percussion sound that came from the Bible and fit slamming into the pulpit.

There must be a third way. Is there a third way? Or a fourth way? Or a spectrum of possibilities between the two poles of spittle and a faith reduced to the fringes of our lives? I think so, otherwise we're doomed, and the church is nothing more than an ideal, the Christian life nothing more than a pipe dream; like my sister's cherry chapstick that smelled so good and full of potential, yet tasted so disappointing when I was five.

Thankfully, I believe with every ounce of my being that the Way of Jesus offers much more than that, but requires every ounce of my heart to radically depend on God whether I find myself stuck in the web of sin in my own life, or am confronted with the sin of another human being who has fallen short of the glory of God.

Open with Atteberry's story from 10 Dumbest Things Christians Do

"It was the call no preacher wants to get.

An active member of our church phoned to tell me that her husband, also an active member, was having an affair with a coworker. She'd known only for a couple of hours, so she was still processing the information. As she spoke, her voice held a constant tremor, and she stopped to weep several times. After promising the church's help and support, I prayed with her and then asked where her husband was at that moment. She told me he was driving to work so I asked for his cell phone number. After jotting it down, I told her goodbye and dialed it. When he realized it was me, his voice became abnormally cheerful.

"Hey Mark, what's going on?"

"Have you got a minute to talk?"

"I'm about ten minutes from work. What's up?"

"I just spoke to your wife," I said. "She told me some really disappointing news.

Silence.

"You know what I'm talking about, don't you," I asked.

"We've been having a few problems."

"She told me you're having an affair. Is that true?"

There was another hesitation. Finally, he said, "Yes. I can't believe she told you."

"She was having trouble processing the information. She needed to talk to someone."

"When she and I talked about it earlier this afternoon, we agree we'd work it out ourselves. It's no one else's business."

"Listen, we need to talk," I said, "When can we get together?"

He hesitated, "I'm not sure. I don't know what my schedule is."

It was a lie. He knew exactly what his schedule was.

"We really need to talk," I said again.

"I'm going to have to get back with you after I check my schedule."

It was obvious that he wasn't going to agree to a meeting, so I pressed on to another topic- one that I never dreamed I'd have to address with him.

"I'm sorry," I said, "but I'm going to have to ask you to step down from your ministry until we can work through this situation and get it corrected."

He'd been on one of our key ministry teams for several years. He honestly seemed stunned. "Why?"

"Why? I'd think the reason would be obvious."

"Because I'm a sinner?" he asked, with more than a touch of sarcasm in his voice. "Aren't you a sinner, Mark? Isn't everyone in the church a sinner? What are you singling me out? Why don't you make everybody step down from their ministries, too? Why don't you step down yourself?

I couldn't believe what I was hearing

"You can't be serious," I said.

"I'm dead serious," he countered. "What gives you the right to judge me?"

"Look," I said, trying to remain calm. "I'm not going to argue with you about this. You'll be relieved of your duties until you repent and get you life and your marriage back together."

"So you're kicking me out of the church?"

I sighed. "Come one. You know better than that."

But he said he didn't know better than that at all. Then, just before he hung up, he said one more thing, "I don't think I even want to go to a church that kicks people when they're down. I'm having a few problems is all, and you're treating me like I'm some kind of axe murderer. Let me tell you what…you can go ahead and get someone to replace me permanently because I won't be back." And though he hadn't done so hot with his marriage vows, that was a promise he kept.

When I replay that conversation in my mind, the words I hear most vividly are, "What gives you the right to judge me?" Cutting words today for anyone who encounters sin, because of the way it threatens to rip the rug right out from underneath any attempt to address and move beyond battles with sin.

What do you think were some significant obstacles this pastor faced in dealing with this man?

Bring fundamental posture into conversation

In the struggle of life, we will fail along the way…and maybe the most telling thing isn't how often we succeed, but how we react when we fail, or when we come into contact with others' failures.

(fundamental posture takes into account our weakness without justifying our actions that fall short of the expectations of God.

Humility and Repentance vs. Stubbornness and Unrepentance

Romans 2:5-8

Woman caught in adultery "Go and sin no more"

- only effective first because of Jesus' great compassion and willingness to stand up on the woman's behalf, and second because he sent her off into a community that placed a high premium on fidelity in marriage (though reading what the Hillel community of rabbis thoughts were on marriage doesn't elevate that much)

- community should hold her accountable (though her situation was one where the community was more legalistic than grace-filled)

Deal with complexity of failure and sin

Everyone's strengths and weaknesses are different, so how I respond to someone else's weakness will define whether both I and they ever reveal that weakness again (tremendous responsibility I carry in this situation not to pour salt on what is already an open wound, but to bring grace and forgiveness to bear along with accountability)

Reality that on some level, there are institutionalized ways of being in our churches (gossip, anger, passive aggressiveness, unforgiveness, exaltation of self in relation to others, legalism, pride) that are just as fragmenting and just as morally reprehensible to God as those secret, explosive sins of pornography, homosexuality, and adultery. Bring something to bear on those confronted with sinful situation

Close with John Piper's story and admonition from Don't Waste Your Life

"For me as a boy, one of the most gripping illustrations my fiery father used was the story of a man converted in old age. The church had prayed for this man for decades. He was hard and resistant. But this time, for some reason, he showed up when my father was preaching. At the end of the service, during a hymn, to everyone's amazement he came and took my father's hand. They sat down together on the front pew of the church as the people were dismissed. God opened his heart to the Gospel of Christ, But that did not stop him from sobbing and saying, as the tears ran down his wrinkled face—and what an impact it made on me to hear my father say this through his own tears—"I've wasted it! I've wasted it!"

This was the story that gripped me more than all the stories of young people who died in car wrecks before they were converted— the story of an old man weeping that he had wasted his life. In those early years God awakened in me a fear and a passion not to waste my life. The thought of coming to my old age and saying through tears, "I've wasted it! I've wasted it!" was a fearful and horrible thought to me.The message was clear. You get one pass at life. That's all. Only one. And the lasting measure of that life is Jesus Christ."

I think the author here in Romans gives a hint as to a fulfilling life: in the imitation of Christ, be willing to step out of your comfort zone for the sake of embracing the life God intends for you and everyone around you. The end is near, don't waste the one shot you've got at this life to shine for Christ.

Dual meaning here:

1) Personal meaning

2) Relational meaning