What difference does it make? RUMC 8:30 1/8/12

What difference does it make?

RUMC 8:30  1/8/12

Let me ask you a question.  WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE THAT WE ARE CHRISTIAN?

 I could almost stop right here and we could spend the next 15 minutes, or 15 days answering this question

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE THAT WE ARE CHRISTIAN?

Notice I did not say “a” Christian-- I said WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE THAT WE ARE CHRISTIAN?

There is a big difference

It is one thing to be a mother- it is an entirely different thing to be MOM.

It is one thing to be a pastor.  Anyone can do that.  It is quite another to PASTOR someone through a time of crisis.

It is one thing to be in love.  It is a totally different thing to be UNCONDITIONALLY LOVED.

Do you see what I mean?  It is one thing to be a Christian -to connect ourselves with the people institutions that call themselves Christian.  To BE Christian has nothing to do with institutions, but has everything to do with connection to the living God through Jesus Christ.

To be Christian then…what difference does it really make?

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE THAT WE ARE CHRISTIAN?

Your answer to the question might be along the lines of, “It makes me feel better.” 

·        I know I am forgiven; I don’t have to feel guilty.

·        It gives me hope for the future and eternal life with God.  I don’t have to feel afraid.

·         It makes me feel loved.  I know God and fellow Christians accept me even if I don’t feel very acceptable.

Those are great things.  No one likes to feel guilty and ashamed.  No one likes to be anxious or afraid of the future.  Everyone needs to feel accepted and loved somewhere.  Being free of guilt, fear, and rejection makes life a lot better.

Is that all there is, however, to being Christian:  Feeling better?  I don’t want to minimize the importance the emotional impact of faith.  The power of faith to improve our mental health and all around happiness is undisputed, but is that all there is?  Is our faith, a faith of feelings and emotions?  Is our faith one that only improves the way we feel about ourselves, our lives, and the world?  Taken to the extreme, if we focus too much on the way our faith makes us feel, we can become very self-centered. 

Micah doesn’t say that we should feel that life is just and kind and have a pleasant walk with God.

Jesus doesn’t say blessed are those who are at peace.

Saying our faith makes us feel better is good as far as it goes, but this response to the question WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE THAT WE ARE CHRISTIAN?  Misses some important things.

Perhaps your answer to the question was more along the lines of, “My faith makes me act better.”

·        The Bible gives me commandments and moral principles that guide my behavior.

·        My faith demands that I live on a higher moral level than the world expects.

·        Being Christian means that I don’t do a lot of things that I might otherwise do.

·        Being Christian, on the other hand, means that I do thing I might not otherwise do.  I have to love my neighbor and do unto others, as I want them to do to me.  

Those things are certainly true.  The world is undoubtedly a better place when faithful Christians let their faith guide their behavior.

If I could pick my neighbors, I would want people who live by the golden rule.

If I could control my children’s behavior, I would want them to honor their father and mother.

If we could get everyone in the world to live by the 10 commandments many of the world’s problems would disappear.

If everyone lived by the golden rule, we could alleviate hunger, malnutrition, and many diseases that ravage the world because of the inequalities in resources and distribution. 

I have to admit, my life is a little easier because I just know, as a Christian and a pastor that there are certain behaviors that are just not an option.  I don’t even have to think about some things that might otherwise be real temptations.

The church from the book of James onward, has preached that faith without action is dead.  It isn’t just what you believe, it is how you behave.

Is that, however, all there is to being Christian?  Remember that I said that there was more to the question “WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE THAT WE ARE CHRISTIAN?  Than it makes me feel good.  Do you think there is more than it makes be act better?

I think so.  Even as good as it is, to live our faith.  As good as it is, to say I behave differently because of Jesus.  I have a nagging feeling that there is more.  

Anyone can act the part of a Christian.  There is a whole industry in Hollywood built around people acting like they are someone or something that they are not.

Micah doesn’t say to act kindly.

Jesus doesn’t say blessed are those who do all the right things, after all that is what the Pharisees did.

Saying our faith makes us feel better or act better is good as far as it goes, but these responses to the question WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE THAT WE ARE CHRISTIAN?  Still miss something important.

Then let me ask again WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE THAT WE ARE CHRISTIAN?  Sure, it makes us feel better; sure, it makes us act differently.  To tell you the truth, I think I feel different, and act differently because I am different.  It goes deeper than feelings.  It goes deeper than actions.  I am a different person because I am connected to the living God through Jesus Christ.

I am not the same person I would be without God.  I feel different, I act different, I think differently, I talk differently,  I see the world differently, I have a different priorities, a different relationships, different hopes and different dreams.  I have a different story and a different future.  I have a different heart and a different mind, all because I am Christian.

Don’t you?

Micah says to do justice, that is behavior.

To love kindness.  That is feeling.

And to walk humbly with our God, that is a total transformation of who we are.  By nature we are independent, self sufficient, self centered, creatures.  Leave a group of people stranded in a life-threatening situation and it won’t be long before someone says “every man for himself.”  Micah calls for a total transformation of who we are.  Walk humbly with our God.

So does Jesus in the beatitudes he blesses

·        Not the proud, but the poor in spirit.

·        Not the party animals, but those who mourn.

·        Not survival of the fittest, but survival of the meek.

·        Not every man for himself, but hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

·        Not the fair, but the merciful

·        Not the one with the  most influential friends, but the one with purity of heart

·        Not the victor, but the peacemaker

·        Not the comfortable, but the one who takes risks for the sake of Jesus.

I think Jesus is talking about a whole different animal.  Not a human being, but a transformed human being.  Not a man or woman of the world, but a child of God. 

Do you see that our faith does more than make us feel good?

Our faith does more than make us act nicer.

Faith in Jesus Christ, serving Jesus the Christ is the most extreme makeover possible.

Being Christian means that we have been rebuilt With God powered abilities, love powered senses, and a faith-powered heart and we will never be the same.

THAT is why we feel better than we otherwise would, because we are better.

THAT is why we act better than we otherwise would, because we are better.

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE THAT WE ARE CHRISTIAN?

All the difference in the world.

We in the church have sometimes been like children playing on the floor with our chemistry sets, carelessly mixing up batches of TNT to kill a Sunday morning.

It is madness to think that we will leave the presence of God without being changed.

The gospel is such a powerfully life changing experience that we should be wearing crash helmets, the ushers should issue oxygen masks and signal flares.  Our pews should have seat belts and we should have made sure these new cushions would double as flotation devices.

From that perspective, from that perspective I ask you the question one more time. . .

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE THAT WE ARE CHRISTIAN?

It makes all the difference in the world to us.

We can make all the difference in the world to the people around us.

And the world will never be the same because we are here.