Wednesday, January 24, 2018

In The Same Boat - a sermon on the book of Philemon

Philemon

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,
To Philemon our dear friend and co-worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
When I remember you] in my prayers, I always thank my God because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we] may do for Christ. I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.
For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love—and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. 10 I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment. 11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me. 12 I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. 13 I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel; 14 but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced. 15 Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, 16 no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother—especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
17 So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. 18 If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. 19 I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about your owing me even your own self. 20 Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ. 21 Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.
22 One thing more—prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping through your prayers to be restored to you.
23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you,[g]24 and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.
25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.





Sermon                                      In the Same Boat                Maynard Pittendreigh


The Help is a novel that was published a few years ago. 

In the book, and also the movie based on the book, Eugenia, or Skeeter as she is more commonly called, has just returned home after graduating from the University of Missisippi and wants to become a writer.  For her first major writing project, she decides to interview some of the residents of the town in order to tell their stories.  The residents she wants to interview are the African American women who work in various white households in Jackson, Mississippi, during the early 1960s.  

Skeeter slowly builds trust with these women and begins to listen to their stories of what it is really like to be an African American maid working for white families in Mississippi in the early 1960s. 

It becomes very clear that the maids are simply not regarded as human beings; they are “the help.”

One of the stories Skeeter hears is told to her by Abilene.  Abilene tells about serving a luncheon for her employer’s card club.  While Abilene serves the food and fills up the drink glasses, the conversation at the table turns to a local initiative to have every family construct a second bathroom, outside if necessary, for the help—the black housekeepers and maids—to prevent them from using the white family’s bathroom.  In a town and in a time in history in which there where separate public bathrooms for whites and blacks, in Jackson Mississippi there is a sudden fear about cleanliness and hygiene those people to use their bathrooms.

As Abilene serves the women their lunch and iced tea, Abilene hears it all.

They talk as if she isn’t even there, which in a way she isn’t.

It is easy to look at people and not see them as -- PEOPLE.  They are not people – they are the other race.

How many times do we look at others and fail to understand – that is a human being, with feelings and pain and desires and hopes and dreams?

No - they not really people – they are just members of the other political party.

That man is not real people.  That homeless person is just a bum, not a person.

The rich look at the poor, not as people.  They are just poor trash.

The common person looks at those who are wealthy and powerful – they aren’t people.  They have no idea how real people live.

One of the many things the recent “Me, Too” movement can teach is that there are so many men who look at women as objects.  They are not real people, you can do anything with them and get away with it.


In Mark Twain's “Huckleberry Finn,”  Young Huck has run away from home to escape his cruel father. Everyone thinks poor Huck has been murdered, but he is alive and well and adrift on the Mississippi River in a canoe.  He takes refuge one night on Jackson’s Island.  Soon darkness falls and he is afraid, exhausted and alone.

Long past midnight, Huck creeps through the dense woods to a clearing where he finds the remains of a camp fire, and in the flickering of the fire’s light, sees the figure of a man on the ground.  The man gets up, to the terror of young Huck.  But then he realizes who this man is.  It’s Jim!  Miss Watson’s slave from back home.  Jim is an escaped slave!

It is at this point that Huck Finn reflects, “'I was ever so glad to see Jim. I warn't lonesome now.''

This unlikely pair begin their journey together down the Mississippi.  Two very different people, both in the same boat.

Huck is, in the beginning of this journey, conflicted about his travel partner.  In particular, he is conflicted about the sin and crime of supporting a runaway slave.  He wonders if Jim even has a soul.  But being two people in the same boat, the two talk in depth and they begin to bond. Huck connects emotionally with Jim. Jim becomes Huck's close friend and guardian.
Being in the same boat, they begin to see each other differently. 
They begin to see each other as – well, people.

Which brings us to the book of Philemon.

Philemon.  It is not the shortest book in the Bible.  But it comes close.  Close enough so that we just read the entire book of Philemon. 
Philemon.  I don’t remember anyone every starting a Bible Study on the book of Philemon. 
I don’t think anyone has ever selected as his or her favorite verse of the Bible one of the 25 verses of Philemon.

In fact, I have been preaching for 41 years!  This sermon you are hearing is my 2,749th sermon!  You think I’d gotten better at it by now!

But I have never preached on Philemon.  Which is why I felt moved to preach from Philemon today.

After all, Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”

Which means that even Philemon, as short as it is has something to say.

And what Philemon basically teaches is that we are all in the same boat.  Just like the Skeeter and Abilene in the Help,

or like Huck Finn and Jim in Mark Twain’s novel. 


Let me give you a bit of background. 

Paul is writing to a man named Philemon, which is how this book gets the title, Philemon.  He writes about Onesimus, who was a slave who, like Huck Finn’s Jim, ran away from his owner.  There is even an implication in the book that Onesimus stole some money from his owner, Philemon. 

Sometime after running away from Philemon, Onesimus encounters Paul.  We don’t know how.  It may have been that he knew Paul, had heard about Paul, or even that for a short period of time they were cell mates in the local jail.  After all, Paul is writing this letter from prison.

At any rate, Onesimus, whose name means “useful,” has been very useful to Paul.  And an affection and friendship grows between Onesimus and Paul. 

Legally Onesimus should be sent back to his owner.  Paul does not want to do that, however.  But he writes this letter and he tells Philemon to receive Onesimus – not as a slave – but as family. 

You see, Paul, Onesimus and Philemon are all in the same boat.

They are all children of God.

Paul is the greatest theologian in history, but his is no better at being a Christian than Onesimus or Philemon.  They are all in the same boat.  Just Christians called to love and respect each other.

Philemon is the legal owner of Onesimus according to the secular world of that time.  And yet Onesimus became the Bishop of the church in Ephesus. It was one of the radical things that gave the Roman Empire a struggle – that a slave could be so highly regarded as to become a bishop.

They are indeed all in the same boat.  Before God, all are equal.

That is a very American value, that “all men are created equal.”  That phrase is in the preface of the Declaration of Independence.  Thomas Jefferson penned those words, but where did he get that concept of equality?  Some would say the concept came from John Locke or Voltaire. 

Scholar Sarah Ruden, in her book, Paul Among the People, argues that the concept started here – right here in the letter to Philemon.  It was here that Paul created the Western concept that the individual human being is "unconditionally precious to God and therefore entitled to the consideration of other human beings." Before Paul wrote this little letter, Ruden argues, a slave was considered subhuman, and entitled to no more consideration than an animal. (Sarah Ruden, Paul Among the People (2010), p. xix.)

It is so easy to look at people as subhuman.

You see someone and think, “That person doesn’t matter.”  Think again.  You are both in the same boat.

This month the American government shut down.

In our country, a government shutdown occurs when Congress and the President fail to pass an appropriations bill to fund government operations.  The first time this happened, if my research is correct, was in 1976, but they have become increasingly more common in recent years.

We watch these shutdowns with increasing frustration. 

Now, I am no expert in the economy or the Constitution or politics.

But I watch the politicians.  The Republicans blame the Democrats, and the Democrats blame the Republicans.  They demean and dehumanize each other.

I think they would get a lot more done if they understood they were all in the same boat, that boat being Congress.  Or better yet, that boat being America.  As long as one group demeans the other, nothing much gets done.

When you listen to or read reflections of astronauts who have orbited the earth, this is one of the concepts they share.  We are all in the same boat.  You look down on earth and you do not see the lines one sees on maps.  There is no line separating Canada, the US, or Mexico.  You look at Europe and you cannot tell where France ends and Spain begins.  We are all in one boat, all citizens of one planet.

But if you walk on the streets of this planet, you see people with different color skin.  You see clothing that suggests wealth or poverty.  You begin to fall into the trap of thinking – us versus them

But no

 – we are all in the same boat.


In Paul’s day there were slave and there were free people.  Paul stripped away those differences and wrote about how in Christ we are all in the same boat, we are all children of God, and there is no north, south, east, west, no slave or free, no rich or poor.

We are all human.  Created by God.

When Paul wrote to Philemon and asked him to take the runaway slave back, he told him not to receive him back as a slave, but as family.  Look at the former slave and see him as a human being.

What a difference it would make the next time we look at others we would see them as human beings.  Your boss, your employee, your maid, your teacher, your student, your next door neighbor, the other drivers on I-4, the stranger you meet at the store --- each one is a human being. 

The man can no longer look at a woman employee as an object to be used.  The wealthy cannot look at the poor as undeserving of help.  We, like Philemon, need to see beyond the surface to see each one as a person with hurts and pain and feelings and needs. 

Larry Nassar worked for two decades as a sports physician and as a trainer of some of our nations top Olympic starts.  He was widely respected, but underneath was a secret. 

He had been molesting the young women under his supervision.  In recent days he was sentenced to serve 175 years in prison.  Before being sentenced to prison he had to sit in a courtroom and listen to one accuser after another.  For seven long days he heard one story after another – 156 women took turns speaking. 

How could someone do such horrible things?

It is easy, if you look at someone as an object, and not as a human being. 

Nancy Ortberg is a Presbyterian minister who serves a church in California.  Prior to becoming a minister, she was an emergency room nurse.

She tells the story of what happened one night in the hospital at the end of her shift.

It had been a busy Saturday night and after a rush of seriously injured patients things were beginning to quiet down.  But the ER was a mess. The ER physician was debriefing a resident about procedures and protocols, complimenting the young resident on his competence.

And then he put his hand on the resident’s arm and asked, “When you finished did you notice the young man from housekeeping who came in to clean the room?”

There was a blank look on the young doctor’s face.

The older doctor said, “His name is Carlos. He’s been here for three years. He does a fabulous job. When he comes in he gets the room turned around so fast that you and I can get our next patients in quickly. His wife’s name is Maria. They have four children.” Then he named each child and their ages.

“He lives in a rented house three blocks from here. They’ve been up from Mexico for about five years. His name is Carlos. I want you to speak to him.  More than that, next week I would like you to tell me something about Carlos that I don’t already know.” (Forbes, 23 April 2007).

We need to look at everyone as human. 

And so Paul wrote to Philemon and said to him, “Perhaps this is the reason Onesimus was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother”—a beloved brother who, like you and me, was created in the image of God and for whom Jesus Christ lived and died.

And now unto God the Father,
God the Son,
And God the Holy Spirit be ascribed all might, power, dominion and glory, today and forever, Amen.


Copyright 2018. 
Dr. W. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved

Ministers may feel free to use some or all of this sermon in their own ministries as long as they do not publish in print or on the Internet without ascribing credit to the author.


Wednesday, January 03, 2018

Second Hand Jesus - Acts 19:13-18



New Testament Lesson                                                               Acts 19:13-18



13 Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit said to them in reply, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” 16 Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered them all, and so overpowered them that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. 17 When this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, everyone was awestruck; and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised. 18 Also many of those who became believers confessed and disclosed their practices.







          A few years ago I went to Haiti on a mission trip, and in getting ready for the travel I had to go to the doctor’s to have some shots -- Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B. 

          So I went to the doctor’s to get my shots.

          This lady comes into the examination room and  she swabs down my arm with alcohol, and then she starts fumbling around with my chart and fumbling around with whatever she has brought with her.  Finally she says, “You know, I need one of those needle things.”

          “A syringe,” I suggest.

          “Oh yes, that’s it.  I need one of those things.  Be right back.”

          She comes back in and she swabs my arm down with alcohol, and then she hesitates.  “You know, I need to get the vaccine.  I’ll be right back.”

          A few minutes later she comes back in and she swabs down my arm with more alcohol.  She looks at me and asks me, “It does go into the arm, doesn’t it?”

          She says she’s going to ask someone about that and she leaves.

          She comes back and says someone else will be giving me my shots.

          Suits me!

          We start talking and at some point in the conversation she says she didn’t get much sleep last night because she was so excited about her new job.  Today was the first day she was working in the doctor’s office.

          The only thing that kept me from asking this lady about her last job was the fear of hearing her tell me that she had worked at McDonalds, or some place like that.

          I’m sure she was trained, but she just didn’t seem to have any experience.

          At least no first hand experience.

          A lot of us are like that woman.  We have lots of second hand knowledge, but no first hand knowledge or experience in certain areas of life.

          I watch a lot of medical shows on television – ER and shows like that.  I know all about subdural hematomas and defibrillation and saline solutions.

          Well, I don’t really know about them.  But I have this second hand knowledge about life in a hospital.

          I have second hand knowledge about what the White House is like because I have watched lots of episodes of West Wing.

          I have second hand knowledge about the military, because I talk to people who serve in the military.

          Second hand knowledge is good, it’s helpful, it’s interesting – but it is no substitute for first hand knowledge and experience.

          In our New Testament lesson from the Book of Acts we read about a time when the news of Jesus Christ was growing.  The whole world was beginning to hear about Jesus – but for many people this news was second hand information.

          As the New Testament reading from Acts tells it, “Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out."   What’s interesting here is that they did not know Jesus personally.  Their Jesus was a second hand Jesus.

And of course, it does not turn out very well for them.  As they were trying to deal with a demon possessed person, the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?"  Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

It is a dramatic illustration about how dangerous “second hand” knowledge about Christ can be.

Here is the question for the day -- Is your Jesus a second hand Jesus?

Do you know of Jesus only from what you have seen in the movies, or from what you have read in books, or by what you have heard from teachers and preachers?

I said a moment ago that second hand knowledge was a good thing – up to a point.

Knowing Jesus second hand is never quite sufficient for us.

It is not enough to know about Jesus.

One must know Jesus personally and through one’s own experience.

How do you do that?  For many people, Jesus is an abstract thought.  They know about him like they know about Abraham Lincoln or about George Washington.

How do you make Jesus personal in your life?

In our reading from Acts, there are three things the people do to move from knowing ABOUT Jesus, to the point where they know him PERSONALLY.

1.     Respect the Name

First – there must be a respect for the name and person of Jesus Christ. 

In the Book of Acts, news about the power and authority of Jesus begins to spread.  As our New Testament lesson puts it, “When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.”

Many people who know about Jesus will never move to the point of personally knowing Jesus because they do not hold the name of Jesus in high honor.

Have you ever seen the movie "O God?" George Burns plays God himself, who has come to earth to speak with a grocery manager named Jerry Landers. In one of their conversations, Jerry, without thinking, says to himself, "O
God!"

And God says, "Yes, Jerry? What is it?"

And Jerry says, "Huh?? Oh, it’s nothing, Lord. It’s just an expression. A figure of speech. Nothing more."

And then God says, "Jerry, that’s why I’m here. I want people to know that I’m not just a figure of speech. I’m more than just a phrase that people blurt out when they get frustrated. I want you to tell people to take me seriously. That I am the Lord!"

For all too many people, Jesus is an empty phrase.  An empty word.  The name of Jesus is spoken as a curse, or as a word of exclamation.

More than that, people often ridicule Jesus. 

Now, you can make fun of preachers – and I know you do!  Some of you email me your best preacher jokes!  Some of them are actually funny! Well, the jokes about Presbyterian preachers aren’t funny – but I’ve heard some hilarious jokes about Baptist preachers!

And people can make fun of the church.  The Lord knows we deserve it.  We don’t always practice what we preach and sometimes we deserve for folks to poke fun at us.  A little humor can sometimes help the church understand the way the world sees us so we can correct ourselves and put us on the right track.

But it always hurts to see people ridicule Christ.

I’m not saying we can’t use humor to teach about Christ – I’d be the last to say that!  But what I am talking about is the disrespectful humor and comments the world often aims at our Savior.

If you want to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, you must respect the name and person of Jesus Christ. 

That’s what happened in the Book of Acts.  People began to respect the name and person of Jesus Christ, and if you want to have a relationship with Christ, that is what you must do.

2.     Confession

The second thing you need to do is to be open and honest with God about who we are.  The old fashioned word for this is – confession.

          In our New Testament lesson, when the word gets around about the power of Christ, people begin to respect the name and person of Christ – and then, in the words of our New Testament reading, “Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds.”

          Confession helps move us from the point of knowing about Jesus to the point of actually knowing the Person of Jesus.

One of the most important moments in our worship services comes with the prayer of confession and the assurance of God’s grace.

God knows our sins and failures.  He knows when we have failed to love others.  He knows when we have been selfish. 

Confession is not telling God anything He doesn’t already know.

But it is our act of admitting of our sins so we can get our past out of the way and be freed of guilt. 

          It is not so much that God needs to know what we have done – he knows that!  WE need to get it off our chest and out of our souls.

When we sin, we are separated from God.

Our joy disappears,
our sense of God’s presence evaporates,
and we live in a gray world of uncertainty and frustration.

If we continue to sin, then we continue in a separation from God and Christ.  We spiral downward into despair, regret, anger, and deep-seated bitterness.

We got to put the past behind us!  Confession helps us heal our souls and helps open us up to a personal relationship with Christ.

That’s what the people in the book of Acts began to do – they confessed their sins so they could move from just knowing about Jesus, to the point where they personally knew Jesus.

3.     Repentance

The third thing we must do, and this comes right after confession, is repentance.

This is not only a turning away from sinful activities, but a change of one’s mind and heart.  It is a change of one’s lifestyle.

Referring again to our New Testament reading, after the people make their confession, they destroy the things that tempted them.  As the Book of Acts puts it, “A number of those who practiced the occult collected their books and burned them publicly; when the value of these books was calculated, it was found to come to fifty thousand silver coins.”

   Repentance means that I own responsibility for my part in what was unsatisfactory behavior.  I accept responsibility for my part in what is and what will be new behavior.

   Repentance is owning responsibility for what was, accepting responsibility for what is, and acting responsibly now.

   It is responsible action.  It is not a matter of punishing ourselves for past mistakes, hating ourselves for past failures, and depressing ourselves with feelings of worthlessness.

   Repentance is finishing the unfinished business of my past and choosing to live in new ways that will not repeat old unsatisfactory situations. In the full Christian meaning of the Word, repentance is a process.  It is a thawing out of rigid lifestyles into a flowing, moving, growing, repenting process.

   A Sunday School teacher once asked a class what was meant by the word "repentance."  A little boy put up his hand and said, "It is being sorry for your sins."  But then another little child girl also raised her hand and said, "It is being sorry enough to quit." (Donald Grey Barnhouse)

There are so many people who know about Jesus, but they have never built a relationship with Jesus.

They know a second hand Jesus – not a first hand Jesus.

If you know about Jesus, but you don’t know him personally, this is a good time to begin that process of knowing him personally.  It is a good day to confess one’s sins and to repent and turn from a former way of life and to turn toward a life devoted to Christ.

And now unto God the Father,
God the Son,
And God the Holy Spirit be ascribed all might, power, dominion and glory, today and forever, Amen.
Copyright 2017. 
Dr. W. Maynard Pittendreigh
All rights reserved

Ministers may feel free to use some or all of this sermon in their own ministries as long as they do not publish in print or on the Internet without ascribing credit to the author.