Exodus 33:12-23
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Matthew 22:15-22
NUCC
October 16, 2005
Pentecost 22
Businesses work out a balance sheet listing their assets, liabilities and equity. On that balance sheet the assets should always equal the liabilities and build equity.
Today I would like to suggest that we as individuals and as a church also work out a balance sheet for our lives. What sort of balance sheet could you fill out today?
If you are like me you might first think of your liabilities. Sometimes we get down on ourselves and beat ourselves up. Sometimes we are in touch with ourselves and know that we have certain weaknesses.
Some of us are procrastinators.
Some of us have a quick temper.
Some of us may be lazy, but others of us are workaholics.
Some of us are messy and disordered.
Others of us are too ordered and compulsive.
Some of us are too concerned about material things.
The list could go on. When we offer a prayer of confession during worship we share these liabilities with God. As part of that confession we also share with God how we have not used all of our assets for the glory of God and God’s people.
During the past several weeks a group of about twelve of us has been discovering some of our assets, and we have attempted to “unwrap” them for the glory of God and God’s people. Together we have attempted to fill out the other side of the balance sheet and build up some equity for all of God’s people. We have made some wonderful discoveries and some faces have been beaming with joy at the discovery of these assets God has given each of us.
In one exercise each of us was asked to list two accomplishments in our lives. Then we were asked to list the gifts or abilities that were needed to successfully complete those accomplishments. Sometimes it was difficult for us to think of gifts. But the class helped us out. The rest of us bombarded our fellow “Unwrapping” participant with gifts. We spoke out the gifts we saw in our friend ---- and did we see some surprised and pleased faces! We tipped the balance from debits to assets!
As I read over our scripture lessons for today I thought of this issue of balance and discovered that God has tipped the balance for each of us.
1. With Moses in our reading from Exodus we discover God’s holiness and our giftedness.
2. With Paul and the Thessalonians we discover joy and love.
3. With Matthew we discover that our lives belong to God.
1. In today’s reading from Exodus we join Moses as he is nearing the end of his journey through the wilderness of Sinai. He has some questions for God. He wonders where God is really taking him. He yearns for God to let him in on the plan. He wants to see God’s glory. But God only gives him hints.
Moses is like those of us who would like God to speak clearly and directly, coming to us face to face. God didn’t do that for Moses and he doesn’t do it for us. God comes to us in surprising and indirect ways, through a time in worship, through a still small voice in prayer, through a friend who affirms us, through church members who tell us we are gifted, through the magnificence of an autumn vista.
Through these and other ways God tips the balance and shows us that we and loved and gifted. You may remember that Moses gave God excuses why he should not lead the Hebrew people from slavery to freedom. But God used Moses anyway. The same is true for us. We could list all of our faults and liabilities, but God uses us anyway. In God’s eyes our assets far outnumber our liabilities. That’s what our “Unwrapping” group is discovering Thursday evenings.
2. As we read our second scripture lesson today we discover that God gifts us with the assets of joy and love. When Paul wrote to his friends in the city of
The balance of life for the Thessalonians had been tipped in favor of love and joy. They had learned that life is meant to be lived from a Center, a divine Center. They had exuded a sense of joy and happiness that their pagan neighbors found amazing.
Huston Smith is scholar of world religions. A number of years ago it was my privilege to hear him speak at the
“They were not wealthy or powerful, and they were in constant danger of being killed. Yet they had laid hold of an inner peace that found expression in a joy that was uncontainable. Perhaps radiance would be a better word.”
Radiance. That is what I have seen on faces when we have gathered on Thursday evenings. Radiance. Knowing that God loves us and gifts us. Affirming with the authors of the Heidelberg Catechism: “That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ…”
3. Finally we discover with the skeptical Pharisees and followers of Herod that we as such gifted and loved people belong to God and not Caesar. We read in our Gospel Lesson the account of these religious people trying to trap Jesus and get him arrested, asking Jesus if it was all right to pay taxes.
What does Jesus do? He asks them to bring out a Roman coin.
“Whose name is on it?” Jesus asks.
“The emperor,” they reply.
“Then give the emperor what is his, and give God what belongs to God,” said Jesus.
Some readers have tried to find political theory in this exchange. Others find a lesson in stewardship. What we can find is a lesson about belonging.
Rabbi Arthur Waskow offers this assessment:
“The rabbis drew an analogy between the image a human ruler, Caesar, puts upon the coins of the realm, and the image the Infinite Ruler puts upon the many “coins” of humankind. The very diversity of human faces shows the unity and infinity of God, whereas the uniformity of imperial coins makes clear the limitations on the power of an emperor.”
Jesus built on the wisdom of these rabbis. He has gathered us into this church with our different opinions, different personalities, and different gifts. We are not all the same, and that is good. We are many, but we are one.
The balance is tipped. In the final analysis we belong to God. We belong not to ourselves, not to the state, not a club. We belong to “our faithful savior Jesus Christ.” All of us. Not a part of us. But all of us.
Look at the coin again. The coin bears the image of the emperor and therefore belongs to him. We bear the image of God, and therefore we belong to God. Yes, we have our debt to our country and to society. The Christian pays taxes. The Christian serves the nation. But the Christian belongs to God.
This is the good news for us on the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost. When we write out the balance sheet of our lives the assets far outweigh the debits because we belong to a faithful and loving God who gives us gifts beyond imagining so that they are even holy. These gifts may bring us joy and we may use them together for God’s glory.
Amen.
Judith Johnson-Siebold:
“Busy, well-meaning Christians often complain about how hard it is to balance church activities with everything else. We want to do it all rather than select certain activities as top priority and let other activities go. We do not want to sacrifice ‘alone time,’ family time, travel time or shopping time for corporate worship. So we forego worship. We give God the balance left over when everything else has been accomplished.”
Robert Sherman:
We need to order our “lives in such a way that the Lord’s time (becomes) sovereign,” which could “become the means by which a gracious God liberates us from the tyranny of seemingly implacable and ultimately pointless time.”
