Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 10/8/2023, Matthew 21:33-46
Centering Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, May your will, Be done through me.
As you take your seats - the story of a small town Anglican Vicar -
And he's upset because someone has stolen his bike!
His deacon says, "I have an idea!"
"Why don't you preach on the Ten Commandments this weekend, and the culprit will feel guilty and you'll get your bike back!" "Great idea!" thought the vicar.
The next day the deacon sees the Vicar riding his bike and asks how the sermon writing is going.
"Oh," says the Vicar - it went very well! I was writing on the Ten Commandments and when I got to Adultery, I remembered where I left my bike!"
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Those Ten Commandments!
They remind us that God has given us rules to live a fulfilling life!
God has given us guidelines to help us live into the fullness of our potential.
God has given us guidance as to how to live the abundant life!
But the problem this vicar ran into, and that you and I encounter, is that we often break the rules.
Maybe you came to church this morning feeling guilty because you've let God down.
Maybe you feel distraught because you've let someone else down.
Maybe you fell out of sorts because you've let yourself down.
And we can find ourselves in those dark places of condemnation-
Unable to see like God.
And this is the title of this morning's message - Seeing like God -
Because:
God sees that we can be forgiven,
We can have a fresh start,
We can obey those rules - and reap the rewards -
Seeing like God means putting problems into perspective,
Seeing like God means walking in confidence that everything will work out,
Seeing like God means dancing in joyful expectation that we are not alone!
God is always with us!
And to quote that great theologian Frank Sinatra, the best may be yet to come!
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Some of you may have met one of my best friends in the world - his name is Phil.
Phil grew up in a very charmed environment.
Nice homes.
Great schools.
Loving parents.
Never wanting for anything.
But as he and his 3 siblings grew up, his oldest brother, Peter, became estranged.
Peter became bitter against his family - especially his father.
He refused to come to family gatherings.
He stopped having regular communications with his family.
And he began to publicly write disparaging things about his family, especially his father, who was well known and well respected in his community.
This was and is very painful to my friend - and his siblings.
At first Phil was very hurt by this.
Tried the best he could do to make peace.
Wrote letters, made phone calls.
But Peter was too far gone.
Peace for Phil came as he began to see his situation as God sees it.
You see, the very first family: Adam and Eve, had two sons, Cain and Abel.
Here was a family that had problems, culminating in Cain killing Abel.
Then we've got Jacob and Esau, Esau getting cheated out of his birthright to Jacob.
Then we've got Joseph and the technicolor dream coat! A sibling so roundly hated by his own brothers sold him into slavery, leaving him for dead.
So if the early icons of our faith had such dysfunctional families -
What makes you and I think ours will be perfect?
The Bible teaches us that the only perfect one here is God.
And God wrought miracles through this dysfunction!
Fratricide, unfaithfulness, cheating, kidnapping!
Hang on!
Begin to see things like God does -
Through the lenses of hope, possibility, and purpose!
God did not abandon Israel's patriarchs -
God saw something different and founded our faith upon it.
Many of us have family members - who we love and care for - who are estranged.
We have family relationships that are difficult, even worrisome.
We have broken people we love whom we just can't fix.
Hang on!
God can still work!
Great progress can be made!
Begin to see things like God does -
Through the lenses of hope, possibility, and purpose!
God has not forgotten them!
God has not abandoned them.
Like the patriarchs, God can find some way to work through them!
Don't look at that brokenness through your eyes but see like God sees.
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I had the privilege of presiding over a one-of-a-kind funeral this week-
You may have read about it in the paper -
A Detroiter, serviceman, flying with 51 other air force members ran into rough weather and slammed into the side of a glacier in Alaska, instantly killing everyone on board.
Before anything could be salvaged, bad weather enveloped that crash site, and it became part of the glacier.
That was in 1952 and that serviceman was related to one of our parishioners, Jan Ernst.
Then, Jan was at home, 60 years later, minding her own business, watching Good Morning America, when news broke that the glacier had given up that crash site!
That site was 14 miles from the crash:
Could Jan's relative be found?
For 10 years the Air Force has been sending in workers to excavate -
Tedious,
Dangerous,
Hopeless.
10 years after that discovery, guess what they find?
Guess who they find?
Yes, Jan's relative!
Has anyone here every served in the armed forces?
One of the rules our military lives by is that:
No one gets left behind.
If you're a general, sergeant, or private - you are not left behind.
There is no hopeless situation.
There is no giving up.
This is what God does.
This is how God behaves.
This is what God sees.
What hopeless situation are you facing?
A medical issue?
Finances?
Relationships?
And you're convinced things will never work out.
But that is not who God is -
This is not what God does -
This is not how God sees:
Your Forgiveness,
Your Fulfillment,
Your Finding a way through it - is what God is interested in!
Put no more profoundly than in a story about a landowner and a vineyard!
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A landowner - God
Had a vineyard - the earth
God set it up with everything anyone would ever need to be productive and prosperous, healthy and happy!
God gave control of that vineyard to who he thought were trustworthy friends, but turnout to be some crooked people.
They worked it. And it was fruitful.
But they do not use their prosperity wisely!
They began to put the stuff before the people.
They acted selfishly.
They acted violently.
They acted unjustly.
They brutalized, even killed, God's messengers.
God does not want a world where selfishness, violence, and injustice reign.
So what does God do?
God will take that vineyard and give it to people who are not crooked!
God will give that vineyard to people who will do what God wants done!
God will give that vineyard to people who will give God God's due -
which is to share the proceeds with the hungry, the homeless, the poor, and the weak!
Who put people before stuff.
Some of us are stuck in a vineyard this morning--where things are not right.
Those in charge are not acting like they should.
There's selfishness and injustice.
And the situation looks hopeless.
Every one of us is living with a situation we don't like.
Family problems.
Imperfect job.
Some stressed out relationship.
But Friends, God sees you in the vineyard.
God sees what you're putting up with.
And God sees a way out.
God will do two things -
Either get us out -
Or get us through.
And this is what we see when we see how God sees.
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Did you know that lobsters never stop growing?
The largest one found was 50 years old and weighed 45 pounds!
The reason we don't see more of these is because the growing process for lobsters is so tenuous.
In order to grow, a lobster needs to shed its protective shell -
Be vulnerable and without defense for some time -
Before a new shell is grown.
This is how God intended these creatures to grow:
Leave behind the old,
And have faith to take on the new.
Maybe you came to church scared of letting go of your protective shell -
And trusting that God will care for your future.
But this is how God has designed things!
When we see things as God sees things, we see that part of the growing process is that we have to leave behind the old to take on the new.
Too many times we look at change as a hardship.
We look at change as a hurdle, or obstacle.
But that's not how God sees things.
Don't look at change, through your eyes, as a challenge!
Look at change through God's eyes, as a part of a never-ending process that God has set in place to perfect the world.
God did not put that change in your life to harm you.
God is not asking you to change to punish you.
God is asking you to change because God's using you to engage in that divine cosmic plan to make things better.
I believe that as we begin to see things like God sees things, we will experience greater peace in our lives.
I believe that as we begin to see things like God sees things, we will experience greater peace in our communities.
I believe that as we begin to see things like God sees things, we will bring greater peace into our world, to the joy of humanity. And the glory of God!
And if you agree with me, can you give me a big amen?