Loading...Sermon October 8, 2017
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, LSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen, Newport, PA
Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Track 1 Year A Proper 22
//lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp22_RCL.html
Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him…. Philippians 3:7-9
Please be seated.
A number of years ago, I had the privilege of meeting Dr. Francis Collins. I don’t know if you’ve heard of him. He is currently the head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Collins is a physician-geneticist and was instrumental in mapping the human genome. He has also discovered genetic factors in some diseases.
Dr. Collins is passionate about ensuring that people are not discriminated against because of their genetic composition. He has worked for legislation and laws to protect people from this type of discrimination.
And Dr. Collins is a devout Christian. He sees no conflict between science and Christian faith. Collins, in his book, The Language of God, believes that “God is the source of all life and that all life expresses the Will of God.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Language_of_God
The National Institutes of Health, under the direction of Dr. Collins, has embarked on the next advance in human medicine. Once called personalized medicine, it’s now called precision medicine. What this means is that, eventually, you will be treated medically with exactly what works for you. Right now when it comes to certain diseases or illnesses, we are all treated pretty much the same. But our bodies are very different. While the treatment protocols work pretty well for most of us, with precision medicine, things will work even better. I’m on an email list that provides updates on the most recent advances.
I can say, without a doubt, that when precision medicine becomes commonplace, you will not even recognize how medicine was practiced prior. We and those who come after us will think our practices were so primitive. In other words, once the science advances enough, our whole understanding of illness and wellness will dramatically shift. We know this is true from just the advances in medicine in our own time. The shift will be like a Damascus Road enlightenment.
Paul had an experience we hear about in Acts that totally shook the foundation of his life. Remember, Paul was a devout Jew. He was a devout believer in God. He followed all of the practices set down for devout Jews. Paul was a Pharisee. He loved God and believed everything he was doing in his whole life was a reflection of that love of God.
But then Jesus Christ came along. People followed Jesus Christ. The followers did not necessarily follow the practices of a devout Jewish life. Gentiles were equals in these new communities. These followers of Jesus Christ claimed to be following God, but Paul could not see it. He believed these new followers were a threat to Judaism. He believed these followers needed to be stopped. They were against God in Paul’s view.
Paul began going throughout the land, finding these followers of Jesus Christ and persecuting them. Paul witnessed and approved of the stoning of Stephen. Paul believed that in persecuting the followers of Jesus Christ, he was following God’s Will and doing what was right in the sight of God.
Paul, then known as Saul, went to the High Priest in Jerusalem and obtained letters for the synagogues in Damascus, so that while there, if he found any followers of the Way as it was called, he could bring those followers bound to Jerusalem.
As you know, on the way to Damascus, Saul was surrounded by a bright light from heaven. He heard a voice asking why Saul persecuted him. The voice was that of Jesus. The men traveling with Saul also heard the voice. Saul was blinded by the light. Jesus told Saul to get up and go to Damascus and eventually he would be told what to do next.
Jesus had called Saul to spread the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Saul’s name became Paul and he established churches throughout the Mediterranean region and as far as Rome. Yet, in order to do that work, the whole basis of his previous life was shattered. Yes, Paul was a good man. Yes, he was devout in his belief. Yes, he loved and worshiped God and yes, how he understood his life was totally changed.
I call this, blowing up your life or exploding the foundations upon which we’ve built our lives! And that’s what following Jesus Christ does. We think we have it all figured out. We think we know what we need to do to be good followers and yet Jesus is always calling out to us with new teachings, understandings and learnings.
And as Paul says in the Epistle to the Philippians that we heard today, following the teachings of Jesus Christ is the most valuable thing we have in our lives. Everything we think is valuable by the world’s standards, is rubbish, according to Paul.
Paul tells us that he suffered the loss of everything. We can imagine that he lost his friends. Maybe he even lost his family. He lost his status. I bet the High Priest didn’t want to see him anymore. He lost the ability to freely go to the Temple. He was hunted down and persecuted himself.
Yet, he tells us that it’s all worth it. That following Jesus Christ and living in the teachings and knowledge of Jesus Christ, is so amazing that it’s worth all that he’s suffered. It’s worth more than all he’s lost.
Can we say the same thing as Paul? Are we open to the possibility that our lives may be upended as we grow in Christ? Are we aware that we may have that Damascus Road experience…that moment of deep understanding where we say that how we’ve lived our lives until this point has not aligned with following Jesus Christ?
We need flexibility and openness to keep learning and growing in our faith…to keep knowing more about Jesus Christ and living according to his love and example. We need the humility to say that we were wrong. We need the faith to believe that in giving up all for Christ, we will have amazing life.
Amen
