Good News: God's Judgement Psalm 98
May 15, 2009 John 15:9-17
Good Shepherd U.C.C.
Metairie, LA.
One of the requirements, in writing, of Pastor of Good Shepherd U.C.C.. the contract to which I am accountable is: Biblical Preaching. I take that seriously and you might like to know that the normal sermon takes about 1 hour of preparation for one minute of preaching. If you take the Bible seriously, which I do.
If you preach Biblically and also follow the lectionary texts, your feet are held to the fire, as a preacher, and that's GOOD; in fact, it is excellent because the preacher is prevented from just preaching the easy texts or the texts that she prefers.
When I prepared for preaching this week, I began with the Psalm as I normally do. Remember that Psalms were the book of worship for Israel, for Jesus and all his relatives, and yes, even the Holy Mother was a Jew, for all the disciples and most likely all of the authors of the New Testament. Psalms were the hymns and prayers of the Israelites and they knew them by heart as we know "Jesus Loves Me" and "Silent Night". Psalms shaped the character of the Jewish community and every person in it.
I find Psalm 98 curious. All the rejoicing, the praising, the singing- the whole natural world, animal and vegetable, is in great happy congo line- swaying, clapping before the Lord and then the conclusion: He comes to judge the earth; he will judge the world with justice and the people with equity.
Whoa, Nelly! They are joyful because God is coming to judge them? When we know in our bones that "all have sinned and falll short of the glory of God"?
Whey I think of God as Judge, I think of Bible-thumping rants like "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". I think of condemnation and predictions of hellish endings because of our wicked wicked ways. Do you think of Judgement Day as "good news", a day you'd be dancing in the streets with your neighbors?
As an aside, those kind of preachers who condemn the world in the name of God, they are the ones who claimed that God sent the floods to wipe out New Orleans on account of our "life styles". Given God's rainbow covenant and given the words the the Gospel of John that God sent Jesus into the world not to condemn the world but to save the world, I cannot find those preachers to be Biblically accurate.
And by the way, I have heard none of those preachers claim that God sent fires to Santa Barbara, the homes of the super rich and the super famous, because of their lifestyles. I haven't heard those preachers haul out texts about the vines that don't bear fruit being cast off and burnt up and I have seen no finger shaking at the profligate living in California. What's with that?
Back to Psalm 98- how do we claim judgement texts as "good news", as worthy of celebration? How does the Psalm provoke us to comprehend God's judgement upon us, our community, our nation, the whole earth as "good news"?
Let's remember that one of our favorite Christmas carols, written by Isaac Watts in 1719 is based on Psalm 98. Many of us know it by heart and are greatly disturbed when smarty-pants new translations change a word or two of it. Do you know what it is? It's "Joy to the World". Threaded through that hymn of joy, along with love and grace, are words about the Ruler who arrives to set us straight, make our world thoroughly righteous (not self-righteous), a commonwealth of God.
God comes as Judge. God sends Jesus as Righteous Lord. What are the standards that God uses to Judge? In the Old Testament God's resounding command to the nation of Israel is that they will be judged according to how they treat the "anawim", the little ones. How God's chosen people care for the orphan, the widow, the stranger- that is the plumb line. And Jesus, who is sent to rescue the world from unrighteous living, he brings a similar message- the parable of the Good Samaritan, for example. Or the parable in Matthew 25 when Jesus says that your entry into heaven depends upon your treatment of the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the naked, those who are ill or in prison. He says that inasmuch as you do it for one of the least of these, you have done it for me.
And today in the Gospel of John we hear a summation of the great commandment- Love one another if you want to be a friend of Jesus. "Love your neighbor as your self" Who is my neighbor? Oh, back to the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Let us remember that to be a friend of Jesus is a ferociously demanding relationship. Jesus takes you where you would rather not go. When you are a friend of Jesus, you are expected to pick up your cross, to lay down your life. You might, like the rich young ruler, be asked to give away all your possessions. You might be dining in back alleys with folks who carry unmentionable diseases, their belongings in a shopping cart. You might end up in shelters for abused people, or on borderline locations where nobody knows your name. You just might, if you are a friend to Jesus.
If you would like to get acquainted with folks Jesus recommends us to visit, see the movie "The Soloist". Though the man who visits the places where homeless people abide is not Christian, it turns out that he is a friend of Jesus.
Now I do not know about you, but I have not done a lot of that lately- caring for the homeless, the hungry, the diseased, the imprisoned, these friends of Jesus. Do I believe that God is judging me and us? Yes, I do. Because God desires for the world to be set straight. How will it be when the world is set straight? It will be gloriously joyful beyond imagination. When the Savior reigns, then the wonders of his love will so pervade our inner lives that we will radiate the love of Christ. And that is great good news. Until that day we do have the commandment to guide us: Love one another, as I have loved you. Love one another as Jesus has loved us. Befriend one another as Jesus has befriended us.
How are we doing in this regard, do you think? Speaking for myself, I could do better. There is a personal dimension to Jesus' salvation project. Jesus is sent by God to rescue me from a life of "aimlessness and sin", as we say in our affirmation of faith. Everyone of us is created in the image of God and we are innately capable or moral decisions. We have the capacity to discern right from wrong, good from evil.
This is unique in the animal kingdom, so far as we know. When a cat kills a songbird, we call it a nuisance, not immoral. When a puppy steals a bone from the counter, we do not worry about the status of it's soul or it's conscience. Humans are the only creatures that operate in the moral realm. Thus by our creation, we are accountable for our actions; accountable to one another and ultimately to God, who sent Jesus to rule our hearts, our communities, our nations, the world.
Jesus came to set us straight so that we might bear much fruit...so that we might have joy in abundance...and God knows, so long as we (and by "we" I mean "church") so long as we have let the homeless be homeless, the hungry be hungry, the naked and ill go untended, the criminal justice system go unexamined...so long as we fail to address the people in these situations as our friends, then our joy is diminished.
God sends Jesus, not to condemn the world, but to rescue the world from lovelessness and friendlessness. We who say we are disciples, members of the body of Christ, Jesus has claimed us as his friends. We did not chose him, he chose us.
As individuals we could enrich our friendship with Jesus by praying the traditional nightly prayer, 'the examen". One reviews the day before falling asleep, with open and humble heart before Jesus, or God, or Spirit- whatever name you bow down to- and reveiw your encounters of the day. Use the examen to ask yourself- how did my activity today glorify God? How did my activity today reflect my friendship with Jesus? How did my activities today promote the fruit of the Spirit?
Remember now- Jesus came to save us, not condemn us, so that joy and love and friendship will abound. We can trust God to cut off the branches that are not bearing fruit and prune some branches so that they will multiply in fruitfulness.
As for us, the body of Christ that we call Good Shepherd U.C.C., may we invite God's judgement upon us to increase our fruitfulness. What does it look like when we are the branches that bear much fruit? When we are the loyal friends of Jesus? Well, it looks like a place of joy and love. Every week we say together, "thy kingdom come"- a kingdom where orphans and widows and immigrants are nourished. Every week we pray that God would "deliver us from evil". We are asking that God prune us and cast off any fruitless branches- we are asking that God lop off any activities that fail to produce joy, love, friendship.
One of the best examen practises I know is called "checkbook examen". If you want to know how it is going with your friendship with Jesus- take a look at your checkbook, or your credit card bill, or your on line bank account. This is a great way to check your values because "where your treasure lies, there lies your heart also".
The same practise works for the church. Today our financial team will report to Council. And Council will put together a revised budget. I pray we do not miss this opportunity to ask- how does this budget reflect our friendship with Jesus? Jesus, whom God sent to rescue the world from lovelessness, joylessness, friendshiplessness. How does our budget extend itself on behalf of those especially loved by Jesus?- the hungry, the homeless, the naked and diseased and imprisoned?
Jesus is the kind of friend who expects the best of us- expects us to bear much fruit. The congregations that heed the great commandment- Love on another as I have loved you; Befriend one another as I have befriended you; these are the congregations that will bear much fruit. On the other hand, those branches of Christianity which are not well connected to the vine, that do not exhibit the friendship of Jesus, that fail to extend love, these branches will be chopped off and tossed into the fire so that the vineyard is healthy, vital.
I say this today to you, not only because I am a Biblical preacher who is directed by the lectionary texts, but also because I believe these words are true. Today, beloved friends of Jesus, let the scriptures examine us, prune us, and so that we bear much fruit in honor of our friendship with Jesus.
