Second Presbyterian Church

"Dressing Properly As Christians"
August 24, 2003

Upcoming Events

Worship Schedule

Sermons

About the Church

• Accessibility to the Church

• Directions to the Church

• History of the Church

Church Staff

Groups & Organizations

• Boy Scouts of America - Troop 175

• Choirs

• Presbyterian Women

• SPY (Second Presbyterian Youth)

Committees

• Building & Grounds

• Church Growth

• Congregational Care & Fellowship

• Education & Nurture

• Finance

• Office & Personnel

• Stewardship

• Witness & Service

• Worship & Celebration

Ad Hoc Committees

• Architectural - Engineering

• Building Fund

Presbyterian Internet Sites of Interest

Virginia Links

• Virginia Cities

Web Site Statistics

Site Map

Second Presbyterian Church Homepage

Sermons Homepage » Sermons for 2003 » Sermons for August 2003

21^st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
by The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.

• Psalm 84
• Ephesians 6: 10-20
• John 6: 56-65

Although I have experienced discussion among some of you about what we ought to wear to church for worship, this sermon, Dressing Properly As Christians, is not about our physical attire. It is more about our spiritual attire, what we wear to guard our souls in Christ.

Let me ask some questions:

• What would happen to your Christian faith if some one like Adolf Hitler took over the US and required all churches to be loyal to what he thought the church should believe?
  
  
• Or, what would happen to your Christian faith if suddenly Christianity were no longer tolerated and all who confessed Jesus as the Christ were given the choice of either denouncing their faith, or going to prison - even be executed?
  
  
• What would happen to your Christian faith if the Government came in and seized the church property and nationalized it without compensation?

These situations and others have happened to devout, good Christian people. With notable exceptions, living as a Christian has always been, at least somewhat, hazardous. It was hazardous from the time of the early church when the leaders of the Synagogue demanded the Apostles to stop preaching the resurrection of Jesus. It was hazardous for Stephen who was stoned to death. Saul (Paul) changed from being a danger to the church to one that the Jewish leaders were ready to kill at any cost.

During the era of Christendom it was dangerous to be Christian. The controversies of the early church fathers were controversies that could threatened one's physical life.

During the Reformation, the danger virtually came from within the family of God: Roman Catholics versus Protestants, Protestants versus other Protestants, Everybody versus Unitarians and Anabaptists. If you were in the wrong place at the wrong time with the "wrong" set of beliefs, you could have been burned at the stake. Even today these old, even ancient battles can still be witnessed in the former Yugoslavia and in Northern Ireland.

Arguably the 20th Century has been the most dangerous for Christians. Christians were severely treated in the former Soviet Union. The Soviet Government officially monitored the churches. Christianity was severely treated during Nazi Germany when Christians worked to hide and save the Jews, who were blamed for the problems in Europe. The Nazis persecuted Christians for proclaiming Jesus Christ as head of the church and Lord of their conscience. One of the creeds of our Constitution, the Declaration of Barmen, was written be German Christians who opposed the stand of Adolph Hitler towards the church. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was put in prison, then executed just days before liberation. Karl Barth fled to Switzerland.

In 1949 China expelled Christian missionaries; many were noted Presbyterian missionaries. The Christian church in China went under ground, suffered severe persecution and only recently was allowed to exist in public.

So far in the U. S. we have been very fortunate. It is okay to be a Christian in that our life, family, or job is not usually threatened. Yet, I have observed some disturbing trends. Christians, the church and clergy, are fair game for the brunt of jokes and ridicule from the media such as television, movies and magazines. Rarely will you see a minister or Priest portrayed on television as a person, who is strong, has integrity or possesses character. More often clergy are portrayed as goofy, stupid and basically irrelevant. Our society condescendingly portrays Christians as pathetic. America does not have active persecution; it has subtle, non-verbal discounting, marginalizing persecution. As a Christian you run the risk of being the object of jokes by your peers, or fellow workers.

We need to hear the words of Paul, as found in our lesson. They are as important for us now as they were for the Christians who lived in Ephesus. Christianity almost always lives in a hostile environment. An environment in which God has placed us so that we can witness to our neighbors about God's Good News: His love for us; His desire for us to be reconciled to Him; and His call for us to reconcile with one another! If we are to survive in our hostile environment, then we need to be properly dressed for the bad "weather." We need to be able to put on THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD!

1. We still need the belt of truth. We need to be truthful, especially to one another, and we need to speak this truth with love. The church needs to be truthful and to remain true to its message about the Absolute Truth: that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. This absolute truth needs to stand up against the secular world's doctrine: Absolute Relativism! Again, the truth must be spoken, spoken with love in our hearts, spoken with love for our enemies: our belt of truth.
   
   
2. We still need a breastplate of righteousness. Perhaps I should say a bulletproof vest of righteousness. We need to be as righteous as possible by allowing the love and grace of God to dress us with God's righteousness. We need to put on the righteousness of God. What is the righteousness of God? It means becoming committed wholeheartedly to right living. It can only be done with the power of the love of God abiding in us. It means picking up our brother or sister when they sin - or fall. Because we also know what it is like to fail, to fall - to fall short of what God intends for us to be. It means transforming the congregation into a community where we hold one another in love and compassion, regardless of whether we agree or disagree on certain issues. It means refusing to participate in the gossip that goes on all around us.
   
   
3. We still need the shield of faith, the protection that God gives us so that we can withstand "in-comings." The shield of our faith in God is the protection that we need to ward off those temptations and enticements to fall away from our faith. We need protection from the attacks by others that put down, discount and ridicule our belief in Jesus as the Messiah.
   
   
4. We still need our helmet of salvation. We stand protected by the assurance of what Christ has done for us - God through Christ has saved us from our sure doom. As people we tend to become lost and without purpose in life until we acknowledge that our purpose in life comes through our life with God. Only then do we really have purpose in living. To live is to live for God; to reject God is, by definition, death.
   
   
5. We still need the sword of the Spirit. The two edged sword was part of the standard equipment for a Roman Soldier. The only offensive weapon that is mentioned in our Scripture lesson is the sword of the Spirit, the word of God. That is a hard one for us. It is difficult for us to live and speak to those around us about God's love and how Jesus has transformed our lives. Yet that is exactly what we do anyway. How we live, how we express our attitudes in living, how we treat one another, all these things speak volumes of words to others about how important, or unimportant the love of God in Jesus Christ is in our lives. It also represents our need for developing a good working knowledge of the Bible, that which is our major resource for arming ourselves with the Word of God, Jesus Christ. (note only 17% of Presbyterians daily read Bible privately)

To be properly dressed as Christians, we need to put on the WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD, from helmet to sandal, from shield to sword. We need to be prepared for the spiritual battles that shall inevitably come our way as we strive to live and witness to our present human situation. And the way to prepare ourselves is by prayer - ceaseless prayer to God, by daily reading of the Scriptures and by striving with all our might to increase the fellowship in the congregation. If we seek to do these things we shall actually manifest, show openly, to our world and community that the Good News of God's love changes people from being self-centered to God-centered, who are focused upon ministering to our community. People all around us are hungry for God's Love. We still hunger for God's love. We are called to accept it, and then share it with those around us.

How do we put on THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD? We do it with: unceasing prayer, persistent daily Bible reading/devotion, striving to show God's love in all that we do. In so doing, we have the protection of the Lord to help us to live and to witness to those around us about our mighty, wonderful, compassionate, loving, always forgiving, God. Amen.

The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.