Second Presbyterian Church

"Rich & Poor: Another Word
Preaching From the Gospel of Luke"
September 25, 2005

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 2005 » Sermons for September 2005 » Sermons from the Series on Luke

#63 in the Series on Luke
The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.

• Joel 2: 12-13
• Luke 20: 45 - 21: 4

This past week I used a quip from a list of quips that someone gave me. The quip went like this: "quit griping about your church; if it was perfect, you couldn't belong." And it has been my experience that there are two types of Christians. One type is a sinner who pretends that his struggle with sin is over; that he no longer sins. The other type of Christian is a sinner who has joyfully accepted the forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ, yet knows that the struggle with sin continues.

That is one of the reasons why so many non-Christians love to look at us Christians and label us has hypocrites. There is no greater joy in our world that when something bad can be brought to light about a so-called Christian. The interesting thing about this phenomenon is that the delight in exposing the hypocrisy of Christians is as strong within the church as it is outside of the church!

There is no doubt about it, that the existence of non-genuine Christians is a ploy by Satan to discredit the witness of the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is designed to render the Good News of Jesus Christ null and void.

Jesus warned the disciples. He was teaching the church, both then and now, to beware of the temptation of leadership in the church. When we have positions of power, or authority we are in a position to abuse the power, or authority. Jesus used the scribes as examples of abuse of position and power. The scribes were the experts of law. The scribes were educated and highly respected. They were called upon to interpret the law and to render decisions concerning the law. They held positions of responsibility, especially to protect the vulnerable: the widow and the orphan.

Because of their power and prestige it was common for scribes to abuse their privilege. They would seek places and seats of honor. They loved to be respectfully greeted in public. They would pray long prayers to impress the people around them concerning their piety and religiosity. Rather than using their position and prestige to revere God, they used it instead to receive honor and prestige for themselves.

Why would Jesus caution his disciples about the scribes? Was there a chance that these fishermen from Galilee would become educated scribes with places of honor in the temple? I don't believe so. Jesus knew how people tended to behave under certain circumstances. Jesus knew that these disciples would soon be leading the new following of Jesus, the church. Jesus knew that it would be so easy for these leaders to repeat the sins of the scribes. We can safely assume that Luke had already witnessed some of this since he added it to his gospel. Plus we have all the stories of the disciples misunderstanding how they are to behave in the Kingdom of God in which human based values are often reversed.

Throughout the history of the Christian church there have been leaders who have stepped over the line and abused the power that was given to them for service to the congregations. We need to always be aware of the potential of the abuse of power.

We need to move beyond hypocrisy. How? We need to first of all be honest; we need to always remember that we are forgiven sinners. We are forgiven because God, through Christ, has forgiven us. We proclaim our non-superiority! We are no better than anyone else in the world, period. Yet we have been redeemed. God has called us to Himself. God has redeemed us and forgiven us.

We agree with the apostle Paul, (1 Corinthians 1: 26-31) there is nothing to boast about, except for the Grace of God. And that is not boasting about ourselves, but boasting about Jesus Christ who redeemed us from our self-centered sinful ways of being.

That ends hypocrisy. We don't claim to be better than anyone else. We know better than that. We don't pretend to be better than anyone else, because we are not. We do know and affirm the Goodness of God, the Grace of Jesus Christ and His wonderful salvation!

We need to be more like the widow. The rich placed their offering in and gave according to their wealth. Nothing was really wrong with that. But the poor widow did more, much more. She took her two little copper coins, worth about two cents, and placed them in the coffer. These coins were all that she had and she gave them to the Lord. The rich only gave a fraction of what they owned. The widow gave all she had.

How about us? Are we willing to give our whole life to Christ? Are we willing to place on the line: who we are, what we have, and offer it to Jesus Christ? That's what we are called to do. And in so doing we acknowledge the rich blessings that God has given us through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

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