The Spirit of Life
Isaiah 55:1-5, 10-13
Psalm 65:9-14
Romans 8:9-17
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Tim
Christoffersen
St. Anselm’s
July 14, 2002
"I
have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where
they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their
character." Are these familiar words to many of you? There are wonderful
connections among these words of Martin Luther King, the parable of the Sower
and the gloriously uplifting words of Isaiah: "Everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters…the mountains and the hills before you shall burst
into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."
Let us start with Jesus’ parable of the Sower. The seed being sown is
the Word of God. The parable is uncomfortably close to home. It is close to
home because even the first three groups who hear the Word and eventually
fall away are Christians. The seed falls on rocky ground along the path and
the birds eat the seed. These are the people who hear the Word of God but
neither understand it nor value it. Their lives are dominated by the values
of their society and the teachings of men. Other seeds fall on rocky ground
without much soil. When the sun comes up, the seeds are scorched and wither
away because they have no roots. These are the people who initially receive
God Word with joy and are free from domination by the teachings of worldly
men, but when they face disgrace, or harm, or loss of life or property, they
choose silence or denial of the Word of God. I believe we can only dimly grasp
what it must have been like for those who suffered persecution and death in
the early centuries and even now, in countries where Christians are persecuted
today.
Other seeds fell among thorns and when the thorns grew up they were choked.
These are the people who understand and value God’s Word. But eventually
the pleasures and possessions of this world take most of their time and energy
and God’s Word is squeezed out of their lives. These ‘thorns’
are native plants and very hardy. They don’t need much water or loving
care.
Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth much grain. What is different
about this group? What is the "content of their character"? The
words from Paul in the reading from Romans give us insight into the answer.
"…if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living
in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal
bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you." So one ‘content
of their character’ is they have accepted the Holy Spirit into their
lives and they are alive spiritually. In I Corinthians 2:14 Paul expresses
this more forcefully. "The man without the Spirit does not accept
the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him,
and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned."
What happens when we accept the Holy Spirit into our lives? We are willing
to trust God and to take risks. Paul Tornier, a prominent Christian psychologist
was once asked how he helps his patients get rid of fears. "Oh I don’t,"
he answered, "that which does not frighten does not have meaning. All
the best things in life have an element of fear in them." To accept the
Holy Spirit into our lives does not mean we are now safe and secure or that
we should live safe and secure lives without meaning.
Isaiah’s words now might make a little more sense to us. "…everyone
who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and
eat! …Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your
labor for that which does not satisfy? Isaiah clearly speaks of spiritual
bread and living water. It takes no money to buy it yet we spend money for
that which is not bread and we labor for that which does not satisfy. We try
to fill the ‘hole’ we sense with gourmet food, liquor, or experiences.
If we trust God and take risk in our lives, what do we do? From the parable
of the Sower, we have one answer. We know that taking risks is required when
we are faced with embarrassment or ridicule for our faith when confronted
by those who consider it foolishness. The risk we take is not hiding or denying
our faith and facing the consequences to our standing or reputation in the
human community.
Perhaps what we would perceive to be the biggest risk is to trust God and
not make ourselves, our own ego the airport control tower of our lives. The
Bible is rich with the stories of those who took major risks in trusting God
and not their own ego. Noah built an ark while those around him presumably
laughed at him and ridiculed him. Abraham trusted God’s Word and left
his homeland for a foreign place and was prepared to sacrifice his only son.
How do we know when we are trusting God and not trusting in the judgment or
direction of our own ego? Most of the time our ego does not encourage us to
take many risks. What we may perceive as risks usually have to do with trying
to increase the pleasures and possessions of this life. We want control, status,
safety and security.
Trusting God, on the other hand, leads to ‘fruits of the Spirit.’
Paul describes fruits of the Spirit in Galatians as love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
How many of these fruits of the Spirit would be involved in a society that
would judge children not by the color of their skin but by the content of
their character? Sharing that dream itself was a risk. A single person may
have killed Martin Luther King but his dream threatened what many perceived
to be the natural order of society at that time.
In trusting God and taking risks, we don’t know where it will lead us.
We can be confident there will be love and peace on that journey and that
it will bring joy to our souls and spiritual life to our bones.
Isaiah’s vision of the promises of God’s Word to the people of Israel
leaving captivity is one of abundance: "…so shall my word be
that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall
accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent
it. For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and
the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field
shall clap their hands."
AMEN.
