September 30, 2007 Message

Philippians 4:1-9; Matthew 28:16-20 (The Message)

Winston Churchill once said, “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.”

In other words, what often concerns us are things that aren’t really lasting or important in the long run. Most things that occupy our minds today won’t matter years from now.

Almost nothing in today’s news will matter in 500 years. Which raises the question: Does anything we do, really — ultimately — matter?

Imagine that it’s the year 2507 — 500 years from today — and you are browsing about in a library (if such places even exist in 2507) and you come to the ancient history section.

As you scroll through the titles, you come across “The Most Important Events of the 20th and 21st Centuries.” You open the book and there’s a list of the top 10 events that shaped the world way back then and still matter in 2507.
Here’s the question to think again: What are the top two events on that list? And what events that have occurred in your lifetime will be remembered 500 years from now?

In order for us to understand the question more fully, try this - What do you think were the two most important events that occurred in the last 500 years — or say since Columbus?

Chances are coming up with that list isn’t all that easy. What do we put on that list anyway? Wars? They seem so all-encompassing at the time, but once the veterans and contemporaries are gone, they seem less pivotal and fall into the long line of human conflicts that seem to happen in every age.

Even world wars tend to lose their impact in time. World War I, the “war to end all wars,” quickly faded in the face of World War II which is, itself, being replaced in the collective consciousness by whatever war we happen to be presently fighting.
If war doesn’t stand the test of time, what does? Scandal? Can you name the players and the problem in the Teapot Dome scandal? Can your kids tell you what Watergate was about? Will anyone remember Enron next year, let alone 500 years from now?

How about art and architecture? You could make a case for both being more lasting. There are probably only a handful of architectural and artistic works that a number of us might remember, while there are so many more that lie forgotten.

Perhaps the more enduring markers for any age are the ideas and new discoveries that advance human understanding such as Copernicus discovery that the earth is not the center of the universe, ushering in the age of modern science, and Columbus opening up of the New World to European exploration. These two in particular have changed how we view our place in the universe. The point is that ideas and discoveries last because they seem to move us into the future.

What will be remembered about us 500 years from now? Physicist James Trefil suggests two events — landing a man on the moon and cracking the genetic code — will be the most important. “Future humans,” he says, “will look back on the Apollo program the same way we look back at the early European explorers. Understanding the human genome will enable us to understand how life works and help us learn how to “get under the hood and change the system, to alter life.”

There you have the ideas of the scientist. What about the theologian?

The apostle Paul focused squarely on ideas that would last. Writing to the Philippians, Paul urges them to “stand firm in the Lord” (4:1). This is important when in the middle of conflict or at odds with someone. in the Philippian church. And to Paul this standing firm meant rejoicing in the Lord – always being near the Lord – striving every day to be like Jesus the Christ. This is the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (4:7) he talks about.

Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki, author and professor emeritus of theology at Claremont School of Theology in California, suggests we are intended to live “for the Glory of God – to be, in the fullness of our humanity.” She says we know the nature of God to be love. That is to be our nature as well – caring for the wellbeing of the other.

She said that the genius of John Wesley was that he actually thought we could attain this. Wesley really believed we would become perfect in love. For Wesley, perfection was a synonym for love and our “going on to perfection” is actually our becoming more loving – our living life “for the love of God.”

Wesley this provided a vision for living. This is ‘Methodism’ – a method of living, in love.
Paul’s worldview of what really lasts was bound up in his understanding of the cross and resurrection. The death and resurrection of Christ was the linchpin of history, ushering in a new age and anticipating an age to come. He understood that human history has an end point, but God’s kingdom does not. Rather than promoting great deeds or monuments to mark his place in history, Paul sees his own history as culminating in his desire to “know Christ and the power of his resurrection” (3:10) — to focus in on the timeless nature of knowing and following Christ. Everything else — accomplishments, reputation, legacy, fame, knowledge — was “rubbish” (3:8).

What really lasts, says Paul, are the ideas and actions that mirror Christ. “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is reputable, whatever is authentic, whatever is compelling, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (4:8).

Paul knew what was timeless and what was not; he understood the difference between what was eternal and what was short-lived. He believed in the ‘unseen’ as having more value, or as being more “real” than the ‘seen,’ the ‘intangible’ as being more “real” than the ‘tangible.’

He understood that everything — everything — we see when we look around is some day going to pass away. Nothing will be left standing. Something may be built in its place, but it too will come down either because we tear it down, or because it falls under its own weight, a victim of natural processes.

But Love is something that cannot be destroyed. There is no power or force of any magnitude, dimension, range or design that can destroy it. That’s why Paul suggests that in anxious times, in our worrying moments, we should return to the Timeless, to the things that count.

Of course we should pray (4:6). But having done that, what are we to do? What do we do when, having prayed and prayed and prayed about something, the distraction and the issue and the irritation remains unresolved?
We must, the Bible says, transition to the Timeless. When we do, what emerges from our lives will have a touch, a shadow of the Timeless about it as well.

So what about our lives so far?

Few of us will be remembered individually 500 years from now, or even 50 or 100 years from now. Our lives on this earth are, by and large, pretty brief and not historically noteworthy. If we really want to increase the store of human happiness and well-being and leave our mark on the world, then, the best way to do it is to follow the way of Christ — to think on and do the things that really matter in the long view of the kingdom.

What we do for God - what we do to be like God - is what will really last!
In our readings from Philippians and Matthew today a very fundamental truth has been shared concerning how we are to live our lives. It has to do with what we are to do as followers of God revealed, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. So, in love – always in love:
“Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him!
"Go out and teach everyone you meet, far and near, this way of life!

I hope and pray no one hurries off after the service today as if nothing had happened.