March 2, 2008 Message

Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41
"From Above”

A pastor was giving a lesson about ‘right and wrong’ during children's message and told a story of a robber who broke into a jewelry store at night after everybody was gone.
The robber went to the safe where the jewels and the cash were kept, and on the door of the safe is a sign, "Please do not use explosives. The safe is not locked. Just turn the handle."
So, the thief turns the handle and immediately the alarm goes off. The robber panics, but by the time he figures out he’d better leave it’s too late. The police arrive and he is arrested.
"So, children," asks the preacher, "What’s the moral of the story?"
One little boy replied, "You can't trust anybody."


And yet we know there IS someone we can trust – we can trust God. Last week, we learned that the very nature of a ‘godly’ person is to trust God to do what is promised – to set us right. When Abraham finally let go and left it up to God to do what he couldn’t, God came through and delivered on the promise. And we were reminded once again that Jesus was the fulfillment of that promise.

Last week, John spoke of a different sort of birth. Next week John speaks of a different sort of death. Last week Jesus talked to Nicodemus about being born “from above.” Next week Jesus talks to Martha about death that comes from above – death that glorifies God.

Last week, Nicodemus told Jesus, "Teacher, we all know you're a teacher straight from God. No one could do all… you do if God weren't in on it." And Jesus replied, "You're absolutely right.” Next week, Martha is absolutely sure “God will give (Jesus) whatever (he) asks.”

Jesus told Nicodemus, “Trust me and there is hope or don’t trust me and there is nothing.” Jesus will tell Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" Trust what Jesus says about God and there is a “new birth.” Trust what Jesus reveals to us about God and there is a “new death.”

But what about this week, what’s the lesson for us this week? What are we to learn today? Well, between birth and death is a life to be lived that need not be the same – a life ‘from above.’ Teacher and writer Tony Campolo has asked his students, “Even if there were no heaven and there were no hell, would you still follow Jesus? Would you follow him for the life, joy, and fulfillment he gives you right now?” A life ‘from above’ causes us to live differently. It allows us to be glorified in Christ now.

Paul says ‘living from above’ causes us to do what pleases Christ. Graced by the "light" from above we discover what we are to be about – “doing what is pleasing to the Lord." And we don't have to wonder what that means. In Ephesians, Paul makes it very simple and straight-forward when he writes: "what is pleasing to the Lord" is "all that is good, and right, and true" (v.10). "Living from above” as “children of the light” is living a life of goodness, righteousness, and truth. This is what glorifies God.

And to Paul’s way of thinking doing what pleases Christ is definitely not the ‘busy work’ kinds of things we often find ourselves doing – things that don’t really accomplish anything. You know, all those little, trivial things that take up so much of our time and energy and keep us from ‘living the life from above.’ No Paul says, “Let the light of Christ – the light from above - lead the way.”

Living a life ‘from above’ causes us to help others by our involvement in ministries of presence and hope, such as One Great Hour of Sharing, which many United Methodist churches are observing today. Combining our gifts, we are able to more effectively respond to people suffering catastrophic losses due to natural and human-made disasters, such as those in Nevada displaced by terrible flooding at the beginning of this year. For many years, this offering has helped people all over the world through the involvement the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). This is a good thing

Living a life ‘from above’ also causes us, as Bishop Palmer has suggested, to grieve, to pray, and to make a ‘God shaped difference’ where we live by striving to make the prayer of St. Francis a reality in light of the tragic shootings and deaths two weeks ago at the Northern Illinois University in Dekalb. This is a right thing.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

And finally this living a life ‘from above’ causes us to trust God in all things – in birth, in death, and in the life that lies between. This new life comes from God, revealed in Jesus Christ. This is God’s doing and not our own. This is a true thing.

Even though we think we earn what we get, today’s gospel lesson tells a different story. Jesus heals a man who has been blind from birth. Did he get what he earned? Jesus is pretty clear that his blindness was not something this man deserved because of anything he or his family did. And likewise, he was not healed because of anything he or his family did. Unlike his affliction, the man’s healing was ‘from above’ – something only a loving and omnipotent God can do.

And because of what God does, our life becomes a ‘life from above’ causing us to become ‘good’ and ’right’ and ‘true.’

Frederich Niedner (who teaches biblical studies at Valparaiso University) suggests that this story, at a deeper level, is an allegory of life and death among the baptized. Our baptism is life changing - effecting where and how we worship, whom we serve, and quite often our families. He says, “Reshaped in the mud of new creation and washed in the water of the sent One, we can now see what we could not before.” Concerning this new life, he says: “Daily we die and rise from the mud, washed and dispatched by the sent One into another day… quite capable of killing us. That’s all right. As it turns out, starting over is what we do best.”

This ‘life from above’ is ours. No longer are we alone. It’s a life based upon trust. God doesn’t abandon us in our confusion. God raises us up from our affliction. God holds ever so close. God is good, and right, and true. God is life. And that, my friends, is what living a ‘life from above’ is all about. That is the good news for us today and everyday. We can trust God it is so.