HOPE’S TRUE PROMISED LAND

HOPE’S TRUE PROMISED LAND

March 29, 2020 – Fifth Sunday in Lent

Sermon by The Rev. Dr. John A. Dalles

Ezekiel 37:1-14; Romans 8:6-11

Friends, this is our third Sunday of not being together in person for worship.  I have heard some great responses from what you did last week, both in your messages, and in photos of your family gathered together for scatted worship, together with your sisters and brothers in Christ.  I hope you will make this your practice as we continue to do the very best we can to be safe and well.

Many thanks go to our Special Task Force who created the worship service last Sunday.  Everyone involved put forth a tremendous amount of time and effort.  I am so glad that it came together in a way that was worshipful and encouraging

And now, for our sermon…

 “Road trip.”

When the Apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Romans – Christians he had not had a chance to visit them; but anticipated that one day, he would.  Paul wanted them to have at their disposal an idea of how to proceed on the Way of Jesus Christ, and he likened it to…A Road Trip.

Paul told them, not to set their mind on the flesh, but rather in complete contrast, to set the mind on the Spirit.

It was as if they were offered different roads:

-      One road to the right; 

-      The other to the left.  

-      One way that leads to life and peace; 

-      (What we might call Hope’s True Promised Land)

-      The other that leads only to death.

Pretty clear choices. 

Given that kind of choice, which on would we most naturally choose?

-      Death?  Or life?

In places – here and there – you can find old roads and new roads.

There are long portions of the original road still discernable.  Sometimes you can see both roads.

-      One where things are moving along well..

-      And there is that other road.  The road that stands crumbling-away, and fringed with weeds.  A shadow of its former self.  That road that leads … nowhere.  Kind of like St Paul’s “road of death”.

Which one would you choose?

       “Well, naturally”, someone will say. “No one would choose the way that leads to death.  Everyone would choose life and peace.”

Right.  I tend to agree.  In theory. 

But what about in practice?  Can you look beyond these walls, to the larger community – and tell me that every single person you will see in the course of a day, or a week, or a year, will have chosen the road to “life and peace”? 

If so, then I think that some of the vocations and institutions we are all way too familiar with would have to be changed.  Or would be unnecessary.

ENITRE police departments would close.  No one would need forensic laboratories to determine who did what, whether by DNA or fingerprints or what have you.  The lawyers would all have to abandon criminal law, because if everyone chose life and peace – guess what – there would be no crime.  And maybe the ones who practiced law would have to concentrate only on helpful, peaceful work of wills and trusts.

These things would all come to pass as part of the choice they had made – the road to life and peace.

What else?

If everyone out there selected the road to life and peace, then people would not have to be reminded to eat properly or exercise often.  They would not have to be cajoled to get eight hours of sleep each night.  In these unsettling times, they would not have to be convinced of the wisdom of staying home to stay well.  

Nor would people need to be reminded of God, if they selected the road to life and peace.  They would have God on their mind all the time.  Their talk would be about the Goodness and the Glory of God.  Their every moment would be suffused with the things of the Holy Spirit. They would find themselves intentionally, but almost automatically, putting themselves in the presence of Jesus Christ, and living as he lived, and loving as he loved.

These things would all come to pass as part of the choice they had made – the road to life and peace.

It sounds like a kind of utopia.  

-      So different from the world as we know it.

-      So different from the world as it was, in New Testament times.

-      So different from the capital city of Rome.

For many who lived in Rome in Paul’s day, life was cruel, brutish, and short.

Around every corner was a temple to some pagan deity or other.  No matter how impressive the architecture, how soaring the columns, how masterful the statues:  

EVERY ONE OF THEM WAS A TEMPLE TO DEATH.

No wonder Paul says to the Christians in Rome… 

“Set the mind on the Spirit – it is life and it is peace.”

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Or as John Wesley says:

"Mind the things of the Spirit - Think of, relish, love things invisible, eternal; the things which the Spirit has revealed, which he works in us, moves us to, and promises to give us."

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       If you could get some good advice for living today and into the future – here it comes ….

Do what Paul would have said”

“Choose the road trip of life and peace.”  

“YOU WILL GET A KICK OUT OF BEING WITH JESUS.”

-      Going with the LORD for the long haul.  

-      Stopping along the way, where Christ invites you to stop.  

-      Letting life unfold according to his plan.

-      That is what his first followers did.

-      And you are his followers of today.

-      You will get your kicks when your route is paved with the possibilities Jesus has in store.  

-      When every mile presents something new for you to do that may surprise you.  

-      That may be a challenge, 

-      That may be a joy.  

-      And is more than likely going to have elements of them all.

-      Choose that route.

THE WAY OF LIFE AND PEACE…

....Not the one that sends you headlong into oblivion.

When we choose to follow Jesus, we make the kind of choice that is immediately rewarding, and will be eternally rewarding.  

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11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

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You DO have a choice to make.

-      The decision is whether you will commit to Christ or not. 

-      Whether you will aim for “Hope’s True Promised Land”, or not.

-      Whether you will take his road – or not. 

-      Whether you let the Holy Spirit guide you, or not. 

-      Whether you will “keep on keeping on” the way of our Lord, or not.

I fear – I truly do – that someone – watching this morning –  will select the wrong road.  And they will commit to that wrong road with a completeness that will be their undoing.  I fear that someone here will go merrily along the way of death.  When all the while, just a few feet away, they could have committed to a route of life and peace.

They think – mistakenly – that they know better than God or Jesus or anyone else – so they are going to get their kicks in all the wrong things.  

-      The things that don’t last. 

-      The things that in the end, don’t even matter.

And I want to cry out to them, 

-      Change your mind.  

-      “Repent” is the Bible word for it.  

-      Before it is too late.

-      Accept the act of salvation that God alone is able to do.

You can do that now.  And it will make all the difference.

When we follow the road that Jesus has set before us, we can be sure he will be with us every moment, and that every moment leads to every moment of eternity.

Why would anyone choose anything else?

Why in the world would they?

Why…would you?  Why not, instead hear the invitation of Jesus to that better road which is his, alone.

-      No matter what we've done,

-      No matter what has been done to us, 

-      No matter what we may have previously heard…

-      God loves us, 

-      God forgives us, 

-      God accepts us as we are, and 

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-      God sets us free to live lives of meaning, purpose, grace, and gratitude. AMEN.

This is an original sermon by The Rev. D. John A. Dalles, Interim Senior Minister and Head of Staff of Shadyside Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, PA .  It was delivered on the date indicated in the text. You are encouraged to read it and reflect upon it.  Please keep in mind that the sermon is Copyright © 2020 John A. Dalles.  Permission from the author is required to reproduce it in any fashion.