Life Lessons

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

July 31, 2016

Life Lessons

Selected Texts

“Do we, as members of the church of Jesus Christ

promise to guide and nurture Thea

by word and deed,

with love and prayer,

encouraging her to know and follow Christ

and to be a faithful member of Christ’s church?”

You were all asked that question a few minutes ago

and you all responded, “we will”.

You promised Thea that you will guide her,

nurture her,

encourage her…to know Christ,

to follow Christ.

You promised you would do this by word and deed,

and with love and prayer.

In your promise,

you became Thea’s  godparent.

Every one who responded

made a covenant with Thea.  

Over the past few weeks

you made the same promise to Robbie

and to Christopher.

In the fall you’ll covenant with Lindsay,

and others.

Will you honor your promise?

How will you honor your promise?

What will you do

to live up to the covenant you just made?

You made a promise –

now you need to keep it.

There is one obvious way:

prayer –

prayer for Thea, her family,

her well being –

that is something we all can do,

we all should do.

In the future you might help in the nursery,

ETC;

you might teach Sunday School,

        

Of course, that assumes

that the Spirit has graced you with the gifts

you need to work with children.

Some have those gifts;

others have different gifts,

so you might need to look for other ways

to keep your promise.

You can honor your promise

in a more indirect way;

more indirect, but just as important:

you can work to keep this church strong;

to strengthen its foundation for the future

so that as Thea goes through the years,

she’ll have this church as a place to learn,

sing, laugh,

ask questions;

a safe place for her,

a place where she can grow in the Spirit,

a place where in time

she can discern the gifts

she’s been given by God through the Holy Spirit.

What a gift we give our children

when they are able to grow up

within the church!

Paul teaches us,

“Live your life in a manner

worthy of the gospel of Christ”

(Philippians 1:27)

We are all called to live Christ-like lives,

every one of us,

and that is the most effective way

you can keep your promise,

honor your covenant:

By your life, be a model for Thea,

that your words and your deeds

reflect Christ.

Children are extraordinarily perceptive;

even the youngest pick up

who is just talking the talk,

and who is really walking the walk.

Your words,

your actions – they matter.

Our children notice;

our children learn from examples

both good and bad.

Honor your promise

by “Living your life in a manner

worthy of the gospel of Christ”

Two weeks ago, we heard words

from the apostle Paul,

words from a letter,

words that gave us very specific guidance

for how to live our lives

in a manner worthy of the gospel.

Do you remember what Paul wrote in his letter?

He began by saying,

“Take your everyday, ordinary life—

your sleeping, eating, going-to-work,

and walking-around life—

and place it before God as an offering.”

That’s where Paul wants us to start:

our lives, yours, mine, all of us,

an offering every day to God.

Paul went on, advising us,

“Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture

that you fit into it without even thinking.

Instead, fix your attention on God.

You’ll be changed from the inside out.”

In Paul’s time,

just as in in our time,

the very society in which we live

can drag us down.

In fact, it will drag us down

down into immaturity,

roughness,

vulgarity,

ignorance,

even barbarity.

The culture in which we live

can and often does

drag us into rooms labeled

fear,

anger,

hatred.

Be careful,

be alert, Paul warns us.

Stay focused on God,

on Christ.

on the Spirit.

Paul in his letter gave us life lessons

we learn,

but which we then unlearn,

leading us to have to learn them again,

and again, and again,

if we are going to live a life worthy of the gospel,

if we are going to live a life that will be a model,

an example for the children of our church.

Paul wasn’t kidding,

wasn’t exaggerating, when he said

we are to be changed from the inside out,

“transformed”.

How else can we hope to learn from Paul

and live by his guidance when he says to us,

“Don’t hit back;  

discover beauty in everyone.

If you can, [try to] get along with everybody.

Don’t insist on getting even;

…that’s not for you to do.

‘I’ll do the judging,’ says God.

‘I’ll take care of it.’”

We need to be transformed to live by those words!

Paul knew how hard it would be

to live by those words.

But Paul also knew that the Christian life,

the life we embrace,

the life we want Thea to embrace,

is aspirational,

always calling us to ascend the heights,

the heights of goodness,

of compassion

of kindness,

of grace,

of love,

even as the world around us

constantly tugs at us

trying to pull us back down.

In her book, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,

Annie Dillard wrote

“But we must read the fine print:

[because God says to us],

‘not as the world giveth, give I unto you.’”

Dillard says, that’s the catch,

the catch we miss because

we have our eyes, minds,

and hearts set on the world

while God calls us to set our eyes, minds,

and hearts on things above.

In another of his letters Paul reminds us

that, “We don’t yet see things clearly.

We’re squinting in a fog,

 peering through a mist.

[In time that will change]

… But for right now, … [Paul writes,]

we have three things to do

to lead us [onward, forward]:

Trust steadily in God,

hope unceasingly,

love extravagantly.”

(1 Corinthians 13, The Message)

There you have it:

To live a life worthy of the gospel

is to trust God.

to hold onto hope,

and to love extravagantly.

When we trust God,

when we live in hope,

when we love extravagantly,

then, as we talked about last week,

we will have nothing to fear,

and certainly no reason to hate,

we’ll know peace,

because we’ll be living the gospel.

Start with love,

finish with love –

that’s what Paul tells us.

That’s what our Lord tells us.

love in all its many forms

Love that

“never gives up.
…,Isn’t always ‘me first,’
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
…Puts up with anything,
…Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,

but keeps going to the end.”

(1 Corinthians 13, The Message)

These are lessons we learn through life       

as we walk in faith, grow in faith,

sometimes slide back in faith,

as we strive to live the gospel,

strive to live aspirationally

strive to nurture faith in others,

including our children.

C. S. Lewis wrote,

“God became man

not to produce a better man [or woman],

but to produce a new kind of man

[and woman]”

(Mere Christianity)

We honor our promises to our children

and to ourselves

by opening ourselves to the

transforming power of the Spirit,

opening ourselves to change from the inside out,

beginning with the waters of baptism

and ending only when we take our last breath.

Trust in God,

hope unceasingly,

love extravagantly.

Live a life worthy of the gospel.

Honor your promise.

AMEN