The Epistle to Manassas

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

July 17, 2016

You’ve Got Mail

The Epistle to Manassas

The Apostle Paul wrote letters, many letters—

letters to Christian communities in Rome,

in Corinth,

in Philippi,

in the Galatian region of Asia.

Paul wrote to the Christian communities

in those and other towns and cities,

to provide instruction,

guidance,

encouragement;

sometimes a gentle rebuke,

sometimes a not-so-gentle rebuke.

Paul’s letters are timeless;

words that guide us even today.

Read through his letters,

and it is as though Paul was writing to us,

you and me,

our church,

this body of Christ here in Manassas.

Imagine if Paul had written a letter to us—

an “Epistle to Manassas”.

If he had written a letter to us,

it probably would have sounded like this:

To all God’s beloved in Manassas,

who are called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank God through Jesus

for every one of you.

People everywhere keep telling me about

your lives of faith,

and every time I hear them, I thank God.

Here’s what I want you to do, with God’s help:

Take your everyday, ordinary life—

your sleeping, eating, going-to-work,

and walking-around life—

and place it before God as an offering.

Embracing what God does for you

is the best thing you can do for God.

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.

Readily recognize what [God] wants from you,

and quickly respond to it.

Unlike the culture around you,

always dragging you down to

its level of immaturity,

God brings out the best in you,

[and] develops well-formed maturity in you.

The only accurate way to understand ourselves

is by what God is,

and by what [God] does for us,

not by what we are

and what we do for him.

[We] are like the various parts of a human body.

Each part gets its meaning

from the body as a whole,

not the other way around.

The body we’re talking about

is Christ’s body of chosen people.

Each of us finds our meaning and function

as a part of [Christ’s] body.

But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe,

we wouldn’t amount to much, would we?

So since we find ourselves fashioned into

all these excellently formed and

marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body,

let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be,

without enviously or pridefully

comparing ourselves with each other,

or trying to be something we are [not].

[So], if you help, just help,…

don’t take over;

if you teach, stick to your teaching;

if you give encouraging guidance,

be careful that you don’t get bossy;

If you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate;

if you’re called to give aid to people in distress,

keep your eyes open and be quick to respond;

if you work with the disadvantaged,

don’t let yourself get irritated with them

or depressed by them.

Keep a smile on your face.

Love from the center of who you are;

don’t fake it.

Be good friends who love deeply;

practice playing second fiddle.

Don’t burn out;

keep yourselves fueled and aflame.

Be alert servants of the Master,

cheerfully expectant.

                      

Don’t quit in hard times;

pray all the harder.

Help the needy;

be inventive in hospitality.

Bless your enemies;

no cursing under your breath.

Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy;

share tears when they’re down.

Get along with each other;

don’t be stuck-up.

Make friends with nobodies;

don’t be the great somebody.

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.”

Our Scriptures tell us that

if you see your enemy hungry,

go buy that person lunch,

or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink.

Your generosity will surprise him with goodness.

Don’t let evil get the best of you;

get the best of evil by doing good.

Welcome with open arms fellow believers

who don’t see things the way you do.

And don’t jump all over them every time

they do or say something you don’t agree with—

even when it seems that

they are strong on opinions

but weak in the faith department...

Treat them gently….

Every time you criticize someone,

you condemn yourself.

It takes one to know one.

Judgmental criticism of others

is a well-known way of escaping detection

of your own crimes and misdemeanors.

But God isn’t so easily diverted.

He sees right through all such smoke screens

and holds you to what you’ve done.

Eventually, we’re all going to end up

kneeling side by side in the place of judgment,

facing God.

Your critical and condescending ways

aren’t going to improve your position there one bit

…So tend to your knitting.

You’ve got your hands full just taking care of

your own life before God….

So let’s agree to use all our energy

in getting along with each other.

Help others with encouraging words;

don’t drag them down by finding fault …

Cultivate your own relationship with God,

but don’t impose it on others…

Each one of us needs to look after

the good of the people around us,

asking ourselves, “How can I help?”

That’s exactly what Jesus did.

He didn’t make it easy for himself

by avoiding people’s troubles,

but waded right in and helped out. …

[So] may our dependably steady

and warmly personal God

develop maturity in you

so that you get along with each other

as well as Jesus gets along with us all.

Then we’ll be a choir—

not our voices only,

but our very lives singing in harmony

in a stunning anthem

to the God and Father of our [Lord] Jesus!

Reach out and welcome one another

to God’s glory.

Jesus did it;

now you do it!

[Remember:] This resurrection life

you received from God

is not a timid, grave-tending life.

It’s adventurously expectant!

Friends, keep up your prayers for us.

And make sure this letter gets read

to all the brothers and sisters.

Don’t leave anyone out.

I couldn’t be more proud of you,

and I rejoice over you!

May God himself,

the God who makes everything holy and whole,

make you holy and whole,

…spirit, soul, and body—

…[And may] the amazing grace of Jesus Christ

be with you all!

These are Paul’s words to us,

Paul’s words to all followers of Jesus Christ,

not from a newly discovered “Epistle to Manassas,”

but from scripture,

by way of Eugene Peterson’s “The Message”.

That means they are not only Paul’s words to us,

to you and me,

they are the Word of the Lord.

AMEN  

This sermon is an adaptation

of Paul’s writings,

principally from his letter to the Romans,

as paraphrased by Eugene Peterson

in “The Message”.