ALLURING MYTHS

One day at a busy airport, the passengers on a commercial airliner are seated and waiting for the cockpit crew to show up so they can get underway. The pilot and co-pilot finally appear at the rear of the plane, and begin walking up to the cockpit through the center aisle. Both appear to be blind. The pilot is using a white cane, bumping into passengers right and left as he stumbles down the aisle, and the co-pilot is using a guide dog. Both have their eyes covered with huge sunglasses.

At first the passengers do not react; thinking that this must be some sort of practical joke. However, after a few minutes the engines rev and the plane begins to move down the runway.

At this point the passengers start looking at each other with some uneasiness. They start to whisper among themselves and look desperately to the stewardesses for reassurance.

Then the airplane starts accelerating rapidly and people begin to panic. Some passengers are praying, and as the plane gets closer and closer to the end of the runway, the voices are becoming more and more hysterical. Finally, when the plane has less than 20 feet of runway left, there is a sudden change in the pitch of the shouts as everyone screams at once, ... and at the very last moment the plane’s nose lifts off the ground and the plane becomes airborne.

Up in the cockpit, the co-pilot breathes a sigh of relief and tells the pilot: “You know, one of these days the passengers aren’t going to scream, and we’re going to get killed!”

Because our faith calls us to trust in a God we cannot see, and trust in a love which makes no sense, we often feel in life as if we are flying blindly as we seek to follow our Lord Jesus Christ. So often in life we feel confused with no landmarks to guide us and precious few points of orientation to confirm and affirm for us that we are on the right path.

Of course we have scripture, yet we understand scripture is a guidebook, not a case by case instruction book.

Of course we have tradition, but tradition is not always helpful because the conditions and situations in life are constantly changing.

And God has promised the guidance of the Holy Spirit, yet the task of discerning the Spirit is admittedly not always easy amidst all of the distractions in this life.

As I have read them this morning, Paul’s words to the church in Ephesus were intended as words of assurance for a church struggling to discover how to know whether or not they were pleasing God. The Christians in Ephesus wanted an instruction book; they wanted something concrete to let them know that God was pleased with them. To some degree, they felt as though they were walking blindly. They wanted a clearer vision of the faithful path.

To meet this need within them, at least some of them had adopted a doctrine of good works. Perhaps understandably, when faced with the inherent ambiguities of a God we cannot see and a type of love which makes no sense, they sought comfort in thinking that their good works would cement their relationship with God.

Well, we today also face the same uncertainties our brothers and sisters in Ephesus faced long ago: “How do we know God loves us?” Not surprisingly, the myth of “good works” can appear just as alluring to us as it did to them. Because of its concrete certainties, adopting the idea that we can gain God’s favor if only we can better follow the 10 Commandments is still an inviting myth to us. Weary of the ambiguities of discipleship, we sometimes succumb to the notion that if we could just spend more time in Bible study, then God would love us more. Too often, it seems, we buy into the idea that if only we prayed more regularly, then God would surely think better of us.

Truly, the myth of “good works” is still a powerful temptation for us. Particularly at this time of year as we journey through Lent we are tempted to think that whatever spiritual discipline or sacrificial practice we have engaged in will in some way raise our value in the eyes of the Lord.

Indeed, the myth of “good works” has been a strong temptation since the earliest days of the church. In Paul’s various letters to the churches, over and over again he reminded his readers that God’s favor comes freely to them through their faith.

In this passage before us this morning the Apostle again drives home the point that it is God’s wonderful grace revealed through Jesus Christ that creates new life in us in the first place. Then, and only then, does the new life within us draw us to do our good works. It is the new life we have been given which allows us to even do good works in the first place.

Paul wrote in verse 8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God - not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” The message could not be more direct, it is God’s doing that we are given new life. Our new life is not a reward for our good works.

Nonetheless, in our desire for a clear vision, for a clearly marked path to follow in life, we again and again put the cart before the horse if you will. We lose sight that it is God’s unsearchable grace which makes our good works even possible, and we start to think that if we could only do a little better at this or that, or if we could just be a better Christian, then God would love us more.

However, by living in this myth of “Good Works”, we forget something critically important: God has already shown us that God loves us enough to die on a cross for you and for me. Can God love us more than that?

Now, having said all that, it is also just as important to realize that Paul was not against doing “good works”. In fact, it was just the opposite. Paul firmly believed good works followed our rebirth into Jesus Christ. For it is without question that Paul understood that Christian discipleship inherently implies a conversion experience. Paul wrote in verse 3: “All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath like everyone else.”

Paul’s point is this, prior to living in Christ we follow the ways of the flesh. Paul used this word flesh in a very broad understanding of it. In this context, living by the flesh for Paul means that we are ruled by our own desires, regardless of the needs of others. This certainly includes the sins of the flesh such as adultery, fornication, drunkeness, gluttony, etc., but it also includes the sins of the heart; arrogance, selfishness, apathy, etc.

Paul’s argument is that through our rebirth in Christ we are freed from our bondage to such sin, not that we aren’t still tempted, but we do have the power to resist it. Through our rebirth we are then led to engage in good works. Good Works such as self-discipline, compassion, faithfulness. The point is that such things are not possible without our rebirth. It is not a matter of good works bringing grace, it is a matter of grace bringing good works.

In sharp distinction from this understanding of life stands the myth of “good works”. The persistent and alluring myth of good works seeks to make us believe that we need to somehow earn or achieve something we have already been freely given. You see, the real power of this myth is the false certitude it purports to give us.

In truth, this myth of good works is an instrument of, in Paul’s words, “the ruler of the power of the air”, that is the force of evil or its personification the devil. The myth of good works as a way to earn God’s love serves as an instrument of evil in the fact that is ultimately unattainable. Buying into this myth - we will always fail.

The reality is clearly this: We will always fail because there is always something more we could be doing to please God. In reality good works are never completed. There is always something more to do. We could always learn more scripture. We could always give more time to God and the church. We could always help someone else in need. We could always pray more often and longer. We could always make better ethical choices. We could... We could... We could... We never exhaust God’s will!

If we accept this myth of good works, then we will spend our lives searching for something we in truth already have: God’s abiding love and acceptance. Moreover, chasing after good works we are inevitably led to engage in harsh judgments against ourselves, and against others, for failing to attain an unreachable goal - perfect obedience to God’s will. Let us remember, only one person has ever reached that goal, and his name is Jesus Christ.

It is in this pursuit of good works in ourselves and in others that lies the genuine risk of this attitude. The risk is that we will expend our time and energy in fruitless causes dictated to us by the “ruler of the power of the air”. Thereby, in the process we will have our eyes shielded from God’s true glory. We will be insulated from the abundant joy God intends for us. The abundant joy God stands ready and willing to give if only we are willing to embrace it and let go of the myth of good works. If all our thoughts and focus are wrapped up in what we do and in what others are doing, then we are distracted from seeing, hearing, and accepting, the good news of what God has done: Accepted us in Jesus Christ.

As we journey closer and closer to the celebration of Easter morning, let us not be afraid of the darkness, the uncertainty, the ambiguity, the blindness which we may perceive as lying ahead of us in our discipleship. For in fact, as Paul wrote: “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before hand to be our way of life.”

Confronted by the alluring myth of placing our trust in ‘good works”, and confronted by the temptation of judging others by their “good works”, let us remember this one thing; we belong to God through our faith in the crucified and raised one - our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us trust that God will lead us through any blindness, or darkness, or ambiguity, and lead us to lead a life of good works. Indeed, let us trust that God will guide us with good works which arise and grow from the foundations of our faith, and not from the misguided notion that we are called to placate an angry God. So may it be for us. AMEN.

Reverend Marc V. Mason

4^th Sunday in Lent

March 26, 2006

Trinity Presbyterian Church

Travelers Rest, SC