BUILDING CHARACTER - June 15, 2008
Romans 5:1-8; Matthew 9:35-38
June is a month where we are thinking about building.
We've considered where we would want to build with the story of the man who built the house on the sand that was washed away when the floods came, and the man who built his house on the rock that stood firm in the midst of the flood waters.
Today it's about a different kind of building -- building character.
On June 28, the meditation will be "Tools for Building."
Next week is Annual Conference Sunday, and the United Methodist Women will present a program that is titled "Say Welcome," about Christian hospitality in the complexities of today's world. But now, back to Father's Day and "Building Character."
Someone once asked, "You know what a Father is, don't you? He's a man who carries pictures in his wallet in the place where his money used to be.
Fred Craddock tells a story about when he was a boy, and he says:
Once I was taken out of the house and to the backyard and was allowed to lie on the grass and chew the tender stems of grass. You know how you do on a summer evening, just lie there, chew the tender grass, and look up at the sky. And my father said to me, "Son, how far can you think?"
Fred said, "What?"
His father said, "How far can you think?"
"Well, I don't know what you mean."
"Just think as far as you can think up toward the stars."
Fred says that he screwed his imagination down, and said, "I'm thinking . . . I'm thinking . . . I'm thinking."
His father said, "Think as far as you can think."
"I'm thinking as far as I can think."
And then his father said, "Well, drive down a stake out there now. In your mind, drive down a stake. Have you driven down the stake? That's how far you can think."
Fred said, "Yes, sir."
His father said, "Now, what's on the other side of your stake?"
Fred said, "Well, there's more sky."
So Fred's father said, "Move your stake."
And Fred says that they spent the evening moving his stake out there. He says, "It was a crazy thing to do, but I will never thank him enough for doing it."
When I read this story, I admit I was jealous. I was jealous of the experience of having a father who would take the time to lie on the ground in the backyard with his son. I was jealous of the experience of having a father who had the imagination to think farther himself, and what that meant as he nurtured his son.
And I also want to say that I was grateful. Grateful for the opportunity to be let into this small snapshot of how a loving father could be with his son.
Einstein once said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." He also said, "All I want to do is learn to think like God thinks."
This morning, the apostle Paul gives us a peek into how God thinks. Paul also gives us an opportunity to drive down our stakes farther and farther, building our character, until we, too, can sense God's love being poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
Let's see how Paul does that. It is like a fountain recirculating the words
faith
peace
grace
glory
suffering
endurance
character
hope
God's love poured into our hearts
How does Paul know that this will work? Because Paul experienced this in his own life.
I think that Paul experienced God's love being poured in over and over again as faith and peace and grace and glory and suffering and endurance and character and hope went round and round in his life. And with each circulation Paul's stake was being driven down farther and farther out, closer and closer to God.
Paul knew what he was talking about. He had been a hot-headed young man filled with hate, who wanted to kill all those he could find who were following Jesus. Paul was threatened by these people, these followers of Christ, because they threatened his entire way of life.
But Paul, this hot-headed young, strong man was literally struck down with the light of God as he was going from Jerusalem to Damascus to find those followers of Jesus. God stopped him in his tracks, and Paul's life was changed forever. Paul found God, and faith.
Through his faith, Paul was not longer filled with hatred, but he was filled with peace, and because his heart was filled with peace, he found the grace and the glory of God.
But Paul suffered. He had some kind of physical affliction that is never described or explained more fully. He was beaten and put in prison, where he had to sit in chains. I'm sure there were days when he had very little to eat. Yes, Paul suffered, so he knows what he is writing about.
But he says that even in his sufferings he can boast, because through his suffering he learned to endure.
There was a quote in this morning's paper by an anonymous person: "Your persistence is your measure of faith in yourself." But I think that's not true. Sometimes we run out of faith in ourselves, and we give up. If, like Paul, we find faith in God, we have the never-ending stream of God's love being poured into our hearts over and over and over bringing faith in God, will be able to endure. That is what "Building Character" is all about, and it is where we find hope.
And then Paul gives us these words of comfort and encouragement: " . . . and hope doesn't disappoint us because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us." Not earned. Not bought. Not learned about. But given to us.
One commentator, talking about the presidential campaign, said that the grueling nature of the campaign would show how the candidates react under stress, and if they could endure the stress without breaking they would have the character needed to be the president of the United States.
I want to read the passage again, from "The Message":
By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us -- set us right with him, make us fit for him -- we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand -- out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.
There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contraryÐwe can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit. (Romans 5:1-5 "The Message")
How far can you think?
Let faith
peace
grace
glory
suffering
and endurance
circulate in your life, driving down your stake farther and farther out
Building Character
and Bringing Hope
because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Amen
Pastor Fran
