December 21, 2008
Fourth Sunday of Advent
God’s Big Secret
Romans 16:25-27
In the End…All Thanks to God
On those Sundays when Jason Worcester helps up front as an assistant minister, Jason & I end the service in back with our own private ritual. It has become our “thing.” I stretch out my hand to Jason and say, “Thank you, Jason, for being the assisting minister. Great job!” And Jason (in typical Jason Worcester fashion) points a finger up to heaven and says piously and angelically, “Thank God!”
And look what is happening in that ten-second exchange: Jason is teaching the preacher. All thanks…ALL thanks…finally ends in “doxology,” a word of praise to God.
In just a few days now, people will be exchanging a ton of gifts. And you will hear people say, “Thanks, mom. Thanks dad. Thank you, grandma & grandpa.” But in the end, the very end, all thanks go to God, “to whom be the glory forever! Amen. Amen.”
Paul’s Final Account
St Paul Apostle
Last Sunday we were in the bible book of Thessalonians, which was the first letter of the Apostle Paul. And now today we are in the book of Romans, which may have been his last letter. His “Final Account” some people call it.
And appropriately Paul ends his letter with a doxology. A word of thanks to God. A word of praise.
Paul points his index finger to the heavens, and Paul says, “Now to God…(dot, dot, dot)…to the only wise God…to God through Jesus Christ be the glory. Forever and ever. Amen. Amen.” That is a doxology, a word of thanks and praise that gives the credit, the work, the honor and attention…it gives it all to God.
The “Obedience of Faith”
And “what” Paul gives thanks “for” is simply awesome. Paul gives thanks for a “Big Secret” now disclosed. A “Big Secret” first testified to by the prophetic writings but which is now in Jesus Christ “fully” disclosed.
A “mystery” Saint Paul calls it. But in the bible a “mystery” always means “a revealed secret” (for if it wasn’t “revealed” then we wouldn’t even know that it was a “secret”).
And what that “Big Secret” is is “the obedience of faith.” The “obedience of faith” through which everyone is included—Jew & Gentile, you & me alike. Everyone is included (or, at least, CAN BE included) through the “obedience of faith.” That is the entire point of Saint Paul’s gospel. Everyone is included through the “obedience of faith.”
“How” we Hear and Obey Depends on “What” is Spoken
“Obedience” is a wonderful, multifaceted word. Literally, the word “obey” means to “hear,” as when mother says, “Are you listening to me? Do you HEAR what I am saying?” Or, like when dad shakes his finger at you and says, “You didn’t listen to me. You didn’t obey.”
But “how” we “hear” something depends upon what is “spoken.” If someone speaks to me a “command,” then the way I “hear” it (or “obey” it) is “to do” what is commanded. But now let’s change it. What if somebody “speaks” to me a joke: How do I “hear” or “obey” a joke? I “laugh,” of course. I don’t do anything at all except to “laugh.” That is the way to hear a joke! Or, if someone leads me in a “cheer,” “how” do I respond to that? I “cheer,” too, of course. Or if someone tells me a say story, I “obey” it (I respond to it) by “tearing up and crying.” “How” we “hear” something depends on what is “spoken.”
A Promise Spoken & Heard
The Visitation by Juah Correa De Vivar 1539-1552
Now, let’s say someone speaks to me a “promise.” How do I “obey” or “hear” a promise? What is it that I “do”? Well, I don’t “do” anything at all, except to “believe” it and act upon that promise.
Let’s say I promise to come over to your house and wash all the windows and dust the home before Christmas. What is it that you must “do”? Nothing at all, except to “believe me” and take me at my word and have to door open when I come. In fact, if you do “do” something (like clean the house yourself because you don’t believe that I am really coming) then you cannot take advantage of and benefit from the promise even if I do come.
What did the virgin Mary “do” when the angel Gabriel came to her and gave to her the greatest promise of them all—that she would bear a Son and that he would be the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of the world? Why “she” did not “do” anything at all, except to believe it…and take God at his word…and say, “Here am I the servant of the Lord. Let GOD “do to me” whatever it is God wills. Let it be to me according to YOUR word.”
And then, she raced off to her cousin Elizabeth to point her index finger to the heaven and praise God by saying, “My soul MAGNIFIES the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Doxology. Her faith moves her to doxology. To thank God. And to give God the praise.
“Plan B” is “Plan A”
Magnificant by Christopher Santer (www.pacemstudio.com) used with permission
Sometimes I hear people talk as though “the godly life” is all about “obeying God’s COMMANDMENTS.” In fact, the ancient rabbis use to count the commandments in the bible. They came up with something like 613 or so. And each one of them was equally important. Break one, you break them all.
And sometimes I hear Christian people talk about Jesus as though he were a “Mr. Fix-it.” Their thinking goes like this: God planned the world to obey his law perfectly. It’s all about God commandments. But, we sinned & blew it. And so, God went to “Plan B” and sent Jesus to save us from our sin.
But “Plan B” was actually “Plan A” all along. God is NOT so much a “law-giver” as God is a “promise-maker” AND a “promise-keeper.” And that the way to “receive,” “hear,” “obey” a promise is to “believe it.”
Abraham believed God, the bible tells us, and God “reckoned it to him as righteousness,” the right way to related to God. Faith is worship. Faith in Jesus is the way to “worship” God. Jesus was God’s Plan A right from the very start.
Promise Theology is Gift Theology & Ends in Doxology
This is the “obedience of faith” that Paul is talking about at the end of his last letter. This is the “big secret” and the “mystery” that God kept “hidden” for many long years until he gave us the greatest gift of them all on Christmas Day—the fulfillment of his promise in the prophetic word—Jesus Christ our Lord. Son of David according to the flesh. Son of God by his coming through the Holy Spirit. This is GOD’s work. It is not ours.
And we do not “catch on” to it until we see it and receive it as a “gift.” The gift of God’s grace. Promise theology is “gift” theology. It says that it is all about God’s work in us through Jesus Christ.
And what is there left for us to do, except to point our index finger up to the heavens and say “to God…to God through Jesus Christ be the glory forever and ever. Amen!”
© 2008 Pastor Paul Jaster