Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Sermons 

Title: "Life As We Know It? Or Life As the Saints Know It?"

Text: Luke 20:27-38

one of the early Soviet cosmonauts,

I can’t even think of his name . . .

He orbited the earth a number of times

and came home with his suspicions confirmed.

There is no God,

because he didn’t see God

while he was "up there" in space.

And after all, we all know

that up is where God is.

So if you’re up in space and you don’t see . . .

what, an old man with a beard? . . .

then, q.e.d., there is no God.

Well, as the saying goes,

where you stand determines what you see.

If you’re looking for the wrong thing,

no matter how good your intentions are,

you probably won’t recognize the right thing

when it comes.

If you’re asking the wrong questions

you’re not likely to get the right answers.

Or even if you do,

you won’t recognize them as being the answers

to the questions you were asking.

Which is kind of the problem

that the Sadducees were having.

Of course, in their case there’s the additional problem

of wrong motives in asking.

They weren’t really interested in

as answer to their question . . .

They were trying to make Jesus look foolish.

Or perhaps,

since the Sadducees didn’t believe in resurrection

and the Pharisees did,

maybe they were trying to use Jesus

to make the Pharisees look dumb.

Whichever it was,

Jesus knew they weren’t really asking him

which of the seven brothers

this poor woman would be married to

in the resurrection.

They only wanted to demonstrate that

resurrection was a laughable idea.

So Jesus doesn’t feel obligated

to answer their question directly.

In fact, he pretty much tells them

their whole line of thinking is off-base.

You cannot interpret God’s future in human terms.

Marriage is not even an issue among the resurrected.

Neither is death, for that matter.

Those categories what are important to us here

have no meaning in that time and place.

Yet when Jesus begins to describe the resurrected,

and God, and what all of that is like,

his words get lofty and sometimes confusing.

Because it is difficult if not impossible

for human minds to imagine

and human words to describe

the things of heaven and of God.

We can only think of it in terms of

our own knowledge and experience.

I can recall mock discussion

we used to have in seminary

about what heaven will be like:

  - Food has no calories in heaven.

  - It’s always a comfortable temperature.

  - There don’t have to be any restrooms.

  - You can meet and talk to all the famous people you ever wanted to meet.

Now we knew all that was silly.

And yet, maybe as a starting point, it’s not.

Maybe we have to begin by imagining

the very best we can think of,

and then recognize that even our wildest fantasy

can’t compare to God’s reality.

But we do get ourselves into trouble if,

like the Sadducees in their question,

we assume that the life of the future

will be just as extension or expansion

of life as we know it now.

It’s perhaps natural to do that,

because what we know is always more comfortable

than what we don’t.

But when we insist on clinging to life as we know it,

what we’re doing is limiting God

by our imaginations, our prejudices,

and perhaps most of all, our fears.

Of course, our questions and our concerns

may run a little deeper and be more serious

than a hypothetical situation

about one wife and seven husbands.

Will our loved ones really be there?

Will it be like going to church all the time?

Does God really want me there?

What is God really like, anyway?

Somehow we need to be able

to set aside our usual categories of thinking

and our usual need to know all the answers!

and let God be God.

But resurrection and heaven and all that

aren’t the only topics on which

our "old thinking" may get us stuck.

There are far more "earthly" matters as well,

where we need to be able to let go of our assumptions

about how things are,

and let God be God.

Since this is November,

and you all got your pledge card in the mail this week

(or at least, we hope you did!)

you might guess that one of those matters

that I’m thinking about is stewardship.

Particularly in this case,

the stewardship of our money . . .

because money is one of those areas

where we have a lot of assumptions

and a lot of fears.

Some of them well-founded.

But other of them unnecessary . . .

if we could just let go of that one assumption

that God always does things

the way the world does.

If you take some of our very natural fears

about financial security,

whether in the present or the long-term future;

and hook them up with the assumption

that God does math the way we do,

that leads us to some natural but dangerous conclusions.

For example: most of us,

whether we’re talking about a paycheck

or Social Security check or whatever,

are not going to see a serious increase in income

for the year 2005.

And if we have some of our retirement funds in stocks,

we might even see less income at some points in time.

So what happens is that we quickly reach the conclusion,

we can’t increase our gift to the United Way for 2005,

we can’t raise our pledge to the church for 2005,

and so on.

Now, if you take out your calculator and spreadsheet,

well, that is indeed how it seems to work out.

Same income . . . minus larger giving . . . equals . . .

less money for food, rent or mortgage,

clothing, tuition, car payments, prescriptions, etc.

The calculator can’t lie, right?

Except that it doesn’t have a button

that lets you factor in God.

That is the unknown in every calculation

when you’re talking about sharing and giving.

I don’t know how that works,

because I’m logical and it’s not . . .

but I do know that it works.

And I realize more and more,

that’s why the Bible talks about tithing.

Giving back 10% of what God has given us.

Not because God is some greedy overlord

who gets a kick out of

taking things away from us.

But because it takes that kind of

radical surrender on our parts,

to teach us that even though God’s ways are not our ways,

they can nevertheless be trusted.

Most of us are afraid to tithe,

afraid to trust God that far.

We are sure the calculator doesn’t lie,

and therefore we can’t afford it.

We assume that God can only do things

in ways that are familiar and logical to us.

We know better,

but sometimes our fears speak louder.

Which is where the saints come into the story.

In our Protestant understanding of "saints,"

they aren’t just people whom the church

has recognized and named as being something or someone extraordinary.

People you later name a church for,

or have a statue of to protect you in your car!

No, "saints" are anyone, living or dead,

who is doing their level best

to live a life that demonstrates love of God and love of neighbor.

So, in Jesus’ day,

the disciples were saints,

but probably some of the Pharisees and the Sadducees were, also.

Throughout the church’s history

we have, to be sure, had saints who were great leaders,

who were martyrs, who were well-known theologians …

but we have also had thousands if not millions

of perfectly ordinary, everyday saints …

people like us, here.

Saints are people who understand, or at least, who are trying to understand,

that God’s ways are not our ways,

and God is not limited by our imaginations or our calculations,

and who try their best to live their lives

illumined by faith rather than darkened by fear.

Each year, at the time of All Saints,

we remember the saints of our number

who have gone on ahead of us,

and are now experiencing life with God

in ways that we, still, can only imagine.

They now know

what we still have to take on faith.

They believe and see,

where we, so far, can only believe without seeing.

I’m glad that God is not limited by

the life we know here,

the fears that bind us,

or even our calculators.

I’m glad that God invites us to live the life of a saint,

trusting God’s promises even when they seem completely outrageous.

And I pray that God may give each of us the courage

to move ahead in faith,

toward whatever life there is to come,

as good stewards of this life we have been given.

Thanks be to God!

Amen.

© 2004 Julie Adkins (e-mail: DrJAdkins@trinitypresdallas.org)