A Sermon by Pastor Tom Lacey . . .

Works of Faith

Psalm 15, Preached at Congregational Church of Boca Raton, August 30, 2009

A customer in a bakery was observed carefully examining all the rich looking pastries displayed on trays in the glass cases. A clerk approached him and asked, "What would you like?" He said, "I'd like that chocolate-covered, cream-filled doughnut, that jelly-filled doughnut and that cheese Danish." Then with a sigh he added, "But I'll take an oat bran muffin." Isn't that how life in the world differs from life with God? Out of fear of our diet, we choose what's good for us, but boy that doughnut really looks tasty.

An investment counselor went out on her own. She was shrewd and diligent, so business kept coming in, and pretty soon she realized she needed an in-house counsel, so she began interviewing young lawyers. "As I'm sure you can understand," she started off with one of the first applicants, "in a business like this, our personal integrity must be beyond question." She leaned forward. "Mr. Peterson, are you an honest lawyer?" "Honest? Let me tell you something about honesty. Why, I'm so honest that my father lent me fifteen thousand dollars for my education and I paid back every penny the minute I tried my very first case." "Impressive... And what sort of case was that?" The lawyer squirmed in his seat and admitted, "He sued me for the money."

Character counts. Abraham Lincoln said, “I do the very best I know how, the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.” Psalm 15 begins with a very serious and thought-provoking question: Who are we, and what should we be, as we come into God’s presence? The answer according to our psalm is a person of good character, people “who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart.” The next three verses continue to outline the basic attributes of the person who commits to doing the works of faith: Don’t slander others, don’t wrong friends, don’t turn against neighbors; don’t accept when others do bad, and be on the side of those who are doing good; don’t go against your word; don’t take advantage of others financially, don’t hurt the innocent. This is the way of those who want to be in God’s presence, and those whose lives are bedrock for themselves and others. It may not be the chocolate-covered, cream-filled doughnut version of life that we sometimes dream about and drool over, but over the long haul, and life is a long haul, oat bran muffins start tasting pretty darn good.

Ricky Gervais's new film, The Invention of Lying, is about a world where lying doesn't exist, which means that everybody tells the truth, and everybody believes everything everybody else says. "I've always hated you," a man tells a work colleague. "He seems nice, if a bit fat," a woman says about her date. It's all truth, all the time, at whatever the cost. Until one day, when Mark, a down-on-his-luck loser played by Gervais, discovers a thing called "lying" and what it can get him. Within days, Mark is rich, famous, and courting the girl of his dreams. And because nobody knows what "lying" is, he goes on, happily living what has become a complete and utter farce.

It's meant to be funny, but it's also a more serious commentary on us all. As Americans, we like to think we value the truth. Time and time again, public-opinion polls show that honesty is among the top five characteristics we want in a leader, friend, or lover; the world is full of woeful stories about the tragic consequences of betrayal. At the same time, deception is all around us. We are lied to by government officials and public figures to a disturbing degree; many of our social relationships are based on little white lies we tell each other. We deceive our children, only to be deceived by them in return. And the average person, says psychologist Robert Feldman, the author of a new book on lying, tells at least three lies in the first 10 minutes of a conversation. "There's always been a lot of lying," says Feldman, whose new book, The Liar in Your Life, came out this month. "But I do think we're seeing a kind of cultural shift where we're lying more, it's easier to lie, and in some ways it's almost more acceptable."

When the Psalm asks, “Who will stay in your house? Who will live on your holy hill? This is not talking about who may attend your church or which church is the right church. It is not telling you the recipe to get to heaven or make sure God listens to your prayers. It is about how to grow up to become a person of character, of integrity, of goodness. It’s about how you are supposed to live when you really believe that the God of the Hebrew Scriptures, the God of the Christian Scriptures, the God of the Church's teachings, that that God is real, and what God wants from us matters. It's about facing the day when the one question left is are you in or are you out, do you belong to God or do you not. Belong to God. Grow in the direction of God's life. Put away childish things, and turn your attention to work God has prepared for you. You have all the faith necessary to do the works required.

There was a mother mouse who felt it was time to introduce her children to the larger world. So she gathered up her brood of little mice together and set out for a walk. They walked down the hall and made a turn to the right. Then they went down the hall and made another turn to the right. And then it was, quite by surprise, that they came upon the family's cat dozing in the sunlight. Well, the mother mouse was scared. But she didn't give in to her fright. So she crept forward, ever so slowly. Just as she was about to get past the cat, however, the cat's eyes popped open and she raised her paw. What would the mother do? Well, right before the cat's paw came down, the mother mouse looked the cat right in the face and began barking like a dog. And do you know what? The cat was so frightened that it jumped to its feet and ran away! And then the mother mouse gave her kids an important lesson. "Children," she said, "sometimes it's good to know a second language."

When many people read the ethical guidelines of Psalm 15, it's almost like reading a second language that you know pretty well but that really isn't your native tongue. We spend seven days times 24 hours minus one hour Sunday morning, that's if you come every Sunday, on our first language. One hour hearing and practicing our second tongue—Guess which one wins out. The truth is we are looking and living with worldly eyes and hearts, not spiritual ones. We need to have a second way of looking at and loving in the world.

Linda Ellerbee, a noted television journalist, wrote an article for McCall's Magazine a few years back. The article was entitled, "The Five Best Things I Know . . . ." The following are the five best things she knew: 1. Do what you believe is right. 2. In this world, a good time to laugh is any time you can. 3. Always set a place in life for the unexpected guest. 4. If you don't want to get old, don't mellow. 5. The best things in life really aren't things. To be sure, that's a good list. But it could be better. When talking about the best things in life, the most important facets of living, it's important to set the bar high. Psalm 15 sets it high and leaves it high: Walk blamelessly. Do what is right. Speak the truth from your heart. One of the best of the rest of this psalms description  of the person of character is in verse 4: "those...who stand by their oath even to their hurt." Character counts, but character may also cost something. Be willing to lose a battle, in order to gain God. Be willing to choose according to your conscience, to live in line with scripture, to follow Christ's example, to walk in the Spirit, to resist temptation, to pursue truth, to follow justice.

At the 1993 Kemper Open, a PGA golf tournament, Tom Kite was leading and playing with Grant Waite. On the fourth hole, Waite's errant approach ended up in ground under repair. In taking the relief without penalty, Waite dropped the ball so that his stance was still within the marked area. The rules mandate complete relief of both the ball and the stance, and there would be a penalty stroke if Waite played where he originally dropped. Kite alerted him to the problem. Waite avoided a penalty stroke and went on to win the tournament by a stroke—over Kite. "He was about to do something wrong and I stopped him," says Kite. "That's what you do when you play golf. It's what you must do." When asked about just letting Waite step in his own mess, Kite continued. `That's not golf. That's other sports, where guys are trying to get every advantage they can.'' Now this isn’t a very important example, but not just because it's from the world of sports. It’s a good example but not a great one because following the rules is playing by the rules in golf. Obeying the rules is the first language, the rules of the road, when it comes to golf, not that everyone follows or obeys. It's always tougher and more important when we choose character precisely others don't expect it, when the rules aren't so clear, even and especially when others more important and more powerful are showing a different way, and when lots of others are breaking the rules already. Character counts especially when it is displayed out of season.

Pastor John Rutland remembers T. Eugene Connor. “Better known as Bull Connor, he was a fiery member of the Woodlawn Church. He was the police commissioner of the city of Birmingham for three terms. Known for his angry racism, he scattered his hatred all over the place. On occasion, he got up from his pew in a worship service and loudly announced, 'I'm not going to sit here and listen to that (nigger)-preaching.' Yet, outside the church house, he was boisterously friendly with me. He would often say to others, in my presence, 'I'm his police commissioner and he is trying to unseat me, and he's my preacher and I'm trying to get another one.' (My wife) Mary's favorite of all my encounters with Mr. Connor happened on a Sunday morning. When we arrived at the church, Bull and two other laymen were standing in front of the building with arms folded across their breasts. When I asked, 'Mr. Connor, what are you doing?' he spat out, 'I'm not going to let no nigger enter my church.'  I said, 'Mr. Connor, you have it all wrong. This is not your church. This is God's church. It is a Methodist church which belongs to the North Alabama Conference. I am the appointed pastor. I will decide who can and who cannot enter this building. Now, I am going to my office for five minutes. When I come back if you are still here, I will call Sheriff Bailey and swear out a warrant for your arrest.' I heard him say as I rounded the corner, 'Come on, boys, that son of a b -- will do what he says.' They left, but I have often wondered what I would have done if he had called my bluff.”

Psalm 15 tells us to call the world's bluff: I'll take an oat bran muffin any day--an oat bran muffin with raisins, that is. Now that's the good life!

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