In the Presence of Sin

2 Samuel 11:1-15 John 6:1-21 July 29, 2012 Ninth Sunday of Pentecost Year B “In the Presence of Sin” The church has a responsibility to address the needs of others A few years ago in the city of Chicago, a crowd of community residents did something unusual. They picketed the churches in their community to do something other than have church. They picketed them to be church. They seemed to say the Christ you claim and proclaim each Sunday seems more than enough in the sanctuary, but never seems to get out in our neighbor-hoods. Why are you open only on Sunday? Need happens 24/7. There are six other days in the week, but you're closed. I don’t know if that is true or not, I don’t remember hearing that story. But it is important for us to think about during this time, as we hear of so many people taking to the streets, like the nation of islam, and the coalition of Chicago pastors who were out on the street corners to address the violence that happens this summer. But I want to start where we left off last week – we have to remember that need is a 24/7 situation. It never goes away, there is always someone in need, in need of even the most basic things in life. God created us to have needs God created us to have needs, we have to eat, we have to drink water, we have to sleep. And those are basic needs that we have to tend to each and every day. Eat, drink, sleep, those things can even take control of our lives. The importance of fasting For the muslims, the month of Ramadan is a month of fasting. A month to step out of the day to day routine of needing to spend so much time in our lives, trying to satisfy our most basic needs. I thought of the importance of a time of spiritual cleansing on Friday as I had to take a blood test. I was supposed to fast for at least 12 hours before the test. But for some reason I did not schedule the test until 2:30 pm. I spent most of the morning, literally 3 hours – staring at the clock waiting for 2:30 to come so that I could get something to eat. But was I hungry because my body needed nutrients, or out of the habit of needing something to eat. And what does it mean to satisfy the hunger? Had I not gotten hungry, I would never have thought about what hunger really means. When I was a little girl, I used to wonder why I had to eat today, when I had something to eat yesterday. It has been a long time in life since I had that problem. Natural hunger the beginning of sin We all get hungry, we all need to eat – God created the human body that way. But in reality we run into another problem. God gave us all certain needs. But there are days when we cross the lines. We no longer think about whether those needs are satisfied, we just continue to want more and more and more. It is when we cross that line from hunger into greediness that we have turned to sin. It is easy for any of us to cross that line. And it is usually not until we have gone too far, that we even become aware that we have crossed that line. The importance of this story The Hebrew bible lesson is one of the most famous stories in the bible. It is also one of the most graphic stories in the bible. It is designed for us to gasp, for us to get mad at the participants, for us to hear the story and place judgement on what a horrible person King David was for committing adultery with the wife of his most faithful servant. It is clear for us to see how David was wrong, and should have known better. We don’t think about why this story is here, why we are reading it now. For is to realize that David wanted to make an example if his life and his story in hopes that we would do differently. It happened late one afternoon The story starts out – that it happened late one afternoon. David was just out on his balcony, he just happened to see a woman, he just happened to commit adultery, she just happened to get pregnant, he just happened to have to kill her husband, he just happened to marry her, they just happened to have a boy, that boy just happened to become the heir to his throne. Nice story, but one problem. Sin does not just happen. There is always a moment when we could have turned away and avoided the consequences. And panic and hiding the sin doesn’t make it go away. They usually get us into more trouble. And even after God has forgiven us, we still live with the consequences of our sin. The bible makes it clear that David was one of God’s favorite persons. There is story after story of how God was with David, and God brought David through some tough times. God made an eternal promise to David. And yet the one thing that always sticks out to me, is that david spent most of his adult life as a very unhappy person. He was very sick, there was chaos in his family, the threats to his leadership came from his own sons. This was the point where things seemed all down hill. In his story one thing led to another because of the consequences of his life. He repented and he asked for forgiveness – but what good did it do. Cleaning lady cleaning up after her own party A lady had been the cleaning lady for one company for over 70 years. When the new managers of the company found out about their most loyal employee, they wanted to give her an appreciation party. When she found out, she asked her supervisor to please not do her any favors. The managers thought she was just being modest and insisted. She insisted also, please no party. I am still the cleaning lady, and it will be my responsibility to clean up the mess that you all make from this party. So please don’t do me any favors. That must be how God felt about David, and how he feels about us most days. We are the ones who commit the sin, and we expect God to clean up the mess. It is one thing for us to be hungry, it is another for us to be hungry for other peoples things. God says thou shalt not covet. It is one thing for us to be hungry, but it is another for us to get greedy. When we are hungry, we have to depend upon God to supply all of our needs, and to be satisfied with what God gives us. David’s sin not living up to his responsibility David’s sin did not start with adultery, it started with him not honoring his responsibilities to others. The king was expected to lead his people in battle. His people were in battle, but david decided that as king he needed to stay at home. Not only was Bathsheba married, but David was married also. But he had decided that rules were for other people, he had the freedom to do what he wanted. We will hear more about this story next week, but David had to realize that no matter how many other people who had hurt with his actions, that he also hurt God. He needed to ask for God’s forgiveness in the midst of this. Jesus 4th temptation There is an old African American story that the devil tempted Jesus Christ not three times, but 4. When jesus was in the wilderness, the devil tempted Jesus to trust himself to take care of his needs and not God, the take power over the world, and to save himself. As Jesus was in agony on the cross, in pain for all of our sins, the devil whispered in his ear – they are not worth it, they will continue to sin again and again, your death is a waste, because these people are not worth it. It was at that moment that Jesus cried out for all to hear – Father forgive them for they know not what they do. David was highly favored by God, David confessed his sins, and yet David himself realized that he would have to live the consequences of his sin forever. He never saw God’s promise for us- Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for truly taking away the effects of our sin on our lives. Sin is rooted in love, love of money, love of pleasure, love of the things of this world. Salvation is rooted in the understanding that God loves us more. Jesus Christ has the power to satisfy all of our hungers and all of our needs. The feeding of the 5000 is so important that it is the only miracle in all five gospels. Jesus understand that the need to eat is given to all of us. Jesus understands that we live in a world that does not provide for everyone, so people are hungry. People need to eat. Sometimes, you cant address the spiritual needs of a person, until you address the physical needs. You have to feed them food before you feed them the Word. John tells this story – helping us understand why Jesus sacrificed himself so that we would not have to be hungry forever. Jesus says that man cannot live by bread alone, when we just seek bread, we are on the road to sin. Sin is an outward expression of the rebellion in our hearts. A refusal to let God take care of all of our needs. John is the only version of the feeding story that ends with Jesus walking on water, in order to calm the fears of his disciples. John wants us to remember that even as disciples we have needs, we have fears, but we have to believe that Jesus has the power to overcome all of our circumstances. Sin happens in the circumstance of life, but Christ has shown us time and time again, that he is Lord of circumstance. There is always a way to rise above our circumstance, if we are willing to follow Jesus. Sailing the see according to the waves In Plato’s Republic, there is a story of a ship sailing the seas. The captain directed the ship through the sea by looking at the stars. Yet the crew felt that he should have been looking at the water and the waves in front of him. They were more responsible for the direction of the boat than the stars. They locked him in his cabin and navigated the ship themselves, according to what they could see of the waves and the water. By navigated according to what was happening in front of them, they were headed for a wreck. When we live our lives according to what we see in front of us, we are headed for disaster, because we are headed for sin. When we live in a world where things happen one late afternoon, - sin will prevail. That is the natural course of human nature. Jesus overcame human nature, Jesus overcame circumstance, Jesus died for our sins, so that we could understand to power of forgiveness and a right relationship with God. Keep you head up, looking at the stars, the heavens, to God. Then we can always steer our way clear. Let us pray…..