Sent, Under Orders

I'm thinking about one of those stories that begins with the military person walking into the commanding officer's quarters and being handed a sealed envelope.

“Gather your troops and supplies and prepare to move out.

Once you are underway, open the envelope, read the orders and carry them out. Dismissed!”

There is no discussion about is it convenient or not, would there be an easier time to undertake the mission, or does the person feel fully prepared and equipped for any eventuality.

Instead it is simply Go, Read, Do it.

Perhaps we have heard this slogan: “We do the difficult every day; the impossible may take a bit longer.”

Obligation is the key word here.

We're not talking about choice, endless multiplicity of choice, but required actions.

Hear again how Paul started this passage today: If I proclaim this gospel, it gives me no grounds for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel.

There is an inherent sense of urgency in Paul's words: he must do what is asked of him.

Years ago they had at the Seminary a pulpit hanging displayed at this season of the year, quoting Paul's words: Woe to me if I preach not the Gospel.

Imagine how intimidating that was to take one's turn in preaching class with that hanging in front of you.

Obligation, requirement, expectation,...laid on a draftee not a volunteer.

Paul tells the Corinthians that he does not work for them.

He has been sent, commissioned, [the word apostle means “one who is sent”] ordered to preach the gospel to them.

Paul's words are not linked to congregational approval, a winning personality, or his superior theological training.

He has been authorized by God, and it is not done for personal pleasure.

The whole idea sounds strange to us.

After all, we walk into a supermarket with almost endless choices available, often far more choices than we could ever need.

“I choose, therefore I am” could be our motto.

But what if the life we lead is not our own?

What if, while we are making our little choices, God is also busy making bigger choices?

What if the way our lives turn out is not just up to us, but is first of all up to the God who created us?

Two weeks ago we remembered that pivotal event in Paul's life when he was abruptly shaken from the life-path he had been leading and set on an entirely new way by that Damascus-road experience.

God chose him, in spite of the rotten way he had been living, and commissioned him anew.

So then later Paul writes to the church at Corinth which has been torn apart by serious arguments:

“I'm not here on my own power.

I didn't want to come to Corinth in the first place.

But I am under obligation, and I have a commission; so that is why I am attempting to serve Christ by serving you, writing to you, visiting you, praying for and with you.

So now let's take that thought and apply it to ourselves.

All of us are thinking that we are here this morning because we chose to be here instead of sleeping or going to Wegmans with the rest of our neighbors.

We are people of good habits, and we are searching for a bit of a boost in life, and thought that we might get that boost here.

But what if we are all here this morning first of all because God has put us here, for the sake of one another, and for the sake of all those whom we have not yet met?

That is a very different way of understanding our life together.

So many think that showing up for worship is my own personal business, about which no one else can or should have anything to say. Not so! It is a matter of concern for each of us for one another, but most of all it is a matter of faithful work for the Lord.

What if the work that we are doing [the word liturgy means the work of God's people] is not being done for ourselves?

What if the life we are living is not our own, to use or dispose as we wish?

Think of all of the reluctant folks in the Bible: Jonah, Isaiah, Zechariah, so many more ...including Paul.

They really didn't want to work with God, but God is determined to work through them.

Paul says that he is acting under orders.

William Willimon relates a story about himself.

He said that when he was a teenager, he was in a Sunday School class led by a businessman, his first male teacher.

The business leader told the class that he was not the best Christian.

He asked for the teen's help because he wasn't well-versed in the scriptures.

He related the lessons to his daily work: the tough decisions that he had to make on Monday, and asking the teens' help in figuring out what he as a Christian should do about a particular dilemma.

William declared the class wonderful, the first time an adult had talked with them like they had brains and could help him despite his limitations.

Many years later Pr. Willimon was invited back to his home congregation, and met the man again.

It gave him an opportunity to thank him for being such a grand teacher.

“I'll always remember your Sunday School class,” he gushed.

“I'll never forget it,” was the reply.

“Why, what do you mean?”

“I hated those two years. I told the preacher that I had zero skills in teaching kids, and that I wasn't good with the Bible.

But he forced me to do it, saying that I owed him a favor.

And you kids! All you wanted to do was giggle and carry on and it was...awful!”

What an amazing difference of perception between the reluctant teacher and the boisterous student!

What an effect the teacher had, even when he thought otherwise!

Pr. Willimon came to realize that perhaps some of the best things that we do for God are the things that we don't want to do!

There are easy and pleasant things, and then there are the things that we do not because we want to but because we come to believe that they are the things that God truly wants us to do them.

Paul says that he is “under a commission,” which means “sent.”

Remember another of Jesus' healing episodes, where he cures a man in the country of the Gerasenes, a man who is possessed of many demons.

The man asked if he could tag along with the disciples, but Jesus sends him back to his own town with the order “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, what mercy he as shown you.” [Mk5:19]

Isn't that amazing?

Here it is the first day after his healing, and we might expect that Jesus would say “There, there now, you've had it really rough.

You need to go home and rest awhile.

In fact, you deserve to be able to take the rest of your life off after all that turmoil.”

But Jesus says nothing of the sort.

Rather the command is “Go, tell everyone what has happened and is happening to you.”

Similarly, to us he says: “Go, open those orders that were sealed with the promise of Holy Baptism, listen to what they have to say to you, and follow their direction, for they will all lead to me, the Lord of heaven and earth.”

Each Biblical text is a summons, a vocation, a job from God addressed to us.

This text has authority to call, and to command.

Our job, no matter what our age or condition is to open, read, listen, be obedient, speak, and do. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.