Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:7-10; Acts 2:42-47; Genesis 2; Jeremiah 18; Luke 18; Matthew 5:48 Series: 2020
The final sermon in a four-part ‘Sacred Story’ series. Using language-learning and ‘deceptive fluency’ as a metaphor, Wilson argues that our sacred story has its own grammar and vocabulary that must be practiced daily rather than merely intended. From 2 Corinthians 4’s image of treasure in clay jars, he insists faith is no get-out-of-pain card — God is revealed precisely through our enduring brokenness. The Acts 2 portrait of believers sharing ‘day by day’ models discipleship as habitual generosity, worship, and shared life, contrasted with the rich young ruler’s grand-gesture limits. Hope rests not in self but in the God who raised Jesus; Matthew 5’s ‘be perfect’ is read as ‘be completed’ — finding our end in God’s love. Like Zacchaeus, we change our story by surrendering control and self-centeredness, living lives of generosity over scarcity, day by day.
Illustrations: deceptive-fluency-language, alina-hungary-translation, canada-washrooms-walmart, zacchaeus-pledge, rich-young-ruler-limits, bonhoeffer-faithful-daily
How to live our story
But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. 2 Corinthians 4:7-10
Every language in the world is hard to learn. There is no easy language. They each take work and time to master. Some languages are comparable to others, some are radically different, but none are easy.
When I met Alina, I didn’t know any Hungarian at all. When we went to Hungary, she was with me and could translate. Which was amazing. When you travel to a place with someone who can speak the language, it is radically different. There are a lot of people all over the world who speak English. But still, it is a completely different experience to be with someone who speaks the language.
Sometimes we can go to a place like England or Australia or Belize and they speak the same language, but it is different. And sometimes it takes a while to realize the differences. Or even Canada. I remember going to Canada, to Thunder Bay, and going through a Walmart trying to find a restroom. But they do not have restrooms in Canada. they have washrooms.
I call this deceptive fluency. We deceive ourselves into thinking that we understand what is going on. And i think language is a very helpful metaphor for what we have been talking about over the last few weeks of our sacred story. Each of our stories is like a language. There are different grammars to it. There is a different vocabulary. We each have a different vocabulary to describe who we are, where we have been, what we care about. We don’t use the same words.
The world pushes down on us a story about what we should care about and what we should strive for. As well, a certain vocabulary about that story. To live our sacred story is not just to have good intentions, but to have practices in this world shaped by love. Our sacred story has a grammar, a vocabulary, a history beyond ourselves. We have to practice it like we are learning a new language. And the best way to learn is live it. We learn our story by living our story to the fullest.
We are finishing our series on our sacred story today. We began, three weeks ago, talking about what a sacred story is. And thinking about whether our sacred story matches up with our actions. Do the things in which we say about ourselves match how we act? Zacchaues the unrighteous man. Zacchaeus the sinner, who was more than just short. He was a criminal who stole from people and cheated them. He grew wealthy off of the backs of others, and yet, he saw Jesus and Jesus saw him. And said, Zacchaeus, I am coming to your house tonight. And Zacchaeus repented. He converted. He was going one way and he turned around because of God. And he made a pledge. He makes a pledge of restitution for his sins, he makes a pledge of gratefulness to God. The next week, we looked at how my sacred story is different from your sacred story. So often, the world presents a story as a set of costumes that we are supposed to wear. But the word of God cuts through those costumes. Last week, we told the story of Bee Creek and how our sacred story is not yet complete. We have a story for the future. But we don’t know what the future holds, which brings us to the words of Paul today.
But we have this treasure in clay pots so that the awesome power belongs to God and doesn’t come from us. We are experiencing all kinds of trouble, but we aren’t crushed. We are confused, but we aren’t depressed. We are harassed, but we aren’t abandoned. We are knocked down, but we aren’t knocked out.
Paul uses this expression clay pots or clay jars. Paul alludes both to the creation of humans in Genesis 2, as well as Jeremiah 18 and the journey to the potter’s house. But what Paul points to next is that even though God is this amazing treasure inside us, life happens, stuff happens, trouble happens. In fact, he talks about clay pots and then talks about bunch of stuff that would break clay pots (dropping, harassing, troubling), yet we are not broken.
Life with God is not easy. Life with God is not absent suffering and trouble and danger and loss and grief. Faith is not a get-out-of-pain-free card. Faith in Jesus offers us a story beyond ourselves. And God is revealed in us living our story together. God is revealed to the world by you living your life. We are vessels to God. And, in our struggle and hurt that the brokenness of this world forces us to face, we reveal Jesus even more.
We see it right after Pentecost and the very beginning of the Church in the Book of Acts.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47
We see all of the apostles sharing everything, devoting themselves to God and to each other, which is a hard teaching. Giving away. Sharing…everything. We need to be the kind of people who can look at these sayings and not dismiss them. Who can look at these people and not dismiss them. How do they effect our story and the story we tell to others?
There are some powerful verses here. It says, day by day they did this. Day by day, they shared. Day by day, the worshipped in the temple. Day by day. There is a habit going on. It is not just this one time thing of sharing. There is no longer space for what happened in the Rich Young Ruler in Luke 18. Instead of the grand dramatic gesture called for when Jesus was alive in order to follow him, it is the day by day act of generosity, the day by day act of worship, the day by day act of sharing food, the day by day act of having generous and glad hearts, the day by day act of having good will towards other people. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Who can really be faithful in great things if he has not learned to be faithful in the things of daily life?”
It is essential for us to understand this daily nature of our sacred story with God. That if we believe that we are loved, if we believe we are forgiven, if we believe that God has a purpose for us, there are daily things which we get to do. And so if we think that our sacred story does not aline with our actions or if our sacred story does not with the way we practice generosity or life our lives, what are the things that we can do?
How we live our sacred story begins with hope beyond ourselves. It does not begin with faith in ourselves but in faith in the God who raised Jesus from the dead. Our hope is that the God of transformation is not finished with us yet.
In Matthew 5:47, Jesus says, Be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect. A better translation is ‘be completed’ Find your end as God knows God’s end in love.
Day by day we can practice our end in God. Day by day we can learn the syntax and the vocabulary of life with God in this world, a life of love and compassion and mercy. But we can’t put limits on God like the rich young ruler, that is like saying you are fluent after you learn the alphabet. The most radical thing for us to do this day is live our sacred story day by day. This is what we call discipleship.
Zacchaeus makes a pledge out of the freedom Christ offers to him. Christ matters more. He changes his story because he gives up on total control. He changes his story because his own comfort is no longer the most important thing in the world to him. He changes his story because he no longer sees himself at the center of it. In seeing the person Jesus, Zacchaeus finds a purpose worth living for. In gathering around the tables in Jerusalem after Pentecost, the disciples and new believers find a purpose worth living for. It is not merely survival. It is not merely an unknown future or generational wealth. It is the abundant life of the triune God. Life together, offered to us, but not completed with us. We are not the end of God’s story. Today is not the end of your story. Today is not the end of Bee Creek’s story. God has more for us. Day by day. Do we live lives of scarcity or generosity? Is grace scarce? Is grace limited? Or is grace overflowing to us especially during those times we don’t deserve it. Grace is offered to you all. The grace of mercy. The grace of faith. The grace of love.
We learn to live our sacred story through the practice of a faithful life. We live it by not putting a limit on what God can do for us. We live it by not ignoring what we can do for others, and what we can offer for God. We live it by accepting the gift of the story of others, by accepting the gifts of life together, and by sharing in the promise and victory of God.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.