CHOOSE THE PAIN OF NEW BIRTH

Gordon E. Ellis
Februaury 15, 2004

CHOOSE THE PAIN OF NEW BIRTH

HOW much can I get AWAY with, and STILL make it into Heaven? THAT was the question on a BUMPER sticker I saw recently: HOW much can I get AWAY with, and STILL make it into Heaven? And when I READ our 2 Scripture Lessons for today, that bumper sticker was the FIRST thing that came into my mind: How MUCH can I get AWAY with & STILL make it into heaven? THEN, I thought of Governor Rowland, and Martha Stewart, IF she's guilty, and ALL those whose GREED clouds their VALUES, so that they end up DESTROYING their reputations, and maybe their OWN lives and a lot of OTHERS. I thought, TOO, about ALL those who play SEXUAL Russian Roulette and end up with the AIDS virus! And I thought about ALL the PRIESTS and pastors, and MAYBE Michael Jackson -- if HE'S guilty too -- ALL whose SEXUAL appetites have led them to ABUSE positions of authority and DO dreadful HARM to children, children who end up HURT with an AGONY that NEVER goes away. THEN, I thought about an Alcoholics Anonymous MEETING I happened to GO to one night. Someone from church asked me to TAKE him there, so that he would DARE to walk into an AA meeting for the FIRST time and introduce himself: Hi, I'm SO and SO, and I'm an ALCOHOLIC! I ALSO thought about ALL the agonizing stories that I heard at that meeting, stories of SO many people, who had LOST just about EVERYTHING in their lives that really MATTERED.

And I WONDERED: WHY do we have SO much trouble making CHANGES in our lives, even after the BENEFITS are pointed out to us? WHY are SO willing to gamble our future HEALTH and WELL-BEING for a few MOMENTS of pleasure? And WHY do we try so hard to AVOID, run AWAY from, any kind of PAIN or discomfort, EVEN if that discomfort promises to BRING us pleasure and growth and newness of life in the LONG run? WHY? I JUST don't get it! I do it! You do it! We ALL do it! WHY do we DO it?

And moreover, we EVEN bring up our CHILDREN that way. I mean: how OFTEN do we SHELTER our kids from ANY kind of PAIN or discomfort? I see it all the time with parents, and I OFTEN did it with my OWN kids. But friends, it's a MISTAKE, because that's not REAL life. We NEED to slowly but surely ALLOW our children take some FALLS -- and learn how to GROW from them. One of the men at the AA meeting that night said that he just never thought there was supposed to BE any PAIN. HE thought that Ward and June CLEAVER were NORMAL, and that Leave It to Beaver or The Brady Bunch was LIFE. And you know: I kind of thought the same THING! And for ME, it was a SHOCK to find out that that ISN'T reality. And when we FIND out that it ISN'T reality, a LOT of us think that there must be something wrong with US. And SOME of us get very ANGRY and DISILLUSIONED! And maybe THAT'S why we try to TEST the LIMITS. Maybe THAT'S why that BUMPER sticker sounds SO familiar: How MUCH can I get AWAY with, and STILL get into Heaven? How MUCH can I ABUSE my body, and STILL have my HEALTH and live to a RIPE old age? How long can I avoid the PAIN of making CHANGES in my life? Friends, WHY don't we REALIZE that ALL new birth, ALL new life, REQUIRES us to endure LABOR pains? We CANNOT have NEW BIRTH without LABOR pains. That's JUST the way life IS!

And you know: that's not just true in our INDIVIDUAL lives. It's TRUE in our various communities as well. For example, this is what our CHURCH is experiencing right NOW! WE are in a UNIQUE position, a position of STRENGTH, to be able to REACH OUT to SO many people in this community and region, who NEED the Good News of Jesus Christ, and who NEED a church like OURS, that is dynamic and alive, strong and relevant and challenging -- a church that makes people THINK and struggle with current ISSUES in LIGHT of the scriptures, and a church that doesn't TELL everyone what they HAVE to believe and think. And by REACHING OUT to these people, WE can DO what Jesus CALLED us to do, which is to make MORE and BETTER disciples. And WE, in the church, need to ALWAYS be about the business of making MORE and BETTER disciples. That's the church's JOB! THAT'S what we EXIST for! And the NEW people that we bring in, as well as our OWN stronger and more nourished FAITH, will bring even MORE newness of life, even more NEW BIRTH, to this WONDERFUL church of ours. You know: it's almost like our church is PREGNANT once again, JUST like we were a few YEARS ago when our church REALLY began to BLOSSOM. BUT, we HAVE to realize that, WHENEVER there is a pregnancy, there WILL be LABOR pains. NEW birth, NEW life, CANNOT happen without some PAIN and some SACRIFICE on the part of ALL of us. And THAT'S why, like a new parent, OR a recovering alcoholic, WE have to keep our eyes on the PRIZE! We have to keep our EYES on the PAY-OFF, rather than the pain, on the NEWBORN rather than the LABOR, on the RESURRECTION rather than the CRUCIFIXION.

Now, IN our Scripture Lesson from LUKE today, Jesus describes the POOR and the HUNGRY, the WEEPING and the REJECTED, as those MOST faithful to God. WHY does He SAY that? Well, I believe that it's because THOSE are the people who BEST understand their DEPENDENCE on God, who MOST know that they CANNOT make it ALONE. And SO, THEY are the ones who really put their TRUST in God. I saw this SO many times in MEXICO among the POOR. We met an old woman there, for example, whose ONLY source of income is walking several miles, every single DAY, to the market, where she buys a few fruits and vegetables -- WHATEVER she can AFFORD (AND carry). And THEN, she walks HOME and puts these fruits and vegetables out on a TABLE in front of her home to SELL to her neighbors, so that THEY won't HAVE to walk all the way to the MARKET. And she marks the price up just a BIT. And THAT'S her ONLY source of income -- maybe a DOLLAR or so a day, which is WHY she lives in a SHANTY made of tin and old construction materials. But HER kind of FAITH, I have NEVER seen before in my life. Now, when I SAW her, ALL I could think was: IF this woman gets SICK, or hurt, WHAT is she going to DO? But SHE doesn't WORRY about such things. For HER, it's ONE day at a time, trusting GOD to provide. And THAT'S the way life IS for people who are caught in the GRIP of severe POVERTY or hunger or grief. They have NO CHOICE about it. But THAT'S what God wants from ALL of us! God wants our TRUST, our deep and abiding FAITH, our TOTAL willingness to DEPEND upon GOD.

And friends, WHEN we TRUST God completely, we can ENDURE the pain of LABOR and SACRIFICE in the SAME way that JESUS endured the AGONY of the CROSS, because He trusted GOD to be at WORK in the midst of it, WEAVING new life, WEAVING a RESURRECTION. ONE of the things that came out LOUD and CLEAR at that AA meeting that night was that their SOBRIETY DEPENDS upon their TRUST in a higher power, their TRUST in GOD! When they get UP in the morning, the FIRST thing they DO is get DOWN on their KNEES and PRAY for the STRENGTH to make it through just ONE more day, JUST until bedtime! And then at BEDTIME, they get DOWN on their knees once again and THANK God for ONE more day of SOBRIETY! Staying SOBER -- making that ONE change in their lives -- is the most PAINFUL thing they've EVER done. And they REALIZE that they CANNOT do it alone! They need DIVINE help! Their QUALITY of LIFE -- in fact, their very SURVIVAL -- DEPENDS upon GOD (however they understand God)… and they KNOW that! And THAT'S why Jesus says to them: BLESSINGS on you who WEEP now, for you WILL laugh! BLESSINGS on you who bear the PAIN of changing your life NOW, for you WILL reap the rewards!

And for the alcoholic -- and ANY of us who CHOOSE to change our lives -- it's what the famous psychiatrist and author, M. Scott Peck, calls, LEGITIMATE suffering! It's THAT pain and suffering that we endure in the process of FACING and DEALING with problems. Now, I'M not talking about OTHER kinds of suffering here. There are MANY things in life, LIKE the agony of the POOR in Mexico and elsewhere, that are WELL beyond our control, but that cause GREAT suffering. What I'M talking about is the suffering we CHOOSE to endure because it will bring us NEW LIFE. In our Scripture Lessons today, we are brought FACE-to-FACE with that eternal CHOICE that BEGINS in CHILDHOOD, and never ENDS until LIFE ends: WILL we take the EASY way, the way that yields IMMEDIATE pleasure and profit? OR, will we take the HARD way, the way which yields immediate TOIL, and sometimes SUFFERING? WILL we seize upon the pleasure and profit of the MOMENT? OR, will we look AHEAD and SACRIFICE those things for the GREATER good? And in MOST cases, what it boils DOWN to is this: WILL we concentrate on what the WORLD values? OR, will we focus our attention and efforts on what GOD values?

Friends, the SCRIPTURES are CLEAR! The RICH, the FULL, the LAUGHING, the ACCEPTABLE by the WORLD'S standards -- ALL who THINK that they are somehow SELF-SUFFICIENT and in CONTROL of their lives -- those who are SELF-SATISFIED and content TODAY: WOE to YOU, for YOU have made GODS of things that are NOT God! YOU have worshipped YOURSELF and the VALUES and THINGS of THIS world! Yes, WOE TO YOU! YOU WILL PAY for the CHOICES you are MAKING today! BUT, you who are MY disciples, YOU who CHOOSE to SERVE and take up Your CROSS and follow ME, and YOU who CHOOSE the LEGITIMATE suffering of confronting and solving the various PROBLEMS and malfunctions in your life; you WILL know GROWTH and MEANING, PURPOSE and JOY in life! FROM the PAIN of your LABOR, new life WILL burst FORTH within you! And it WILL bless you with LIFE in ALL its fullness! You WILL laugh and you WILL dance and you WILL be FULL! Moreover, you WILL see and KNOW and EXPERIENCE the Kingdom of GOD, and not JUST as some DISTANT heavenly realm, but as a very PRESENT reality in your life: right HERE, right NOW!

So, let us CHOOSE to turn our lives AROUND, my friends, for God's Kingdom IS upon us, and it WILL be OURS! HEAR and BELIEVE this good news, my friends, and put your TRUST in GOD! Keep your EYE on the PRIZE, and dare to CHOOSE the PAIN of new birth. It WILL be WORTH it. THAT'S God's promise. Amen.