Sunday, December 2, 2007

Sermon: "Put on the Gospel Armor"

Scripture: Romans 13: 11-14

Reverend Larry M. Gerber

 

It's time to wake from sleep and get to work - as a force for good in the world.

Exactly 220 years ago, an Englishman named William Wilberforce became an evangelical Christian.

Then, 20 years later, in the year 1807, the British slave trade was abolished.

An awakening of the spirit, followed by the abolition of slavery.

There's a connection between the two.

According to The Economist magazine (February 24, 2007), William Wilberforce was a front-line fighter in the British campaign to end slavery. He was also a passionate Christian who stressed the importance of sin and atonement. Today, political progressives see him as a pioneer of campaigns for social justice, while conservatives see him as a faith-based leader of compassionate conservatism.

He is truly a man for all seasons.

So what can Wilberforce teach us today, exactly two centuries - 1807 to 2007 - after his greatest triumph?

For starters, he did not see his faith as a private and personal matter, nor did he make a distinction between social justice and Christian morality. He professed two goals in his life - to abolish slavery and to raise Britain's moral tone - and he pursued them with united and unending passion.

For Wilberforce, the elimination of slavery was part of a broader project to bring people to God. Like so many great reformers, he was able to see the big picture, and he made connections that many people failed to grasp. For instance, he was alarmed at the frequency of executions by hanging that were occurring at the time. He knew that these executions were the penalty for serious crimes, but he also understood that lesser sins have a way of opening the door to greater offenses. So Wilberforce campaigned against licentious behavior, and tried to turn people away from gambling, heavy drinking and promiscuity.

He knew about slippery slopes, and tried to stop the slide from revelry into robbery, from quarreling into killing. He would have agreed with the apostle Paul's words to the Romans, "Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy" (13:12-13). When you put aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light, you are going to find yourself poorly dressed for gambling, heavy drinking, robbery or murder. You are not going to be wearing the right clothes for participation in the slave trade, as Wilberforce discovered over 200 years ago.

Check the clock, writes Paul to the Romans - "it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep" (v. 11). Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed in Jesus Christ, so it's time for us to put on our Christian clothes, the Gospel Armor, and get to work. "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ," says Paul, "and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires" (v. 14).

It's time for us to follow the apostle Paul and William Wilberforce in living honorably in the day, paying attention to both Christian morality and social justice. We are challenged to be a force for good in our communities, our schools and our workplaces -

That's exactly what the Christian community should be - a force that raises our nation's moral tone while also working for a better society.
 Like William Wilberforce, we're challenged to see the big picture, and work for good on both the personal and societal levels.

David Miller is a former investment banker who is now a Yale professor and author of the book God at Work. (See The Homiletics Interview in the July-August 2007 issue.) He's convinced that business people now want to bring their whole selves to work - mind, body and spirit - instead of having to "leave their soul with the car in the parking lot." Some use their faith as an ethical anchor, helping them to do the right thing and stand up to unethical practices, while others count on their faith to be a spiritual balm, providing serenity through workplace prayers and meditation. They want to "put on the armor of light" when they come to work ? not a two-piece power suit woven out of the works of darkness (v. 12). 

Members of the Wilber Force bring their whole selves to work - mind, body and spirit. They don't leave their souls in the parking lot.

This movement promises to raise our nation's moral tone while also working for a better society. Tom Chappell, CEO of the natural-toothpaste company "Tom's of Maine," entered Harvard Divinity School at age 43 and then used his theological education to create a mission statement and business plan for his company based on moral and ethical principles. Andy Wescoat, an executive in the energy industry, is committed to creating an inclusive environment where people are able to contribute as whole individuals. "Their families, interests, beliefs and values should be included," he says - otherwise, people feel the strain of trying to lead separate lives. When people are allowed to bring their faith to work, they have a resource to sustain them during difficult times, and the benefit for the company is that it gets to employ "the entire person - not just a half or a quarter." 

Of course, stress can be created by the wrong expression of faith in the workplace. Lewis Galloway, the pastor of Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, has "always found it to be a very negative experience in the workplace when a person becomes aggressive, arrogant or domineering about expressing his or her personal faith." It is not a good idea to practice evangelism on the job, and people in positions of power have to be very careful not to force religious points of view on their subordinates.

So what can we do, in a positive way, to blend faith and work as members of the Wilber Force? In Branford, Connecticut, Vance Taylor is a pastor and real estate agent who attempts to link Sunday and Monday by demonstrating humility, fairness, concern and compassion in his real estate work ? what Taylor calls "Christ-like actions." The idea of servant leadership, first introduced by Robert Greenleaf of AT&T, stresses that leadership is a calling to serve others, and it pops up repeatedly in business literature.

Taylor says, "By truly first serving the other - thinking more of the other's needs than my own - I believe I demonstrate a style in my business that's atypical to many agents whose immediate concern is their commissions." This kind of servant leadership is an excellent way to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ," as Paul recommends, making "no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires" (v. 14). Vance Taylor tries to do his work in a faith-filled way, and finds that this approach often creates opportunities for conversations with his customers about his faith and ministry.
 
But of course, the values that the apostle Paul outlines in our text are not limited to their expression in the workplace. Indeed, the stuff he's counseling against would get us fired if it took place on the job. To be a Christian, requires that we stop doing un-christian things, whether it's at home, the office or at leisure.

There are some things that Christians, in any context, do not do.

And there are some things that Christians in any context must be sure to do.

 If you embrace a particular faith, then you're expected to abstain from certain prescribed behaviors and practice certain other prescribed behaviors. In fact, the practice of certain behaviors sometimes identifies a person as an adherent of a particular faith. (Buddhism, for example, famously has The Eightfold Path which encourages among other things "right speech, right intention, right livelihood, right action.")

When Christians live like party animals, God is not really glorified and others in dire need of the gospel are not brought closer to hearing it.

So Paul rightly says, "Stop it!" News flash: Reveling, drunkenness, debauchery, licentiousness, quarreling and jealousy are not a Christian lifestyle.

Everything we do - at home, church and on the golf course, or wherever we may be - should be part of a project to bring people to God. This includes personal morality, ethics in business, inclusiveness in the workplace and justice for all people.

Sources:

"A new tug of war." The Economist, February 24, 2007, 72.

Miller, David W. God at Work: The History and Promise of the Faith at Work Movement. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.


MOVIE LINK

The Text: Romans 13:11-14.

The Movie: Amazing Grace, the life of William Wilberforce, who was responsible for the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire in 1807.

The Scene: Of the many appropriate scenes in the film, either when Wilberforce is asked to consider both a religious and a political vocation for the sake of abolishing slavery or when he considers taking on abolition and tries to experience the slave trade by visiting the slave ships and trying to feel what it is like for slaves through to his decision.