Easter 7B, 2024

7th Sunday after Easter

In the name of the Father, and the +Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Thursday of this week was the day that the Western Church celebrates the Ascension of Our Lord…which is described in the first 11 verses of Acts 1. So today is the last Sunday of the Easter Season, in which we will bring to a close our celebration of the Resurrection and all that Jesus did after walking out of the tomb until the day he was taken up in the clouds. For the next two Sundays, we will transition to what the church calls “Ordinary Time” - the Season after Pentecost, which is a time for growth and living out the Great Commission - the last command of Christ before His ascension.

In the Gospel lesson for today, we have a portion of what is called the High Priestly prayer. In this prayer, we hear Jesus ask His Heavenly Father several petitions on behalf of His followers: unity, joy, protection, and sanctification. As Jesus has sent them out into the world, He clearly knows that they are not out for an easy time or a warm reception; they’re going to face hardship and hate. Why would they face hate? Because they are not “of the world”.

I’ve heard for a while now, and I’m sure you’ve heard me use the phrase: “in the world but not of the world.” We are called to be in the world - we are not supposed to hide, or form little communities where we only deal with those who believe as we do. As nice as that sounds, that’s not what Jesus has called his disciples - including all of us here - to do or to be. This Gospel message that we all have received is supposed to be taken out into the world. Yes, that place that hates God and His Son and claims that it doesn’t want to hear it. The world can often be violently opposed to hearing the Gospel. The world is a place of rebellion against God.

That’s kind of a general definition of what it means to be like the world is. The Biblical word for that is “worldliness”. Here’s a more precise definition, from Dave Roper’s book, The Strength of a Man: “The Bible defines worldliness by centering morality where we intuitively know it should be. Worldliness is the lust of the flesh (a passion for sensual satisfaction), the lust of the eyes (an inordinate desire for the finer things of life), and the pride of life (self-satisfaction in who we are, what we have, and what we have done).  Worldliness, then, is a preoccupation with ease and affluence. It elevates creature comfort to the point of idolatry; large salaries and comfortable life-styles become necessities of life.” [Dave Roper, The Strength of a Man, quoted in Family Survival in the American Jungle, Steve Farrar, 1991, Multnomah Press, p. 68.]

I think that hits the nail on the head. Preoccupation with ease and affluence. Creature comfort. Luxury viewed as necessity. That’s our society in a nutshell, isn’t it? You might remember that I once had a roommate who was at the time a Satanist. He was quick to tell me “we’re not into human sacrifice or any of that stuff. Basically we believe the opposite of what the Bible teaches. You’re supposed to renounce earthly pleasures and build up treasure in heaven. We believe we should enjoy earthly pleasures right now, and ignore any concept of heavenly treasure - we don’t believe there is such a thing. We have one commandment: Do what thou wilt, and this is the whole of the law.” Do whatever you feel like doing. Maybe you could say that as “if it feels good, do it”, huh? I’m sure no one thinks that statement comes from God, but does anyone realize it comes from Satan? He is the prince of lies. He’s also called the prince of this world - this sinful, fallen world. So of course worldliness is the opposite of Godliness; it comes from God’s enemy, the wicked foe.

So God calls us to be “in” the world so that the world that doesn’t know Him can at least hear about Him and be offered this Good News. That is our joyful task - to take this message out there. To be in that world is part of the job. Jesus does not ask that God take us out of the world, only that God would keep us from the evil one. (By the way, the original words of the Lord’s Prayer said “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” - still a necessary prayer!)

But we must not be “of” the world - that’s the second part. What that means is that we must not be like the world. We must not look or act the way the world does. We must not take on worldly characteristics. We must not value the things the world values. We must not conduct ourselves the way the world does. We must live differently than the world lives. Put differently, we must be set apart from the world. The Christian word for that is “holy”. Yes, we often define that as “being like Christ”, and that is both true and accurate. But what it means is to be set apart from the world. In the very first verse of today’s Gospel reading, Jesus puts “Holy” before “Father”, using it “to describe the innermost nature of God.” [Kittel, 101]

There’s another word here that goes along with “holy” - and that is “sanctified”, which is to be made holy. (Consecrate is the same as sanctify in Greek.) Did you notice that truth is necessary for holiness? Again, no surprise here, huh? Worldliness is from Satan, who is the prince of lies. Holiness is from Jesus, Who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

There’s a little more from Dave Roper’s definition of worldliness that I want you to hear: “Worldliness is reading magazines about people who live hedonistic lives and spend too much money on themselves and wanting to be like them. But more importantly, worldliness is simply pride and selfishness in disguises. It's being resentful when someone snubs us or patronizes us or shows off. It means smarting under every slight, challenging every word spoken against us, cringing when another is preferred before us. Worldliness is harboring grudges, nursing grievance, and wallowing in self-pity. These are the ways in which we are most like the world.” (Roper)

It isn’t hard to see how well he has diagnosed the world, is it? Would it surprise you if I told you this was quoted in 1991 - 33 years ago? The only thing I would change about that is instead of magazines, I’d say watching TV shows like “Keeping up with the Kardashians” or “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”. Why do people watch this trash? Because it’s our nature to be selfish. It’s our nature to covet and want more than we need. It’s our sinful nature.

How do we fight this? How do we resist? Luther would say “only with the help of the Holy Spirit”. In John 14, Jesus promised his followers that after he ascended to be with the Father, He would send a “Helper”: John 14:16–17 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” We receive the Holy Spirit first in Baptism. Through our lives of faith, we are refreshed and renewed in the Holy Spirit each day, through reading the Word of God, and in prayer. We are also refreshed and renewed when we come to the Sacrament of the Altar, when we receive our Lord’s Body and precious Blood.

With the help of the Holy Spirit then, we are equipped to resist our sinful nature, and resist the temptations of the world. The Holy Spirit helps us to know the truth and to see through the lies. He helps us to be less envious of others. He helps us to not be so full of pride, but rather to be humble. He helps us to not hold onto grudges, but to forgive. He helps us to not wallow in self-pity, but to work through our challenges, or to seek help from our brothers and sisters when we can’t solve it ourselves.

As I read Roper’s description of worldliness, I am amazed at how accurate he really is. If we could use this definition as a warning sign of what to avoid, what not to do… I think it would make a good tool to help us stay on God’s path, and avoid the things that tempt us to be like the world. And just maybe, we will stop giving money to people and companies who are so filled with worldliness that they actively try to draw us away from God.

If we knew that companies we do business with were investing in products and services meant to be deliberately anti-Christian or anti-God, would we still give them our money? Sadly, we do. Most of the problem is that MOST of the companies that give us products and services we like are all on the same side of things - and it’s not the Christian side. Video services that not only offer, but actually produce, openly demonic shows? Why do we stay with them? “Well, I really like this other show they have.” Food companies that make food we like, but they invest money in organizations that work against the values we as Christians hold dear. Cell phone providers - same thing. Did you know there are some very large banks who won’t do business with Christian Conservative businesses (for instance those who don’t celebrate gay marriage)? This is all across the spectrum of companies we pay money to in exchange for goods or services we enjoy. Are willing to give up any of the things we enjoy so that we can stand on Biblical principles?

Worldliness elevates creature comfort to the point of idolatry; large salaries and comfortable life-styles become necessities of life. Brothers and sisters, we need to re-evaluate what’s important to us outside the walls of this building. If we’re sharing the Gospel and growing in our faith and gathering for worship as God wants us to… but we’re giving money to people who hate us and actively work to undermine our efforts, I think we’re giving up a large part of the difference we could make in the world.

There are many ways in which our lives of faith call us to be different. I hope you will consider how and where you spend your money as a significant part of that calling. If enough Christians did this with consistency, I daresay the world would feel it. I pray that we will all recognize the ways in which we are still “of” the world, and that God’s Holy Spirit would help us to resist that and find a way to rid ourselves of it. Let us all be sanctified in God’s truth, and grow ever closer to Him.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of the Father, and the +Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.