The Road to Perfection in Love

Me: Orientation

There are times when we struggle with change, and when such occurs, we are called to examine the costs...

...placed on our hearts...

...in pursuit of love, hope, faith, and peace.

Everyone always tells me that I don’t have a Texan accent.

Well, my dad grew up in Rochester, New York, and my mom in Peoria, Illinois.

During their senior year in high school, their families moved to Grapevine, Texas.

Here they are amidst 450 other kids who have grown up together...

...being the odd ducks… their senior year.

I suppose it was only natural for the two to unite and support one another in their shared experience.

The two fell in love and married; the rest is history.

What might have been considered costly to move and leave all their friends behind...

...turned out into a lifelong soulmate matching experience forty-plus years later.

On a more personal level…

Let me share a little bit about my call narrative.

There are moments in life when God calls us to leave behind not only places or people...

...but also the dreams, expectations, and identities others have placed upon us.

For me, that meant stepping away from my family’s vision for my life...

Participating in the family business in some capacity, whether engineering, accounting, or some back-office business function.

Those paths were safe, respectable, and full of security.

But deep within me, there was a stirring I could not ignore...

...a pull toward serving others, building community, and walking alongside people in the holy moments of their lives.

Leaving behind those expectations wasn’t easy.

It meant letting go of certainty for the unknown...

...financial stability for faith-led trust...

...and the familiar for the transformative.

But God’s call was persistent…

...inviting me into the work of non-profit service and ultimately, ministry.

Following that call, I discovered that what we release is never truly lost...

...it becomes the seedbed for the greater purpose God is cultivating within us.

Indeed… there are times when we struggle with the cost of change...

...with leaving people, dreams, expectations, or ideas behind...

...and when such occurs, we are called to examine...

...the costs, sometimes radical costs...

...that are placed on our hearts in pursuit of love, hope, faith, and peace.

We: Identification

I imagine… that you, too, have faced such a dilemma.

We are, after all, in the midst of a season of change...

Children are returning to school...

That means leaving behind the summer games for new adventures...

For some, it means moving from elementary to junior high school...

...others, the safety of a hometown high school experience and a new and different college experience...

...from the comforts of home to the excitement of dorm living...

...from the familiarity of homeland to a foreign land...

I imagine others have experienced the nervousness and excitement of transitioning from one job to another...

Perhaps, some have experienced the transition from the workforce to retirement...

For those experiencing a change of health, it might be the cost of setting aside familiar habits for new ones…

Others may feel the empty nest phenomenon of all their children leaving home for new pursuits....

There are times when we struggle with the cost of change...

...and when such occurs, we are called to examine the costs placed on our heart...

...in pursuit of love, hope, faith, and peace.

God: Illumination

God must have something to say about this…

...let’s discover what God says to us...

“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother,

wife and children,

brothers and sisters,

yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.

Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

These are some really harsh words to hear.

Now we don’t just pick our hymns willy nilly...

I remember sitting around the hymn selection committee meeting—you know, we Methodists have a committee meeting for everything...

...and in this meeting, we were reading the scriptures for this Sunday.

One person at the table expressed discomfort whenever this gospel lesson comes up in the lectionary.

It’s radical language for a people called into a communal movement that fosters

a body of family,

a body of unity,

and a body of love.

Jesus goes on to use a metaphor to describe what he is saying...

“For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it?”

Jesus uses strong language here to illustrate the cost of discipleship.

Interestingly… as much as the bible talks about money...

Cost… the word cost is only used once in the bible.

What is cost? Oh boy… taking me back to Cost Management Accounting…

I enjoyed many accounting courses, with the exception of Cost Management Accounting and Petroleum Accounting.

But here we go...

In accounting, cost is the monetary value of resources given up to acquire an asset, produce goods, or provide services.

It is measured in terms of actual expenditures...

...such as spouse and children,

brothers and sisters,

Yes, and even life itself.

Now in economics, cost refers to opportunity cost...

...the value of the next best alternative foregone when a decision is made.

It is not limited to money, but includes...

...lost family...

...lost friends...

...lost jobs...

...lost familiarity...

...lost dreams...

Alright… anyone awake still beside Mark and Mike?

From a family lens, cost may mean the trade-offs that affect

relationships,

time together,

and shared values.

This could involve sacrifices like...

...a parent working longer hours to pay for education...

...choosing a smaller home to free resources for other priorities...

Personally, cost can be the toll a choice takes on your

physical health,

mental well-being,

spiritual life,

or personal dreams...

It’s the sum of sacrifices invested in pursuit of something important…

What is that something important?

For Christians, it’s salvation.

In our tradition, it’s to be perfected in Christ—Wesley would call it Christian Perfection.

You see friends...

We have to set aside things…

...we have to sacrifice things...

...things that keep us from living more into Christ...

These things are going to be different for different people...

You: Application

For some, it may be letting go of resentment or grudges and embracing forgiveness.

For others, it will be letting go of pride and ego to make space for other voices and lived experience to transform your worldview.

Those of us who live into being a creature of comfort...

It might mean leaving that place of security and trusting God to bring new experiences and expand our horizons.

All of this doesn’t happen overnight...

The tower-builder and the king must pause, assess resources, and think ahead before acting.

Discipleship isn’t a spontaneous, feel-good decision...

... it requires thoughtful preparation.

Christian Perfection is gradual...

It is the gradual shedding of sin in our hearts...

The shedding of thoughts, behaviors, and desires that keep us from having a relationship with God and neighbor...

It’s restoring our soul into the very image in which God created us to be...

To be perfected in Christ is to be made holy...

To be made holy is to...

...consent to God’s slow work...

...the patient, loosening of the false self...

...that self that wants to manage, defend, and perform...

…and we must awaken our true self...

Thomas Merton, a Catholic Theologian, suggests that...

Contemplation is not our achievement but God’s gracious gift of awareness...

Christ living in us...

Holiness is not escape from the world...

...it is learning to “see and use all things in and for God.”

Detachment isn’t loving less...

...it’s loving rightly…

releasing our possessive nature… so we can love our neighbors more freely.

This is freedom as obedience...

...the capacity to do God’s will…

…preferring spiritual joy over quick pleasures...

...it is the patience of builders...

....foundations laid in silence...

...resentment exchanged for forgiveness...

And when we sacrifice…

…when we take on those costs and walk through the quiet nights of faith…

...faith abides...

God’s best work is done there...

Christian perfection is not perfectionism...

...it’s becoming who we truly are in Christ…

…so that God may love the world through us.

We: Inspiration

Friends...

Today we gather at this table where the cost of discipleship is not just an idea…

…it is made visible in broken bread and poured cup.

Here we remember Jesus, who left behind the glory of heaven…

…emptied himself…

…and took on our humanity…

...who let go of every privilege so we might be brought near...

…not for his own sake, but for the life of the world.

In the United Methodist tradition, we believe this is an open table...

…not because we take discipleship lightly…

…but because grace is God’s gift.

You cannot earn it…

…you cannot buy it…

…you can only receive it…

And when you receive it, it changes you.

When we come to this meal, we are not only remembering the past…

...we are stepping into the ongoing work of Christ.

We come as people being perfected in love…

…set free from the false self that clings to…

pride,

resentment,

or comfort,

…and set free for the true self that loves God with all the heart and loves neighbor as self.

Friends… come....

...not because you have counted every cost perfectly...

...but because you desire to follow.

Come… not because you are already perfected...

...but because God’s Spirit is making you perfect in love.

And as you go from here …

...go as those who have been fed with grace and strengthened to bear the cross...

...and ready to let the love of God in Christ live in you…

…and through you…

…for the life of the world.

In the name of our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.