How to Navigate the Sea of Distraction

Goal of this Sermon - Is for us to discover that the way we manage our public and private lives impacts our fruitfulness and maturity as Christians.

Let's talk about some disgusting jobs in the world.

Animal urine sample collector - did you know that an 8oz bottle of deer urine costs $40.99.

Manure Inspector

Odor Judge - makes between $19,000 to $52,000 (but the benefits stink)

Porta Potty Cleaners

Roadkill Removal Engineers

Sewage workers

I feel pretty confident that you probably could add many other jobs to my list. I shared that with you this morning because the kiddos are returning to school tomorrow and I wanted them to know what they could look forward to in the future if they did not pay attention to their teachers. Just kidding.

Actually, this morning we are going to discover that a mature, fruitful Christian, realizes that they cannot compartmentalize their walk with Christ. That if I had the best job in the world or the dirtiest job in the world there is an expectation that everything I do I must do it in a manner that will please God.

Those Christians who tend to behave one way on Sunday, but then another way on Monday, those Christians who believe that what they do in private is no body's business, tend to be the ones who easily get lost in what I am calling the Sea of Distraction. Somehow these Christians have convinced themselves that they are supposed to put forth one image, one attitude at work, or in public, but then when they go home, when no one is around, they can let their hair down, and be who they really want to be.

Jesus would call those Christians, white-washed tomb Christians. They look great on the outside, they sound great when they are preaching or teaching on Sunday, yet inside they are really just a house of cards waiting for everything to come crashing down around them. Their confused identity always gets revealed in the midst of a crisis. And when that frailty of character is revealed It typically shows up as confusion, fear, and anxiety, because the false identity feels threatened.

You tell me if that is not a description of what we are seeing in America these days, a description of what we are witnessing amongst us so called Christians. We Christians have a lot of arrogance when we say we are "One Nation, Under God" because my friends there may be a different reality. We may be a nation that is suffering the same fate that Saul and Samson faced. Both Samson and Saul would go into battle not knowing that the Spirit of the Lord had been offended by their lack of integrity, offended by their lapse in character, offended by their arrogance in being self-reliant, and they would go not knowing that the Spirit of the Lord was not with them until it was to late.

I am wondering this morning, just as I have been wondering all summer, and specifically this past week following the shooting of yet another unarmed black man,

“Are we a nation that acts like we are with God on Sunday, but as the hymn says prone to wander from God by Sunday afternoon?”

I believe we are or we are certainly on the pathway to that reality because we do not know how to navigate the Sea of Distraction. We are so uncertain of who we are that we don't know what to focus on as we are hit with the crisis of COVID, economics, racism, politics, sports, the most recent devastation caused by Hurricane Laura, that is not even to mention whatever personal crisis you might be experiencing. And because we don't know where to focus we don't know how to move forward.

Have you ever noticed that a lion tamer goes into the cage with a whip, a gun, and a stool.

The whip and the gun make sense, but the stool actually is the tool of choice. The lion tamer will turn the stool so that the legs are facing the lion because it makes it difficult for the lion to get focused, it creates just enough distraction that the tamer can assert his or her authority with the whip. Today we are facing a multi-pronged stool in the form of a multitude of voices screaming which has left us floating aimlessly in this Sea of Distraction because we are in the midst of an identity crisis, we don't know who we are because for far to long we have acted one way on Sunday and another way on Monday.

Paul is addressing this identity crisis that the Christians in Colosse are having because this identity is keeping them stuck in what I have been calling the Sea of Distraction. The young Christians that Paul was writing to were in danger of being lost in this sea. I want us to look at a snapshot he offers to them to help us navigate our way out the Sea of Distraction we have found ourselves in. So if you have your Bibles or your Bible application let me invite you to turn to Colossians 3:23-24.

Now Colossians is a little difficult to find in your Bibles because it is a short letter. It is in the New Testament and it is towards the back. It is sandwiched between Philippians and 1 Thessalonians which are also not easy to find either because they are short letters as well. If you get to Corinthians you haven't gone far enough and if you are in Hebrews you have gone to far.

Bible Background

Before I share the text with you, let me provide you a little background since I am just reading a few sentences of the letter.

Paul is writing to a group of adults who were new to the Christian faith in Colossians. This was not a church that he planted, but he would be very familiar with their growth because of Epaphras, a co-worker of Paul's. Most likely Epaphras was the planter since he was also from Colosse. It is possible that he had requested help from Paul on how to address some issues of theology as the many voices that were coming at these new fledgling Christians was beginning to cause the church to lose its momentum and direction.

In this portion of the letter that I am going to read to you, Paul is providing practical guidance on how to navigate the Sea of Distraction by establishing ethical rules for how they were to live amongst one another and amongst those who were creating the distraction. The sentences I am covering this morning is the relationship between slaves and masters, but because we don't tend to use terms like that today, I would invite you to consider those that have means and those that are under-resourced.

So let's listen to Paul as he instructs slaves and masters - READ Colossians 3:23-25

Jesus Centered Theology Leads to Focused Living

In order for Paul's instructions to slave and masters to make sense, Paul must remind the Christians of who they truly are. In fact, it is quite possible, that within this congregation, that majority of them are indeed slaves, while the small minority are slave owners. In verse 12, Paul writes, "Therefore, as God's chosen people..." That therefore, signifies a transition. He is saying everything that is about to come must rest on what preceded. What has preceded is Paul's theological presentation of Christ. Paul wants these Christians to know that proper action, God honoring practices, can only happen if one has a proper understanding of who Jesus is. If you are going to emulate and imitate Jesus in your life then you ought to know who Jesus is. If you are going to put your hand to the plow and be engaged in the work of building God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, no matter how difficult or punishing the work may be, then you ought to know who the construction foreman is who is telling you how to build.

"He is the image of the invisible God (you want to know what God looks like, what God sounds like, what God thinks about, how God feels... you see Him in Jesus), the firstborn over all creation; For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form (Colossians 1:15 and 2:9).

Paul establishes the supremacy of Jesus, "He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy" (Colossians 1:18). We hear things about supremacy these days, my friends there is only one Supreme Being and the name of that Supreme Being is Jesus the Messiah.

Paul then establishes the foundation for what we United Methodist call justifying grace. Paul writes, listen "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now God has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation" (Colossians 1:21)

Paul is saying to these young Christians listen stop floating in the Sea of Distraction, "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world, rather than on Christ (Colossians 2:8), instead "clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another..."

We United Methodists call this sanctifying grace which is easily described in this sentence from Paul, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, and not for men or women." Sanctifying grace is embracing the theological position that because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you and I are chosen people. Jesus said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you."

We did not have a say in whether or not God would love us. God deemed it so. God says, "My love for you will endure forever." The only say we have in the matter is whether or not we will choose to live as chosen people, as people who will be loved by God forever. Sanctifying grace is saying, "I choose to live as a beloved son, a beloved daughter of God, therefore, I choose to set my mind on things of God and not things of this world."

You want to calm the Sea of Distraction? You want to navigate your way through the crashing waves in the Sea of Distraction? Then center your life, your whole life, your public and private life on the one who calms the seas.

Remember God is not just here on this campus Sunday morning, God is with you in your car when you drive home, God is in your living room watching TV with you, God is sitting with you while you are talking or texting.

Now God is not acting like "Big Brother" waiting to see what mistake you are going to make. God already knows we are not capable of perfection on this side of heaven. God is in these places to help us remember, because we are prone to wander, we are a people who suffer what I call some-timers, sometimes we remember and sometimes we forget, that we are God's beloved sons and daughters, we are God's ambassadors to a world that has yet to know that they are beloved, and they do not know how to act as beloved. God is with us not to condemn us , but to encourage us to live as His beloved sons and daughters.

So we navigate the Sea of Distraction, we live a focused life, when we are centered on who Jesus the Messiah is.

Avoid Wearing "Big Britches"

I am just about to end this sermon, but I want to give you one more point to help us navigate this Sea of Distraction. It involves something I have to say to my children every now and then because sometimes they need to be reminded who is the parent and who is the child. It occurs in those moments when they are starting to act a little big for their britches. I will say, "I think you need to check your alignment." If they are paying attention they recognize they are flirting with a boundary that they need to back away from.

While Paul says to the slaves, "It is the Lord Christ you are serving." That statement is also for the masters. Now we know in our hearts and minds that we are not meant to be the property of another. We also know that we are not to treat human beings as objects or personal property. We react to black people being beaten, choked, and shot, to the accounts of Jacob Blake being chained to his bed as a paralyzed men because we believe when any human being is being treated as less than human that is offensive. So it ought to be difficult for us to hear Paul's words about slaves and masters.

Yet what Paul is offering here is a new alignment. Paul is saying to the slave and to the master you both are expected to serve THE MASTER. You both have to answer the question of what you believe about Christ as THE MASTER. If the slave believes that Christ is THE MASTER then he will serve his earthly master as if he were actually serving Jesus the Master. Likewise, if the master believes Christ is THE MASTER he will care and provide for his slave better than other earthly masters because he wants THE MASTER to care and provide for him the same way.

When we are out of alignment, when we are acting to big for our britches, we are forgetting Jesus is THE MASTER and we are His servants.

Conclusion

The answer to how we navigate this Sea of Distraction is by remembering that we are servants of THE MASTER, Jesus the Messiah. And we do this by living our public and private lives in a wholistic way, remembering that whatever we do, whatever we are doing we do it with all our heart and we do it for the pleasure of God. If we maintain this alignment we will not only navigate the Sea of Distraction we will grow as mature and fruitful Christians.

Sermon Application - Lord, make me what you will. I put myself fully into your hands: put me to doing, put me to suffering, let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you, let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and with a willing heart give it all to your pleasure and disposal. For I am your servant under your command. I will no longer be my own. I will give up myself to your will in all things. Amen.

This week I want you to spend time each day praying this prayer that John Wesley offers us:

Lord, make me what you will. I put myself fully into your hands: put me to doing, put me to suffering, let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you, let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and with a willing heart give it all to your pleasure and disposal. For I am your servant under your command. I will no longer be my own. I will give up myself to your will in all things. Amen.