Ephesians 4:17-29
Now this I affirm and insist on
in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of
their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life
of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. They have lost all
sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice
every kind of impurity. That is not the way you learned Christ! For surely you
have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. You were
taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded
by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe
yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true
righteousness and holiness.
So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak
the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do
not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the
devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly
with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no
evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as
there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.
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This
is the last of the RE word sermons. Graham has preached on resurrection,
redemption, reformation, reconciliation and rejoicing. Now along I come with the last of the
RE words, renunciation. YIKES. That is a mouth full. If I ask you to renounce
someone or something, how does that make you feel? Horrible? Mean spirited? Self-Righteous? On a scale of one to ten what is your
comfort scale with this word? Probably a low 2. Renunciation sounds like a terrible
wrenching experience, like getting your teeth drilled. That is why Renunciation needs a rehab.
I
started to think about “renunciation” and here is what came to mind, The
Committee on Un-American Activities, witch-hunts, persecutions and The Spanish
Inquisition. “NO one expects the
Spanish Inquisition. Their chief weapon is surprise, No Surprise
and fear...fear and surprise.... Their two weapons are fear and surprise...and
ruthless efficiency.... No their three
weapons are fear, and surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost
fanatical devotion to the Pope.”
You get the point despite Monty Python’s spoof, no one likes the Spanish
Inquisition and no one likes renunciation.
This
word has lots of calcified old baggage. We see renunciation as being judgment
and rejection. How could such an
ugly word be associated with Christianity? Well unfortunately judgment and rejection are part of what
humans do to each other. This is the sin part of our nature playing out. And
some Christians have latched onto this error. But that wasn’t how it was meant to
be. Renunciation was a spiritual practice and a call to examine our lives.
Renunciation flowed out of the monastic movement and it came from scriptures
just like Ephesians 4. In Ephesians 4 we hear a call to put away an old life
that doesn’t lead to Christ. Renunciation is about putting away old maladaptive
behaviors. It is not about condemnation, judgment or rejection. Our problem
starts with the definition of renunciation. Renunciation has two definitions the first is denial or rejection: a
denial or rejection of something or somebody. The second definition is
a declaration giving something up. We are called to give up something. But we are never called to renounce
someone. Renunciation is never in the bible as a
renunciation of people. Ephesians 4 calls us to put away our former way of life, our old
corrupt self and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe
yourselves with the new self. It is a spiritual closet cleaning so that we
can be free.
Picture
a life where you never give up anything you have ever had or any thing you ever
were. This is hoarding. Who has watched the cable TV show
Hoarders? Hoarders are people who
cannot let go of anything. They acquire and collect and save and stack and pack
and accumulate until they are paralyzed. They squirrel and stash until they are
in danger of avalanche in their own homes. Hoarders are living a slow death of suffocation in
possessions. Hoarders are driven by fear.
If they let that thing go of their stuff who will they be? If they let go
of that thing, maybe they won’t have enough. If they let go of that memento of
love, maybe they won’t have enough love. Hoarders fear loss so much that they
can’t let go. Renunciation is all about letting go of past behaviors, old
mental junk, old ways of doing things, old maladaptive behaviors. If you are
intent upon growing in faith you are keen to renounce anything that gets in the
way of following God. We are asked to let go of anything that possesses us,
hinders us or stunts our growth.
One
of the things that characterize a hoarder is that they are paralyzed. They
can’t move in their home because of all the junk. They can’t have relationships or other interests because
they are too obsessed with their stash. They are not just paralyzed they are
petrified. That word is true in both its definitions. They are petrified in the meaning that they are immobilized
by fear and they are petrified in the meaning of taking something living and
growing like wood and turning it to stone. In our passage from Ephesians, Paul writes that the same
thing was happening to “The Gentiles.”
The Gentiles were trapped in the futility of their minds. What a perfect turn of phrase for what we all experience when we are spinning in confusion, trapped in the futility of our minds. Paul writes that, "their
understanding was darkened because of the hardness of their hearts." The Greek
word is porosis, which refers to a
stone harder than marble. If the ancient Greeks wanted a really stylish kitchen they would order porosis countertops. But porosis also
has a medical meaning that helps us see even deeper into this hardness of heart. Porosis means a callus that forms from a broken bone that is reset and poorly healed. How important it is for us to understand that this particular kind of hardness of heart often comes from the places that are broken in our lives. Too often we try to set our own bones and our attempts at self healing end with this hardness or callused porosis.
So that the broken place can no longer move because of the terrible hardness. This porosis of the heart means that they could no longer feel. They had
lost all sensitivity or freedom of motion. This is the kind of awful stuff we
are to renounce. We are to let go
of all the callused petrified old self to allow more tender self to grow. Renunciation is a good thing. Renunciation isn’t a horrible judgment it
is a cure to this hard heart and this paralysis.
Renunciation
is a Christian practice. The New Members who joined to day were asked to
renounce sin and its power in the world.
What a good thing.
Renounce; let go of things that make you sick. Renounce or let go of the things that hold you petrified in
fear. The new members then went on
to answer two other questions. Now that you have let go of the old stuff can
you embrace the new stuff? Can you
accept Christ and be part of the Body of Christ the church. If we are asked to take on something
new we need to create the space for it.
If you are called to speak the truth in love, you have to clean out the
closet of lies. If you are called
to reconcile and forgive, you need to sweep out the anger. If you are called to
put on new clothes you need to take off the old ones. There is no sense putting on a great new outfit over some
sweaty old clothes. Layering the
new on the old doesn’t work so well.
Let
me give you some examples. Suppose
you worked at Glade Run Home for Children, a school for kids with a lot of
problem. You see a kid and noticed he seemed to have on 3 or 4 T-shirts, and
then a sweatshirt and a sweater. And you look more closely and it seems that
there might be a second pair of pants just sticking a little up from the top of
his outer pants. You will start
watching that kid very closely. That boy is layering, which is putting on all
these layers of clothes. That kid
may be thinking about running away.
So that when that kid runs and hits the streets that boy will have some
a change of clothes. If you see an
adult on the street and he is wearing layer upon layer of clothes. That guy may
well be homeless. Layering is a warning of something wrong. Layering doesn’t
work very well. Hoarding doesn’t
work very well. We need to discern
what to clean out, what to renounce.
But
how do we do this? On the front of
your bulletin is a quote from Henri Nouwen that shows great insight into the
process of renunciation.
"To be able to
enjoy fully the many good things the world has to offer, we must be detached
from them. To be detached does not mean to be indifferent or uninterested. It means to be nonpossessive. Life is a
gift to be grateful for and not a property to cling to.
A nonpossessive
life is a free life. But such freedom is only possible when we have deep sense
of belonging. To whom then do we
belong? We belong to God, and the God to whom we belong has sent us into the world
to proclaim in his Name that all of creation is created in and by love and
calls us to gratitude and joy. That is what the “detached” life is all about.
It is a life in which we are free to offer praise and thanksgiving." Henri J. M. Nouwen, “Bread for the Journey”
Now I
want you to think of renouncing the power of things over you as detaching. Nouwen doesn’t use the language of
renunciation, but uses the word detachment. In the sense that both renouncement and detachment are
letting go the meaning is similar. Nouwen says freedom is only possible if we
belong. Fully realizing we belong to God allows us to let go of the stuff that
holds us prisoner. Do you remember
the vow you made this morning to new members? You promised to accept, guide and nurture. That means you promised to help these
new members to know that they belong. We all have a part to play with each other. If we are all going to go home this
afternoon and clean out our spiritual closets, let go of the things that keep
us stagnating and keep us from growing, we need each other’s help. We need to
encourage each other. To say in a 1000 ways, you belong. This is a place where
love is spoken. This is a place where you don’t need all your armor and
layering.
So
you have some homework before Pentacost Sunday next week. Did you notice I didn’t tell you what
you have to renounce? That is your
homework. Think about three things you
need to let go of, three things you need to renounce. If you take a Sunday
afternoon nap set out a pen and paper before your nap and ask for guidance. Then
nap, but when you awake jot down three things to let go. If you are going to a sports event,
bring a scrap paper and do the same thing.
If
you are going to receive something from God you need open hands. So what do you need to empty to make
some room for God?
Amen.
