Are We Doing Good To Others, For Others, or With Others?
March 10, 2024
Ephesians 2:8-9
Emmanuel Baptist Church of Albany; Rev. Jim Ketcham
Cover Image: Light Wave by Rev. Lisle Gwynn Garrity; Inspired by John 3:14-21 | Acrylic painting with gold leaf on canvas
The call to worship and prayer of confession by the Rev. Sarah Speed A Sanctified Art LLC | sanctifiedart.org
The Lord’s Prayer is from A New Zealand Prayer Book, The Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia
Note: A recording of the worship service in which this sermon was preached may be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQyOUkezt80
Scene One: A classroom at Chicago Theological Seminary
New Testament Professor Dr. Robin Scroggs was discussing the focus on grace in Ephesians – perhaps even on the passage we read this morning.
Sometimes we do good TO others, Dr Scroggs explained, such as when a church sets up a youth mission trip to an impoverished area of the world without considering the difficulties and expenses of finding sleeping quarters, dining quarters, food and cooks and cleaners.
Sometimes the local hosts who are ostensibly the recipients of our largesse, have to make up a project for our earnest “missionaries” to do. It can take a lot of time and money to host people who are oblivious to the hidden costs of the “gifts” they bring.
We all want to be doing good deeds FOR others, but too often we are deciding what’s good for others and when we provide it, we wonder why no one is acclaiming us as their savior.
If we’re only trying to earn brownie points in heaven, or avoid punishment in Hell, that’s doing good TO people, using them for our benefit while patting ourselves on the back.
As the writer of Ephesians says, “by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not the result of works.”
Dr Scroggs ended by suggesting the best way of doing good is to do good with others, in partnership with others, in a mutual relationship. Our mission work can only become transformational if we are willing to transform ourselves in light of the gift of salvation we have already been given.
If we’re keeping score of exactly how much we’ve given, if we are giving only because we fear punishment, we’ll end up anxious, exhausted and miserable. And eventually anxiety, exhaustion and misery will appear to be the primary “gifts” we are offering the world.
We don't give because we “have to.” We don’t give because we “need to.” Truly accepting the freely given gift of salvation produces joy and generosity and creativity -- and truly transformational encounters.
Scene 2: Classroom at Bethel College near St Paul, MN
I am Interim Minister UBC in Minneapolis. I am invited to attend, like my predecessor, a class on types/styles theology. I am to be the sole presenter of liberal theology for this class at a conservative school founded by the General Conference of Regular Baptists
I began with the Hebrew prophets and their focus on justice for widows and orphans and the poor.
I spoke about how Jesus bent or broke many of the “rules” of his religion and the Roman Empire
I spoke about the abolitionist movement in the 19th Century, the Social Gospel Movement at the turn of the 20th century and the way liberal Christians brought their faith in a loving God to the ecumenical movement of the mid-20th century, followed by the civil rights, women’s rights, anti-war, and welcoming and affirming movements.
Just as I finished, a student in the front row shot up her hand and blurted out “I just want to know one thing. Do you believe in Hell?”
I said I did not.
She gasped - “Well, if there’s no Hell, why should anyone work so hard to be a good Christian??”
I replied, “If you practice your faith only to avoid punishment, that’s a hell of a reason to be a Christian!”
About a month later, I ran into the professor in the grocery store. “You know,” he said, “my students are still discussing your presentation.”
With a grin, I replied, “Isn’t that every lecturer’s dream?
Salvation is the gift of God, not the result of works.
Scene Three: A Town in Eastern TN
About 20 years ago, my wife Jan was invited to fly down to have an interview with a company based in the eastern end of TN, near the border with Virginia.
I thought it might be sensible to check out the local church situation to see where we might find a church home if Jan did get this job. I found many Baptist churches, of course, but they all seemed to be Southern Baptist or independent congregations. There were also several churches pronouncing themselves to be “non-denominational.”
I don’t mean to pick on churches, but I believe they are representative of all too many churches the world over.
A surprising number of churches had what they called a “Plan of Salvation” on their websites. These ranged in size from 3 or 4 paragraphs to 3+ pages, single spaced.
Mostly these consisted of a series of theological propositions, things a believer would have to believe to be saved: the Bible is inerrant and/or infallible. The Bible is literally true; six days of creation, virgin birth, all the miracles are real, etc., etc.
The scripture verses they cited leaned heavily on books like Deuteronomy and Leviticus and the Epistles. But almost none of them chose our verses from this morning.
There was nothing about how one should behave in light of one’s salvation, it was all about what one should “believe.”
The more I read these “Plans of Salvation,” I wanted to write one of my own. In my head, my plan of salvation read something like:
“It’s a gift, freely given. You cannot plan to earn it or embellish it. Say thank you. Now get out of your head and go feed the hungry, clothe the naked and liberate the captive, showing ALL of them the same grace and generosity you have already been shown!” End of ‘plan!’
That’s the plan I hear in today’s reading from Ephesians.
This past week, as I worked on this homily, I looked up the current websites of several churches in that same area to see what had changed, if anything, about their “Plan of Salvation.”
None of the current sites I looked at used that term, but they always listed something about how one can achieve salvation. It was the same stuff under a different heading.
“Hell is real. Everyone deserves death, with no hope of escaping eternal punishment, without a personal relationship with Jesus.”
The only “essential parts of the gospel are the substitutionary death of Jesus and his bodily resurrection.” Is that what Jesus taught?
“The Bible is infallible and inerrant in every detail, including history, science and grammar.” Funny, the Bible itself never makes such a claim.
There was nothing, nothing at all, about what Jesus did. Or his parables. There were only a few quotes about “God the father,” and “believe in me.”
Again, I don’t mean to pick on these particular churches. But if they are representative of many churches, and I know they are, is it any wonder the group of people who want nothing to do with church is growing faster than any denomination?
Christianity has very little to do with what we believe. It has everything to do with how we behave. “Love your neighbor as yourself" is not about a belief. It is about how we treat each other – and ourselves.
“By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”
May we learn to give out of our joy and thanks, and not out of pride or obligation.
AMEN.