I’d like to introduce a term to you that I’m sure some of
you know, but perhaps not all of you. The term is “short timer.” A short timer
is someone who is on their way out. I think the term might have originated in
the military, but now it is commonly used in the work place. A short timer is
someone who has turned in their two week notice. They are leaving for another
job. Short timers have certain characteristics. That is probably how they got
the name. Short timers are not likely to take on new and hard projects. They
are not likely to put in extra time pro
bono. They are not as good of workers as they used to be. Their mind is
elsewhere. They are planning for the next job that is coming. They do not enter
into their current job with their whole body, soul, and spirit, because that is
passing away. Out with the old, in with the new.
I’d like to apply this short timer mentality to our lives as
Christians. As Christians we are short timers. We were born into this old world
and this old life—this life where it is typical that a person might live 70,
80, or 90 years. We’ve been offered a promotion, though. There is a new life
that has been given to us and awaits us. We have received the upward call in
Christ Jesus for a life together with God. You well know how this came
about—that you, a sinner, should be called a child of God. It is through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That, you might say, is the job offer. You
have it in hand. What I’d like to speak about today is now what do you do? What
I contend is that you should see yourself as a short timer.
The short timer still has ties to the old job. He still
shows up. But his hope is somewhere else. His mind is in the thing that is
coming up. So it is also for Christians. It doesn’t matter if the Christian is
a newly baptized baby or very elderly. We are still in this world, but we know
that it is temporary. Our hope is not in anything earthly, but in the power of
God to raise the dead. This sets Christians apart from those who still have
hope in this old world. These people do not see themselves as short timers, but
as lifers who are going to stay forever.
So that we can see more clearly the difference between
Christians and non-Christians and the way that they look at this old world,
let’s consider how the non-Christian looks at life according to the old rules.
The unbeliever thinks that this is the only life that we have to live and so we
have to make the most of it. What does it mean to make the most of it? We have
to take in as much as we possibly can that is pleasurable, and hold off all
that we possibly can that is unpleasurable. The love of one’s self is the goal.
There are a lot of different strategies for attaining that
goal. Some take the high road, some take the low road. Some search for honor
and glory, scaling the heights, hoping to be found worthy in their own eyes and
the eyes of others. These people on the high road are often industrious and
careful to avoid anything that might hurt their reputation.
Some take the low road. They despair of gaining approval of
themselves in their own eyes or in the eyes of others. The people on the low
road seek out pleasure. They have a harder time, though, in keeping this stuff
hidden (like people on the high road) and so they don’t have as good of
reputations. They might let their love of intoxicants, for example, hamper
their ability to work. The people on the high road live life just as much for
themselves as the people on the low road, but the people on the high road like
to look down at the people on the low road as being altogether different from
them.
It doesn’t really matter whether the road is high or low,
people live in a remarkably similar way. All are equally interested in their
own welfare and don’t give a rip about anybody else (unless they are a friend
or relative). Those on the high road might think that they are not guilty of
the sins that the people on the low road commit, but is that actually the case?
They believe that they are not drunks, even though they, too, drink too much,
but they are better at hiding it. They do not think that they are perverts,
even though they, too, watch things and think things that they know are wrong.
What seems good about the people on the high road is not actually good. It is
just hypocrisy.
They refuse to own the label of “sinner,” something that
those who are on the low road are more likely to believe, because that is what
everybody tells them. This is why it normally happens that the lowly people are
the ones who are closer to the Kingdom of God. God despises the proud, but
gives grace to the humble. This is how it comes to pass that prostitutes and
tax collectors enter into the kingdom before the respectable middle class.
Those on the high road refuse to take even the first step. They will not own
the label of “sinner.”
This is what really makes people into lifers instead of
short timers. Those who are lifers believe that if they only try hard enough,
they will throw off whatever has been keeping them in shackles. They’ll solve
whatever is bothering them. They will finally make it. This keeps them
enslaved. They never arrive at sonship. They remain addicted to sin. They are
not at all set free from the devil.
The way that someone becomes a Christian is that God comes
to them with his word and he says to them, “Doesn’t this old job stink? You
work your fingers to the bone, trying to better yourself, and you end up being
just as much of a jerk as when you started out! And here’s another little secret:
the boss is planning on firing you. After all these years of faithful service
to the devil, he’s going to cut you off from his narcotics. You’ll get stuck in
the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
And so God offers this advice, “Go tell your boss, ‘Take
this job and shove it. I ain’t working here no more.’ Then come work for me.
Come work in my vineyard. You won’t be a slave anymore. You will be my son. A
slave does not remain in the house forever. A son remains forever. So if the
Son sets you free, then you will be free indeed. Abide in my word and you will
know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
This is how we become short timers in this old world, ruled
by the devil, where everybody is just looking out for himself. We used to be
full time employees—working overtime even. Now we have a better job offer.
We’re still stuck here for a little while. Instead of just giving a two week
notice, we have already even died to this world by the waters of Holy Baptism. But
our sinful flesh is still hanging on. We haven’t yet put it off completely. Although
that is the case, we, by no means, have to enter into the flesh’s way of life,
our old job, with our body, soul, and spirit. No. Embrace your role as a short
timer. Be a crappy worker in the devil’s kingdom. Show up late and go home
early. Keep that inbox nice and full when the devil gives you orders to do this
and not do that. What’s the worst that the devil can do? Fire you? Good. Let
him fire you. You already have a new job, and that job’s better anyways.
Now this kind of talking that I’ve shared with you this
morning—I didn’t make all this up wholesale. What I was trying to do was mimic,
in today’s language, the way that the apostles speak about our
sanctification—the way that we should live as Christians. It is surprising how
gentle the apostles are, and that is easy to miss. We are prone to hear them as
making demand after demand like an overbearing supervisor. It can get wrongly translated
into our heads that all that matters about being a Christian is our behavior.
But that’s not how they go about it.
Consider the way that St. Paul speaks in our Epistle reading
today. I think there was a little bit of a twinkle in his eye when he wrote, “Owe
no one anything, except that you love one another.” It’s rather fun
language. He’s saying that we should not hitch our wagons to any man or any
spirit, being indebted to them. We’re already hitched do a different horse. But
by loving one another, it means that we are under obligation to whoever crosses
our path. That is a large obligation, a large debt. So owe no one anything,
except to be obligated to everyone because love is the fulfillment of the Law. It’s
almost a pun, that he gives there.
Love is the new way of life that is given to us in the
upward call in Christ Jesus. Therefore he says that we should not slave away
for the devil by adultery, stealing, coveting, or seeking out some other way to
love ourselves instead of the other. This is the old. Out with the old, in with
the new, or, as St. Paul says, “Put off these things.” It’s like how you
would take off some clothes that have gotten dirty and itchy. They’re infested
with insulation. Why do you want to wear something so uncomfortable? Instead,
says St. Paul, “Clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ.” Here’s a
clean shirt for you, after taking a bath. Isn’t that better?
We are not accustomed to talking this way. This can make
some people get frustrated at the Bible. They want to be able to understand it
on their own terms. But surely St. Paul has a point in talking this way. St.
Paul was certainly capable of making lists for acceptable behavior. Talking
that way would perhaps even be more natural. But these to-do lists don’t have
the power to actually get stuff done. If we were able to shape up by just
trying harder, then certainly the Lord Jesus died for no purpose whatsoever. A
list a mile long won’t make anybody any better. The best that it can do is to
make people into hypocrites.
What is needed is divine strength—gifts—and that is what St.
Paul is getting at with this language. Being clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ
is not something that we can do if only we try hard enough. God’s working in us
by his Word and Holy Spirit—God’s giving more and more to us—is the way that
progress is made in sanctification. We have to be renewed in our bodies, souls,
and spirits in a way that this old world isn’t capable of doing. Spiritual,
supernatural gifts are necessary, and this is what Jesus gives to those whom he
has called.
To want to ignore this kind of talking because it is unusual
and incomprehensible to our flesh, is to want to ignore the Gospel itself. We
do not believe in salvation by the accomplishment of certain tasks. We believe
in the Son of God becoming one of us, flesh of our flesh, and making us fit
before God through his working and giving. This is a gentle, giving message.
God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, will make you complete,
thoroughly equipped for every good work, so that you may be blameless on the
day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The day of our Lord Jesus Christ is when the day dawns. That
is St. Paul’s picture that I’ve tried to translated over to being a short
timer. He says, “It is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep,
because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is
almost over, and the day is drawing near. So let us put away the deeds of
darkness and put on the weapons of light.” This is an encouraging picture.
The night of sin is almost over. The day of righteousness is almost here. Hold
on for just a little bit longer. You are closer to your salvation now than when
you first believed. You’re a short timer who has already put in your week and a
half.
Jesus is coming soon. A new life is just around the corner. Set
your mind on that—on the things that are above, on the things that are to come.
Let the devil have to try to manage without you.
No comments:
Post a Comment