Every
family has certain phrases that are used to define who we are and how we are to act. When I was a child, my mother would take
my younger sister and me to visit one of her aunts, who were the matriarchs of our extended family. Prior to getting out of
the car she always would instruct us, “Now I want you to behave yourself!” We knew what that phrase meant. We
knew that our mother loved us very much. Moreover, because she loved us she wanted us to get to know our extended family.
At the same time, she wanted
us to manifest certain family values. We knew what those family values were. We
were to be polite around adults—we were not to speak unless we were spoken to—we were always saying “yes-mam”
or “no-sir”—we were to stand when a lady came into the room—we were to keep our napkin in our lap
when we ate a meal and to keep our elbows off the table—and we were to politely excuse ourselves when we went outside
to play. We knew that if we violated those family values our mother would punish
us. Yet even though we knew we could be punished if we did not “behave
ourselves”, we also knew that her love for us never ceased. She still loved
us. Therefore, we wanted to live by the family values that were important to
her.
The Apostle Paul had tried
to live his life by his family values. People had high expectations for him,
and he had greater expectations for himself. Because he was born into a prominent
Jewish family, Paul had been given great opportunities. His family was known
to be one of the leading Jewish families of that day—his father was a leader in the synagogue and belonged to the order
of the Pharisees, a society that dedicated itself to being righteous in all one’s dealings.
Paul later would follow his
father’s footsteps and likewise become a Pharisee. Paul also was born into
the Tribe of Benjamin, one of the most respected and leading social groups with Judaism.
He had grown up in the ivy-league level university town of Tarsus, where
that university had even a higher reputation for scholarship than that of Athens or Alexander. As
a child and a young boy, he had come to know and respect some of the greatest scholars in the world. Further, his father had
become a Roman citizen.
Therefore, Paul, in being
born into his particular family, had been given a birthright that enabled him
to travel freely anywhere the Roman roads ran. If someone had accused Paul of
a crime, Paul could expect to be treated with respect by the judicial system, and he knew that he could appeal for justice
even to the Emperor in Rome. As an adolescent, Paul received a prized appointment to study in Jerusalem with Gamaliel who was one of
the most prominent Biblical scholars of that day. Further, he was able to study
at one of the most prominent rabbinical schools in Judaism. When he finished
his studies, his degree would almost guarantee an appointment to a promising legal position upon graduation.
Upon graduation, Paul took
a promising position in which he would defend the faith against all those who would corrupt it. Serving as both police and prosecutor, Paul therefore traveled far and wide in search of such religious
leaders that were promoting false doctrine. He was known to have taken part in
the stoning of Stephen the Apostle, the first martyr of the Christian faith. Paul
even took the initiative to go to the High Priest to secure a search and seizure warrant that
he might go to Damascus some 130 miles away to arrest such corrupters of the historic faith.
On that road to Damascus
Paul’s life takes a sudden and dramatic change. For on that road, Paul meets the risen Christ. Perhaps Paul had seen how courageously Stephen had spoken even as he was being killed—perhaps he had
questions in his own mind about this new Christian faith. We do know that he
struggled with his failures to “behave himself”—for he later wrote that, he did those things that he did
not want to do, and he didn’t do those things that were right and good. His
failures to live up to his family values pained him so much, that he later would refer to them as his “thorn in the
flesh”. Yet Paul had pushed these thoughts and feelings of failure further
and further back into the dark recesses of his mind. All the while, Paul more
and more frantically sought to execute those who spoke of Christ as Lord. Yet
his Spirit was crying out for help!
On the Damascus Road, a blinding light struck
down Paul, and he heard Christ confront him. This experience left Paul blinded
and helpless, his life in total emotional and spiritual bankruptcy. This highly
educated, politically powerful man then had to be led by the hand like a child to Damascus—there to learn from those persons he had
come to prosecute. Afterwards, Paul went off into Arabia for three years to continue to sort out his life before returning
to Damascus. And only after the infant Christian Churches reached out to him, and helped him to sort out his own values—only then is he ready to be the
greatest apostle that ever lived.
Years later as Paul prepared
to write the small church at Ephesus—a city that sat at the crossroads of the world—a city that saw all the world’s
virtues and vices. He wanted to tell them that they were living in a pagan world
where morality was in shambles among many persons. He wanted to tell them that
they needed to “behave themselves”—to behave themselves according to Jesus’ teachings. He wanted to tell them that they needed to take advantage of the opportunities they have to share the faith
with others through their own lives.
Yet Paul did not write them
out of a sense of demand. To demand obedience had been his approach before he
had come to know the grace of his Lord Jesus Christ. Instead, he wrote them out
of a sense of gratitude for all God’s blessings. He wrote them that long
before God had created the universe that God had decided that he was going to act toward humanity only in love. Paul therefore wrote them that God who is rich in mercy, this God had lavished upon them the riches of his
grace. They therefore, were to “behave themselves”—not out
of a sense of duty or fear, but out of a sense of gratitude. Paul knew that only
a person, who has experienced God’s grace in his or her life, could live out that grace in dealings with others.
Moreover, Paul wrote that
God has given us the gift of “worship” as a conveyer of God’s grace. For worship serves as a model for how
we are to live our lives. In worship, God’s grace always precedes our action. Once God acts toward us in grace, then we can respond in thanksgiving. Such thanksgiving
is directed toward God as we praise God and seek to be in fellowship with our fellow human beings. Therefore, Paul writes, “Be filled with the Spirit, as you
sing psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs among yourselves and making melody to the Lord with your hearts…”
The day had been long, and
Paul had gotten tired. However, before Paul paused from his dictating the letter to his secretary, he included verse 21: “Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Paul was telling the Church and important truth, that is, that we cannot be a Christian by ourselves. Instead, we have been created to live in a community of relationships, and to be accountable
to one another for our conduct.
In our Presbyterian congregations,
the members therefore are accountable to the session for the manner in which you live your lives—the session then is
accountable to the presbytery—the presbytery then is accountable to the synod—and then to the General Assembly
for its’ spiritual welfare. Because we are accountable to one another, we are to respect and learn from the decisions
of the Governing Bodies even if we do not agree with them. Perhaps even in those
times when we disagree with a decision of the session, a presbytery, a synod, or even the General Assembly, we still can ask,
what is God trying to teach us about God’s grace through that higher governing body’s action?
Vernon Boyles recently told me a story about when he was the Pastor of the small Presbyterian Church in the hamlet
of Wagram, NC. It
was during the 1960’s when there was much unrest in our country over the Vietnam War. Further, Dr. Martin Luther King
was raising the awareness of many persons concerning the need for civil rights for African-Americans. Since the end of the
Civil War, few African-Americans had participated in worship services in most rural southern congregations. Worship had become the most segregated hour of the entire week.
Therefore, African-American leaders began seeking to worship services at “white congregations.” Seeking to be proactive, the session discussed what they would do if African-Americans sought to worship
at the Wagram Presbyterian Church. The session was fearful of what might happen
if African-Americans were admitted to a worship service. They therefore voted not to seat African-Americans.
The following summer, the
General Assembly met, and it approved writing in the Book of Church Order, that all persons were to be welcomed into
worship. Following that General Assembly meeting, the session met once more. It was a long meeting, and the session talked-out
the issue that lay before them. They came to a decision that although they did not agree with the decision of the General
Assembly; nevertheless, they were committed to the Presbyterian connectional system. Therefore, since the General Assembly
had said that all persons were to be welcomed into worship—that as “good-Presbyterians”, they would welcome
into worship any African-Americans that came to worship.
That conflict seems very
dated now almost 50 years later. Many of you may not even remember when “African-Americans” were not welcomed
into worship. The conflict indeed seems dated in the 21st century, and it is hard to realize that persons were
not admitted to worship. However, the principle of mutual accountability remains very clear.
For just as when Paul wrote the Church at Ephesus, “Be subject to one
another out of reverence for Christ”—likewise as Christians today we are to hold to those same family
values of mutual accountability for how we live our lives.
From 2003-2005, I served
as the Interim Executive Presbyter/Stated Clerk/Treasurer for Abingdon Presbytery in Southwestern Virginia. In
that ministry I frequently traveled late at night as I was returning from meetings with a sessions or congregations that were
located within remote locations in the mountains. Sometimes in those travels,
there would not be any houses for miles along narrow two-lane mountain roads. The
only lights were my car’s headlights and the stars on a clear night. Then after driving for often seemed like hours,
I would see off in the distance the flicker of lights.
As I would get closer, they
would get brighter and brighter. Finally, I would see that they were car lights
on the interstate. Then I would take the ramp onto I-77 south. There I would
join other cars and trucks that were going the same direction. I would feel relieved
knowing that I was not alone in my journey. I was traveling alongside other drivers
as together we lit the road ahead in our journeys. That is who we are as the
church—disciples traveling together in our pilgrimage of faith—lighting the road for one another in our journey
through life’s twists and turns.
