Carl King - Sermon Untitled (August 6, 2000)
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| - | The second reading is from the Gospel according | 0:05 |
| to St. John the sixth chapter. | 0:08 | |
| So when the crowd of 5,000 saw that neither Jesus | 0:13 | |
| nor His disciples were among them, | 0:16 | |
| they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum | 0:19 | |
| looking for Jesus. | 0:23 | |
| When they found Him on the other side of the sea, | 0:26 | |
| they said to Him, "Rabbi, when did You come here?" | 0:29 | |
| Jesus answered them, "Very truly I tell you, | 0:34 | |
| "you are looking for me not because you saw signs, | 0:39 | |
| "but because you ate your fill of the loaves. | 0:43 | |
| "Do not work for the food that perishes, | 0:47 | |
| "but for the food that endures for eternal life, | 0:50 | |
| "which the Son of Man will give you, | 0:54 | |
| "for it is on Him that God has set a seal." | 0:57 | |
| Then they said to Him, "What must we do to perform | 1:02 | |
| "the works of God?" | 1:06 | |
| Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God | 1:09 | |
| "that you believe in Him who has sent Him." | 1:13 | |
| So they said to Him, "What signs are you going | 1:16 | |
| "to give us then so that we may see and believe you? | 1:20 | |
| "What work are you performing? | 1:24 | |
| "Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, | 1:26 | |
| "for as it is written, | 1:30 | |
| "He gave them the bread of heaven to eat." | 1:31 | |
| Then Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, | 1:36 | |
| "it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, | 1:40 | |
| "but it is my Father who gives you | 1:44 | |
| "the true bread from heaven, | 1:46 | |
| "for the bread of God is that which comes down | 1:48 | |
| "from heaven and gives life to the world." | 1:51 | |
| They said to Him "Sir, give us this bread always." | 1:56 | |
| Jesus said to them, "I am the Bread of life. | 2:03 | |
| "Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, | 2:07 | |
| "and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." | 2:12 | |
| This is the Word of the Lord. | 2:18 | |
| - | Thanks be to God. | 2:20 |
| (faint voice talking) | 2:25 | |
| - | And on behalf of your brothers and sisters | 2:36 |
| at Methodist College, | 2:38 | |
| a sister institution of higher learning, | 2:40 | |
| associated with the Methodist Church, | 2:44 | |
| I'm grateful to Dr. Willimon for this invitation | 2:48 | |
| to preach in this pulpit. | 2:51 | |
| This is a university and a chapel that is dear and near | 2:54 | |
| to my heart and the heart of my family. | 2:59 | |
| It is good to be here. | 3:03 | |
| As an adult in this chapel, | 3:06 | |
| I have worshiped many Christmases, several Easters. | 3:08 | |
| And as a youth I must confess that in Cameron Indoor Stadium | 3:13 | |
| I've come close to idolatry. | 3:17 | |
| (congregation laughs) | 3:19 | |
| My sermon is what do you seek. | 3:23 | |
| Before I preach, can we pray together? | 3:28 | |
| God of truth and virtue, You have created us | 3:34 | |
| and revealed Yourself through Your Son Jesus. | 3:38 | |
| He has walked among us and spoken to us | 3:43 | |
| and He is in our midst speaking even now, | 3:48 | |
| yet we forsake His will. | 3:53 | |
| We pursue our own. | 3:56 | |
| On this side of the veil we avert our eyes. | 4:00 | |
| We close our ears. | 4:04 | |
| We do not mean to. | 4:06 | |
| Seeking sustenance, we look past the one | 4:10 | |
| who can sustain us forever. | 4:14 | |
| Open our eyes that we may see. | 4:18 | |
| Open our ears that we may hear. | 4:21 | |
| Open our hearts that we may receive from You | 4:25 | |
| words of grace to satisfy our hunger. | 4:29 | |
| This we pray in the name of Your Son | 4:35 | |
| and in the power of Your Spirit, Amen. | 4:38 | |
| I watched the Republican Convention last week. | 4:45 | |
| Perhaps you did too. | 4:49 | |
| Next week I will watch the Democratic Convention. | 4:52 | |
| Political conventions interest me. | 4:56 | |
| Of course, there is a lot that bores me, | 5:00 | |
| but on the whole, conventions interest me. | 5:04 | |
| All the pomp and ceremony, all the posturing | 5:08 | |
| and the promising, all the people gathered | 5:12 | |
| to hammer out one political platform, | 5:16 | |
| one common purpose. | 5:20 | |
| That is what interests me most. | 5:24 | |
| To see these groups try to determine a common purpose. | 5:28 | |
| How difficult? | 5:34 | |
| Difficult because no single party ever reaches | 5:37 | |
| complete agreement. | 5:40 | |
| Difficult because you can't please everybody. | 5:43 | |
| Difficult. | 5:47 | |
| It is no less difficult for the church. | 5:50 | |
| Throughout history, Christians have had tumultuous debates. | 5:54 | |
| In ancient times, we argued over Jesus' humanity. | 5:59 | |
| In our time, we debate the role of women in ministry. | 6:06 | |
| In times both ancient and modern, | 6:11 | |
| Christians have argued over sexuality | 6:14 | |
| and its role in the Christian life. | 6:17 | |
| Disagreeing on such issues is difficult. | 6:21 | |
| It's difficult to live with purpose, | 6:26 | |
| to live in community as the church of Jesus Christ. | 6:29 | |
| That is why each week, we remind ourselves | 6:36 | |
| of whose we are. | 6:40 | |
| We believe in God, the Father Almighty, | 6:42 | |
| maker of heaven and earth. | 6:45 | |
| Each Sunday we recite The Creed. | 6:49 | |
| Our statement of faith, our platform of belief. | 6:51 | |
| As Protestants, we have another reminder of who we are. | 6:57 | |
| The Westminster Catechism. | 7:03 | |
| This Catechesis, this teaching begins with a question, | 7:05 | |
| what is the chief end of humanity? | 7:12 | |
| One might paraphrase the question, | 7:17 | |
| what is our purpose? | 7:20 | |
| What is the chief end of humanity? | 7:24 | |
| The answer comes back to love God | 7:27 | |
| and to enjoy God forever. | 7:31 | |
| It's a simple purpose, but it is complex. | 7:35 | |
| To love God and to enjoy God forever. | 7:40 | |
| Okay. | 7:45 | |
| And how? | 7:47 | |
| On my college campus, three times a day, | 7:51 | |
| students pour out of various buildings, | 7:54 | |
| and they stream in long lines toward the cafeteria, | 7:57 | |
| like ants traveling toward dropped food. | 8:01 | |
| They seemed quite hungry as they approach. | 8:04 | |
| But once they arrive, and they face four different stations | 8:08 | |
| serving four different meals, | 8:13 | |
| some of them become immobile. | 8:16 | |
| These are the youth who stood in your home | 8:21 | |
| and held open the refrigerator door. | 8:23 | |
| (congregation laughs) | 8:26 | |
| They know they're hungry, | 8:28 | |
| but they don't know what they want. | 8:31 | |
| We in the church know we're hungry. | 8:36 | |
| We have this longing, this yearning that asks | 8:41 | |
| what is our purpose. | 8:45 | |
| What is the chief end of humanity? | 8:47 | |
| And the answer is laid before us like a banquet, | 8:51 | |
| to love God and to enjoy God forever. | 8:56 | |
| There it is. | 9:01 | |
| That is all. | 9:03 | |
| Here, eat. | 9:05 | |
| But we don't know where to start. | 9:10 | |
| How do we love God and enjoy God? | 9:15 | |
| How exactly do we ease our spiritual hunger? | 9:17 | |
| The story of King David is the story of spiritual hunger, | 9:23 | |
| individual and collective, | 9:27 | |
| that is not correctly eased. | 9:31 | |
| David is a country boy done good. | 9:37 | |
| David is one of the youngest brothers of four. | 9:41 | |
| He tends to farm while the older boys are off to war. | 9:46 | |
| David comes from good roots. | 9:51 | |
| He knows the value of work. | 9:54 | |
| He's responsible towards his family. | 9:56 | |
| David is a good boy. | 9:59 | |
| He's a country boy. | 10:01 | |
| David, the youth, reminds me of Jack, Jack Holmes. | 10:05 | |
| Jack is a friend of mine. | 10:11 | |
| A mail carrier, whose family I lived with in the mountains | 10:12 | |
| while I served their church. | 10:16 | |
| one summer during seminary. | 10:18 | |
| With his feet up in his easy chair one night | 10:22 | |
| in his den, Jack explained to me his philosophy of life. | 10:24 | |
| "Carl, he said, "don't ever forget this. | 10:30 | |
| "God is first, my family is second, | 10:35 | |
| "and Earnhardt is third." | 10:40 | |
| (congregation laughs) | 10:44 | |
| Jack is country, or as we say in the south, | 10:47 | |
| Jack is good people. | 10:51 | |
| So was young David. | 10:55 | |
| David the youth is good people. | 10:57 | |
| David leaves the family farm. | 11:02 | |
| Young and untested, he enters battle. | 11:05 | |
| He kills Goliath. | 11:08 | |
| This is the part of the story | 11:10 | |
| that political candidates love. | 11:12 | |
| David the country boy becomes David the war hero, | 11:15 | |
| and David the war hero becomes David the king. | 11:20 | |
| David the youth, David the shepherd, | 11:26 | |
| David the war hero, David the king. | 11:29 | |
| How can one who has been filled with so much | 11:33 | |
| hunger for anything more? | 11:37 | |
| But he does. | 11:42 | |
| It happened late one afternoon when David arose | 11:46 | |
| from his couch and was walking upon the roof | 11:50 | |
| of the king's house, that he saw from the roof | 11:54 | |
| a woman bathing. | 11:58 | |
| And David sent and inquired about the woman. | 12:01 | |
| And he was told she is Bathsheba, | 12:06 | |
| the wife of Uriah. | 12:09 | |
| Yet David sent messengers and took her, | 12:12 | |
| and he lay with her. | 12:17 | |
| And the woman conceived. | 12:19 | |
| The press secretaries cannot spin it any other way. | 12:23 | |
| David the king becomes David the rapist. | 12:27 | |
| The country boy who's made good | 12:34 | |
| falls mightily from grace. | 12:37 | |
| Quickly, David begins to protect everything he has. | 12:42 | |
| He orders Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, | 12:46 | |
| back home from the battlefield. | 12:49 | |
| He tempts Uriah with the possibility of comfort | 12:52 | |
| and ease in the arms of his wife. | 12:56 | |
| If Uriah will sleep with her, | 12:59 | |
| the child that already has been conceived | 13:01 | |
| will appear to be Uriah's. | 13:05 | |
| But Uriah has pledged solidarity to his soldiers. | 13:08 | |
| He is obedient to Jewish law. | 13:13 | |
| He takes no comfort. | 13:16 | |
| He sleeps on the couch. | 13:18 | |
| He is a better man than the country boy | 13:22 | |
| who has made good. | 13:26 | |
| King David grows frantic. | 13:29 | |
| He orders Uriah back to battle, | 13:31 | |
| and he sends him to the front lines. | 13:33 | |
| When Uriah's platoon is engaged, | 13:37 | |
| David orders Uriah's fellow soldiers back from away | 13:39 | |
| from the front lines. | 13:44 | |
| Uriah is left alone and he is killed. | 13:46 | |
| And after seven days, David takes Bathsheba again, | 13:50 | |
| this time as his wife. | 13:55 | |
| And he thinks that all that he has is his still. | 13:57 | |
| He thinks he is safe, no longer is there a hunger. | 14:05 | |
| He thinks that he is full. | 14:10 | |
| But David's individual hunger is a hunger | 14:12 | |
| that has not been correctly eased. | 14:17 | |
| This hunger that is meant only for God | 14:22 | |
| David has filled with something else. | 14:26 | |
| The king commits rape and adultery not because he has | 14:30 | |
| replaced his hunger for God with a desire for sex, | 14:34 | |
| rather in his case, the king commits these sins | 14:39 | |
| because he has replaced his hunger for God | 14:45 | |
| with a preoccupation with self. | 14:49 | |
| My friend and pastor, Carl Frazier says, | 14:54 | |
| "The verb here is significant." | 14:57 | |
| King David takes. | 15:00 | |
| From her house David takes the woman Bathsheba. | 15:04 | |
| From the front lines, David takes the soldier Uriah. | 15:08 | |
| Finally, when Uriah proves faithful and just, | 15:13 | |
| the soldier's life David takes. | 15:18 | |
| David's hunger for God has been replaced | 15:23 | |
| by a preoccupation with self. | 15:27 | |
| David no longer treats what he has as things | 15:32 | |
| given to him to hold and trust, | 15:36 | |
| instead David treats what he has as things he deserves. | 15:39 | |
| So though he is filled with so much, | 15:46 | |
| David can think he deserves even more. | 15:52 | |
| David's individual hunger for God is a hunger | 15:58 | |
| that is not correctly eased. | 16:03 | |
| But the guilt is not only David's. | 16:08 | |
| For David's sin, Israel also bears responsibility. | 16:11 | |
| Generations before, Samuel had warned the people. | 16:16 | |
| When Israel demanded a king, Samuel told them, | 16:21 | |
| "These will be the ways of the king | 16:26 | |
| "who will reign over you. | 16:29 | |
| "He will take your sons to be soldiers. | 16:32 | |
| "He will take your daughters to be cooks. | 16:35 | |
| "He will take the best of your fields, | 16:39 | |
| "of your vineyards, of your orchards. | 16:43 | |
| "He will take a tenth of your grain. | 16:47 | |
| "He will take a tenth of your flocks. | 16:50 | |
| "He will take, he will take, he will take." | 16:54 | |
| And Samuel was right. | 17:00 | |
| At some fateful point, like the kings of the other nations, | 17:04 | |
| even the king of Israel takes. | 17:10 | |
| If only the people had listened to Samuel, | 17:16 | |
| here was a prophet who had the council of God. | 17:21 | |
| When Samuel's mother praised God at her son's birth, | 17:26 | |
| she spoke these prophetic words: | 17:31 | |
| "Now the bows of the mighty are broken | 17:35 | |
| "and the feeble are become strong. | 17:40 | |
| "Those who were full | 17:44 | |
| have hired themselves out for bread, | 17:46 | |
| "but those who were hungry are hungry no more." | 17:51 | |
| The people were never in need of a king. | 17:59 | |
| God's banquet was theirs from the beginning. | 18:04 | |
| They could have been filled, | 18:08 | |
| but the people did not listen to Samuel. | 18:12 | |
| Their collective spiritual hunger has not been eased. | 18:16 | |
| So Nathan resumes the task. | 18:23 | |
| There were two men in the city, Nathan says. | 18:28 | |
| One was rich and the other was poor. | 18:32 | |
| The rich man had very many flocks and herds, | 18:35 | |
| but the poor man had nothing. | 18:39 | |
| The poor man had only one little ewe lamb, | 18:43 | |
| which he had purchased. | 18:48 | |
| And he raised it, and it grew up with him | 18:50 | |
| and with his children. | 18:52 | |
| The lamb was like one of the family. | 18:54 | |
| Now there came a traveler to the rich man, | 18:59 | |
| and the rich man was unwilling to take one of his own flock | 19:02 | |
| to prepare as a meal for his guest. | 19:07 | |
| Instead the rich man took the poor man's lamb, | 19:11 | |
| and with the poor man's lamb prepared a meal | 19:16 | |
| and entertained his guest. | 19:20 | |
| Few gestures in Israel were more important | 19:25 | |
| than those gestures of hospitality. | 19:30 | |
| When a guest entered your home, | 19:34 | |
| that guest virtually became a member of your family. | 19:37 | |
| Nathan's parable exposes David. | 19:42 | |
| He appears to be generous, | 19:46 | |
| but he is a deceiver. | 19:50 | |
| David has lied to his guest. | 19:54 | |
| David has lied to his family. | 19:57 | |
| On the face of the king, | 20:01 | |
| what looks like hospitality | 20:05 | |
| is in fact smiling hostility. | 20:08 | |
| Rather than showing hospitality to his brother Uriah | 20:15 | |
| or to his sister Bathsheba, | 20:19 | |
| David has stolen from them both. | 20:21 | |
| And the king's offense is not simply that he has lied. | 20:25 | |
| The king's greatest offense is that he took | 20:30 | |
| while appearing to give. | 20:35 | |
| One political candidate says power turns pride | 20:40 | |
| into prayer. | 20:45 | |
| The story of King David illustrates that power | 20:48 | |
| just as easily turns prayer into pride. | 20:53 | |
| Samuel had warned the people against desiring a king. | 21:00 | |
| A king will take, | 21:05 | |
| but a king is what the people desire. | 21:09 | |
| Jesus will have none of that. | 21:18 | |
| Jesus withdrew to a mountain by Himself, | 21:21 | |
| says the Gospel of John, when He perceived that the people | 21:24 | |
| were about to take Him by force to make Him king. | 21:28 | |
| Jesus will have none of that. | 21:37 | |
| He is not like that. | 21:40 | |
| He is different from what we expect in a savior. | 21:42 | |
| When I was in seminary, the elections of 1992 | 21:48 | |
| were being held. | 21:53 | |
| One day in a Christian ethics class, | 21:55 | |
| a teaching assistant asked our discussion group | 21:59 | |
| to hold a mock debate. | 22:03 | |
| He assigned students to speak for candidates. | 22:06 | |
| He listed the candidate's names. | 22:10 | |
| One of the candidates for office was Jesus. | 22:13 | |
| The debate began. | 22:18 | |
| Each student presented their cases. | 22:20 | |
| They spoke for their candidates | 22:23 | |
| and then came the questions. | 22:26 | |
| When you speak of Jesus and His leadership, | 22:30 | |
| someone asked, "When you speak of Jesus, | 22:33 | |
| "do you mean Jesus the man from Nazareth, | 22:37 | |
| "or Jesus from on high come back in glory?" | 22:41 | |
| That is the Chalcedonian Test. | 22:49 | |
| We Christians argued the difference hundreds | 22:52 | |
| of years ago in Chalcedon. | 22:56 | |
| The answer came back very quickly in that room. | 23:00 | |
| The Jesus of Nazareth is the Jesus from on High. | 23:05 | |
| He will come in glory. | 23:11 | |
| We desire the lavish, the grandiose. | 23:18 | |
| Jesus provides the simple. | 23:23 | |
| And the simple is extraordinary. | 23:28 | |
| Jesus had fed 5,000 men and more women and children | 23:34 | |
| until everyone was full, yet the people wanted more. | 23:40 | |
| They wanted a king. | 23:46 | |
| But Jesus withdrew. | 23:50 | |
| How frustrating. | 23:56 | |
| God, who has always laid before the people a banquet | 23:58 | |
| of blessings, God sends into the world | 24:02 | |
| the very bread of life, | 24:06 | |
| yet from the beginning, | 24:11 | |
| the people misperceive. | 24:14 | |
| At the beginning of this Gospel, | 24:19 | |
| John the Baptist sees Jesus and exclaims to his disciples, | 24:21 | |
| "Behold! | 24:26 | |
| "The lamb of God!" | 24:28 | |
| The disciples pursue Jesus, and He turns and faces them. | 24:31 | |
| In their eyes, He sees their longing. | 24:37 | |
| He can tell that they do not even understand the extent | 24:41 | |
| of their hunger. | 24:46 | |
| The Bread of life looks at them and asks, | 24:49 | |
| "What do you seek?" | 24:56 | |
| These disciples do not really seek Jesus. | 25:01 | |
| These disciples will desire an army leading messiah. | 25:06 | |
| These disciples will argue over heavenly seats of honor. | 25:12 | |
| These disciples will not understand most of what | 25:17 | |
| their master will say. | 25:21 | |
| In short, these disciples will be | 25:24 | |
| like you and like me. | 25:28 | |
| Yet one fateful moment, | 25:33 | |
| they will recognize their hunger | 25:37 | |
| and their hunger's purpose. | 25:42 | |
| And at that moment, the truth shall set them free. | 25:46 | |
| Do not labor for the food which perishes, | 25:56 | |
| but for the food which endures to eternal life. | 26:01 | |
| "And what are the works of God?" the people ask. | 26:06 | |
| The answer comes back laid before us like a banquet. | 26:11 | |
| Jesus says, "This is the work of God | 26:18 | |
| "that you simply believe in me. | 26:23 | |
| "That you simply believe in me." | 26:29 | |
| (solemn organ music) | 26:42 |