Jacobsen, David Schnasa

English

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 25Issue 2 The Arts and the Church Article 811-1-1999Come as You AreDavid Schnasa JacobsenFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Sermons is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationJacobsen, David Schnasa (1999) "Come as You Are," Consensus: Vol. 25 : Iss. 2 , Article 8.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol25/iss2/8Come as You AreDavid Schnasa Jacobsen/\ssistant Professor of HomileticsWaterloo Lutheran Seminary, Waterloo, OntarioText: Galatians 6:11-16 (C - Pentecost 5)Who was it? Who told you that you weren’t good enough?Who was it who convinced you that you just didn’t meas-ure up? It seems like everybody’s had one: some personwho brought out the worst in you because they expected the worst. Forsome people, it’s their parents; for others perhaps a teacher; for many,unfortunately, a pastor. Let’s admit the truth. Someone somewhereonce told you at a vulnerable time that you didn’t measure up and some-how it stuck. Well, that’s the kind of situation the Apostle Paul mustaddress with the Galatians, too. Some other preachers have told themthat they must be circumcised. Though they already enjoyed the Spirit’spresence in their midst, the Galatians heard that they needed to do more.They now had another hoop to jump, another hurdle to get over. Paulhad to speak a word to a people who were convinced that they weren’tgood enough.Naturally, we understand. We live in a world that wants us to meas-ure up. The world wants us to meet its expectations. All you have to dois listen to the world tell you who you are. Try scanning your TV sometime. Surf the channels on your set and you’ll find out what our worldwants you to be. On one channel there’s a shampoo commercial. They’lltell you how your hair is too oily or too dry or too lifeless right now. Butbuy their shampoo and you’ll be posing for the cameras wherever yougo. Now change the channel and what do you see? An ad for a top-of-the-line import luxury automobile. You may be a nobody in your GMcompact right now, but just imagine yourself at the wheel of a high per-90 Consensusfornnance car, with a wood-grain dashboard in front of you and real leatherseats beneath you. Just think of the power and prestige you’ll project!Now surf the airways with your remote control one last time. There onyour TV is a spot for deodorant. Perhaps you ought not be proud abouthow you smell right now, but use this product, and you can be sure andconfident in public.Do you get the picture? The world’s job is to raise the bar higher andhigher. It depends on you feeling inadequate to such a degree that you’llbuy what the man is selling you on the cathode ray tube. Yet this con-stant multi-media badgering is not some blip on the screen. Every timeyou buy something, you put more money in the coffers of the very peo-ple who turn around and spend your cash on increasingly guilt-inducingadvertising ploys. They have an interest in getting you to raise the bot-tom line on what is beauty or power or money - and when they do,they’ve got you. The next thing you know you find yourself singing theiradvertising mantras to yourself. “If we just buy the right product, pur-chase the right thing, we will be right by everybody else.” The worldwould compel us to live by its standards. This world tells us: measureup!So how do we as the church respond? For the most part, by gettingright with the world. We Christians try to justify ourselves in the eyes ofthose around us. We church people have bought the world’s pitch. Everseen those glossy fashion magazines with their pouty models to show uswhat to look like? We also have glossy church catalogs to help us gussyup our churches. Just flip through the pages of the latest AugsburgFortress catalog. On one page is a bevy of gorgeous new choir robes;on the next a display of gleaming brass sanctuary paraphernalia, on athird a state-of-the art church marquee. The message is clear. We’llgladly buy into what the world is telling us about ourselves - and pay forpostage and handling too. Yet underlying these glossy pages is a star-tling presumption: that we are inadequate as we are. In this way even wein the church fall prey to justifying ourselves according to the worldlystandards of consumerism or fashion or beauty.What drives our self-justifying compulsion? Our misplaced beliefthat if only we did something more, we could succeed. You know, “Ifonly we could make the customer happy, then we could grow a biggermembership roll... If only we could make the right stewardship pitch, ourbudgets would balance by the Annual Meeting... If only we could projectCome As You Are 91the right image to the public, then we could beat the competition downthe street.” Of course, the true problem is not any of these issues. Thereal problem is how we measure success. With our definitions of suc-cess we have already bought into the world’s inadequacy game. Whatwill it be? The number of customers served in our pews (a la McDonalds)our ecclesiastical balance sheet (like big business), or sheer magnitudeof church property (like some real estate cartel). Yet here’s the sad truth.No matter which of these criteria for success we choose, the battle’salready lost. We’re playing a game that we cannot win. We’re trying tojustify ourselves in the eyes of the world around us.But listen up: all those worldly standards fall at the feet of Christcrucified. There are no grounds for self-justification beneath the cross.Do you remember the movie Gandhi? The film is about the non-violentrevolution against the British in the 1940s, led by a slight, simply dressedman. There’s a scene in the movie where Gandhi leads a group of hispeople to a British salt factory. Gandhi is trying to reclaim his land fromthe occupying force by non-violently demonstrating that every bit of land,every resource in India, belongs to its people. As a way of showing thisGandhi has column after column of his non-violent resisters approachthe entrance to the factory. As each column meekly approaches theentrance, the British soldiers savagely beat Gandhi’s defenseless cohorts.Yet Gandhi’s followers do not give up. By the hundreds, by the thou-sands they all stand in line to take their turn at approaching the gate.Then, as we watch Gandhi’s followers take a beating, the camera pullsback to reveal a Western newspaperman also witnessing the event. We! see this reporter talking on the phone with his newspaper back home.; After he describes the bloody scene at the factory gate for the newspaperarticle, he pauses and adds, “Any claim to moral superiority that theWest has ever had has been lost today.”Well if this can be said of a non-violent uprising at a salt factory inIIndia, how much more we can say about the impact of Jesus on theIcross. At the cross no human measures, no worldly standards can pos-;sibly stand. We remember the sordid picture. First there’s the standardsof the religious authorities. “Crucify him,” the religious leaders chant,iThen there’s “the customer is always right” mentality of the masses.I“Crucify him,” the crowd jeers before Pilate. Finally there are the stand-jards of the law and order community. What does the Roman military' do? They crucify him. To be sure, for three long days their judgment92 Consensusstood. For three days in the tomb their standards seemed to hold firm.That is, until the stone was rolled away. For Jesus, whom the standardsof the religious leaders, the crowds and security forces, put to death -this Jesus is risen. Now their standards are null and void. At the crossthey were shown to be what they truly are.So line them all up: Bay Street, Madison Avenue, Paris and Milan.Thanks to the cross of Christ all these worldly standards have been emp-tied of their power. They no longer have to hold sway over us. Flow didthe apostle put it? “The world has been crucified to me,” Paul exclaims,“the world has been crucified to me...and 1 to the world.” Imagine that.Worldly standards need no longer apply. With Christ crucified there areno longer grounds for justifying ourselves.Of course, that’s good news! That means Christ justifies us now.Christ sets us right with God already. Perhaps that is why we start mostSunday services by pronouncing forgiveness. Before we even start topraise God in hymns and prayers, we receive a flat-out word of God’smercy. What better reminder of our justified status before God! Beforewe even get a chance to earn our way into God’s good graces with theflattery of praise, we hear God’s forgiveness first off. How do the wordsof pardon go? “In the mercy of Almighty God, Jesus Christ was given todie for you, and for his sake God forgives you all your sins.” We might aswell check our self-justifying pride at the door and hang them up on thecoat racks outside like so many hats and jackets. Before we even reallystart to worship, God is already forgiving us. Who needs self-justifica-tion? We have grace! Through Christ we are justified before we evenknow it! It’s as if we found ourselves suddenly invited to the world’s bestparty. Imagine receiving an urgent invitation to take part in a real cosmicblowout, RSVP ASAP No wonder the invite is urgent - this splendidbanquet is already prepared: fresh-baked bread and the finest wine. Sowhat do we do - hot invitation in hand? Why, we scamper about, put onour finest suit, scurry off to the hairdresser to get our look just right, andbuy some flowers as a gift for the host. Then we rush off to the banquet.What with so much to do, we’re already late. When we finally arrive we’rethe only ones outside - the host stands at the door. Looking in thebanquet hall we’re surprised to see row upon row of tables with peoplealready feasting - people with ragged clothes, unkempt hair and emptyhands. Then the host looks at us...and with arms extended in welcome- says, “Aww, join in the party anyway. But didn’t you notice your ban-Come As You Are 93quet invitation said ‘come as you are?” Then in the joy of the moment,a smile spreads across our faces. All our attempts to insinuate ourselvesinto the good graces of the Host were for naught. We got mercy beforewe knew it. In the Host’s eyes we were already accepted. How did thegreat theologian Paul Tillich put it? “Although you are unacceptable,”Tillich says, “you are accepted."' There’s no need to prove ourselves inGod’s eyes. In Christ we already stand justified.So, who told you that you didn’t measure up? It wasn’t God. Godcalls you justified in Christ. God sees you as new creation material. Solet’s give up our world’s self-justifying madness. Then in that letting gowe can also let God make of us something new.

Come as You Are

Scholars Commons

Consensus
Volume 25
Issue 2 The Arts and the Church Article 8
11-1-1999
Come as You Are
David Schnasa Jacobsen
Follow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus
This Sermons is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by an
authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.
Recommended Citation
Jacobsen, David Schnasa (1999) "Come as You Are," Consensus: Vol. 25 : Iss. 2 , Article 8.
Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol25/iss2/8
Come as You Are
David Schnasa Jacobsen
/\ssistant Professor of Homiletics
Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Waterloo, Ontario
Text: Galatians 6:11-16 (C - Pentecost 5)
Who was it? Who told you that you weren’t good enough?Who was it who convinced you that you just didn’t meas-ure up? It seems like everybody’s had one: some person
who brought out the worst in you because they expected the worst. For
some people, it’s their parents; for others perhaps a teacher; for many,
unfortunately, a pastor. Let’s admit the truth. Someone somewhere
once told you at a vulnerable time that you didn’t measure up and some-
how it stuck. Well, that’s the kind of situation the Apostle Paul must
address with the Galatians, too. Some other preachers have told them
that they must be circumcised. Though they already enjoyed the Spirit’s
presence in their midst, the Galatians heard that they needed to do more.
They now had another hoop to jump, another hurdle to get over. Paul
had to speak a word to a people who were convinced that they weren’t
good enough.
Naturally, we understand. We live in a world that wants us to meas-
ure up. The world wants us to meet its expectations. All you have to do
is listen to the world tell you who you are. Try scanning your TV some
time. Surf the channels on your set and you’ll find out what our world
wants you to be. On one channel there’s a shampoo commercial. They’ll
tell you how your hair is too oily or too dry or too lifeless right now. But
buy their shampoo and you’ll be posing for the cameras wherever you
go. Now change the channel and what do you see? An ad for a top-of-
the-line import luxury automobile. You may be a nobody in your GM
compact right now, but just imagine yourself at the wheel of a high per-
90 Consensus
fornnance car, with a wood-grain dashboard in front of you and real leather
seats beneath you. Just think of the power and prestige you’ll project!
Now surf the airways with your remote control one last time. There on
your TV is a spot for deodorant. Perhaps you ought not be proud about
how you smell right now, but use this product, and you can be sure and
confident in public.
Do you get the picture? The world’s job is to raise the bar higher and
higher. It depends on you feeling inadequate to such a degree that you’ll
buy what the man is selling you on the cathode ray tube. Yet this con-
stant multi-media badgering is not some blip on the screen. Every time
you buy something, you put more money in the coffers of the very peo-
ple who turn around and spend your cash on increasingly guilt-inducing
advertising ploys. They have an interest in getting you to raise the bot-
tom line on what is beauty or power or money - and when they do,
they’ve got you. The next thing you know you find yourself singing their
advertising mantras to yourself. “If we just buy the right product, pur-
chase the right thing, we will be right by everybody else.” The world
would compel us to live by its standards. This world tells us: measure
up!
So how do we as the church respond? For the most part, by getting
right with the world. We Christians try to justify ourselves in the eyes of
those around us. We church people have bought the world’s pitch. Ever
seen those glossy fashion magazines with their pouty models to show us
what to look like? We also have glossy church catalogs to help us gussy
up our churches. Just flip through the pages of the latest Augsburg
Fortress catalog. On one page is a bevy of gorgeous new choir robes;
on the next a display of gleaming brass sanctuary paraphernalia, on a
third a state-of-the art church marquee. The message is clear. We’ll
gladly buy into what the world is telling us about ourselves - and pay for
postage and handling too. Yet underlying these glossy pages is a star-
tling presumption: that we are inadequate as we are. In this way even we
in the church fall prey to justifying ourselves according to the worldly
standards of consumerism or fashion or beauty.
What drives our self-justifying compulsion? Our misplaced belief
that if only we did something more, we could succeed. You know, “If
only we could make the customer happy, then we could grow a bigger
membership roll... If only we could make the right stewardship pitch, our
budgets would balance by the Annual Meeting... If only we could project
Come As You Are 91
the right image to the public, then we could beat the competition down
the street.” Of course, the true problem is not any of these issues. The
real problem is how we measure success. With our definitions of suc-
cess we have already bought into the world’s inadequacy game. What
will it be? The number of customers served in our pews (a la McDonalds)
our ecclesiastical balance sheet (like big business), or sheer magnitude
of church property (like some real estate cartel). Yet here’s the sad truth.
No matter which of these criteria for success we choose, the battle’s
already lost. We’re playing a game that we cannot win. We’re trying to
justify ourselves in the eyes of the world around us.
But listen up: all those worldly standards fall at the feet of Christ
crucified. There are no grounds for self-justification beneath the cross.
Do you remember the movie Gandhi? The film is about the non-violent
revolution against the British in the 1940s, led by a slight, simply dressed
man. There’s a scene in the movie where Gandhi leads a group of his
people to a British salt factory. Gandhi is trying to reclaim his land from
the occupying force by non-violently demonstrating that every bit of land,
every resource in India, belongs to its people. As a way of showing this
Gandhi has column after column of his non-violent resisters approach
the entrance to the factory. As each column meekly approaches the
entrance, the British soldiers savagely beat Gandhi’s defenseless cohorts.
Yet Gandhi’s followers do not give up. By the hundreds, by the thou-
sands they all stand in line to take their turn at approaching the gate.
Then, as we watch Gandhi’s followers take a beating, the camera pulls
back to reveal a Western newspaperman also witnessing the event. We
! see this reporter talking on the phone with his newspaper back home.
; After he describes the bloody scene at the factory gate for the newspaper
article, he pauses and adds, “Any claim to moral superiority that the
West has ever had has been lost today.”
Well if this can be said of a non-violent uprising at a salt factory in
I
India, how much more we can say about the impact of Jesus on the
I
cross. At the cross no human measures, no worldly standards can pos-
;
sibly stand. We remember the sordid picture. First there’s the standards
of the religious authorities. “Crucify him,” the religious leaders chant,
i
Then there’s “the customer is always right” mentality of the masses.
I
“Crucify him,” the crowd jeers before Pilate. Finally there are the stand-
j
ards of the law and order community. What does the Roman military
' do? They crucify him. To be sure, for three long days their judgment
92 Consensus
stood. For three days in the tomb their standards seemed to hold firm.
That is, until the stone was rolled away. For Jesus, whom the standards
of the religious leaders, the crowds and security forces, put to death -
this Jesus is risen. Now their standards are null and void. At the cross
they were shown to be what they truly are.
So line them all up: Bay Street, Madison Avenue, Paris and Milan.
Thanks to the cross of Christ all these worldly standards have been emp-
tied of their power. They no longer have to hold sway over us. Flow did
the apostle put it? “The world has been crucified to me,” Paul exclaims,
“the world has been crucified to me...and 1 to the world.” Imagine that.
Worldly standards need no longer apply. With Christ crucified there are
no longer grounds for justifying ourselves.
Of course, that’s good news! That means Christ justifies us now.
Christ sets us right with God already. Perhaps that is why we start most
Sunday services by pronouncing forgiveness. Before we even start to
praise God in hymns and prayers, we receive a flat-out word of God’s
mercy. What better reminder of our justified status before God! Before
we even get a chance to earn our way into God’s good graces with the
flattery of praise, we hear God’s forgiveness first off. How do the words
of pardon go? “In the mercy of Almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to
die for you, and for his sake God forgives you all your sins.” We might as
well check our self-justifying pride at the door and hang them up on the
coat racks outside like so many hats and jackets. Before we even really
start to worship, God is already forgiving us. Who needs self-justifica-
tion? We have grace! Through Christ we are justified before we even
know it! It’s as if we found ourselves suddenly invited to the world’s best
party. Imagine receiving an urgent invitation to take part in a real cosmic
blowout, RSVP ASAP No wonder the invite is urgent - this splendid
banquet is already prepared: fresh-baked bread and the finest wine. So
what do we do - hot invitation in hand? Why, we scamper about, put on
our finest suit, scurry off to the hairdresser to get our look just right, and
buy some flowers as a gift for the host. Then we rush off to the banquet.
What with so much to do, we’re already late. When we finally arrive we’re
the only ones outside - the host stands at the door. Looking in the
banquet hall we’re surprised to see row upon row of tables with people
already feasting - people with ragged clothes, unkempt hair and empty
hands. Then the host looks at us...and with arms extended in welcome
- says, “Aww, join in the party anyway. But didn’t you notice your ban-
Come As You Are 93
quet invitation said ‘come as you are?” Then in the joy of the moment,
a smile spreads across our faces. All our attempts to insinuate ourselves
into the good graces of the Host were for naught. We got mercy before
we knew it. In the Host’s eyes we were already accepted. How did the
great theologian Paul Tillich put it? “Although you are unacceptable,”
Tillich says, “you are accepted."' There’s no need to prove ourselves in
God’s eyes. In Christ we already stand justified.
So, who told you that you didn’t measure up? It wasn’t God. God
calls you justified in Christ. God sees you as new creation material. So
let’s give up our world’s self-justifying madness. Then in that letting go
we can also let God make of us something new.


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