Lessons on Humility: Reflections from Palm Sunday

Today was Palm Sunday.  I had the opportunity to preach at Believer's Baptist Fellowship in Hendersonville, TN.  During the service, the congregation read together the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and everyone waving palm branches and laying their coats on the road in front of Jesus shouting Hosannah to the one who comes in the name of the Lord.  This story reminded me of Martin Luther’s use of the concept of “Right-handed” and“Left-handed” Power.  In this context, right-handed power is power that is derived from might and force. It is a power built on hierarchies, manipulation and military might. Left-handed power, the power that Jesus demonstrates again and again, is a power that subverts the hierarchies, uses the power of self-control, and challenges the traditional order.

A military leader, driven by “right-handed power”, would have ridden into Jerusalem on a powerful white stallion. He would display his military might with a show of troops and weapons.  He would demonstrate his power and domination by parading conquered people through the streets as defeated slaves.  There would be no doubt about the authority of such a leader, but such a person would lead by power, might, and coercion.

On Palm Sunday, we recall Jesus, who comes riding on into Jerusalem, not on a stallion, but on a lowly donkey.  There are no weapons.  There are no defeated slaves.  Jesus’ presentation is the opposite of what might have been expected in his day, but Jesus is welcomed as one who is great.  Did all of the people there understand who Jesus was and what kind of leader he was?  Obviously not.  Not even his inner circle of 12 fully understood that, but there was something about this man that drew people to him. Jesus is once again demonstrating His power through humility, and it is on this idea that I would like to offer reflection. 

The New Testament lectionary reading for today was Philippians 2: 5-11.  However, I would like to expand that to include vss. 1-4, because these verses have often been misunderstood and misused in a way that ultimately hurts people and waters down what I believe is the intended message.  I am reading this passage from the NRSV this morning, but if you are reading from another version, you will see that there is some diversity in the interpretation of some of the words that make a difference in how we understand this passage.

Philippians 2:1-11

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was[a] in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him     and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus     every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Paul’s encouragement here is perhaps not what it seems on the surface.  I know in my own life and in the lives of others that I have met, that these verses and others like them have often been interpreted and used in such a way that led people to deny their own giftedness and neglect their own needs. Living this passage out in this way, people wind up feeling inadequate and depleted.  People who have attempted to live self-sacrificially in this way, soon find themselves at the point of burnout and resentment.  This can lead to depression, anger, and disappointment. 

Instead of finding unity in purpose, churches (and other groups) have pushed for uniformity - uniformity of thought, beliefs, and ideas.  This push for uniformity drives those with different ideas to the margins and excludes others.  It creates groups that lack diversity and fuels societal power structures.  I seriously doubt that this is what Paul is intending in these passages and I do not believe this is the example of Jesus portrayed here and throughout scripture.  So, let us examine these verses to try to better understand. 

Verse one may not appear as such, but in a way, it is a challenge to us.  There is an implied question, “Does knowing Christ make a difference?”  Does the love of Christ transform us?  Do we find any comfort or sympathy through our faith in Christ?  Paul goes on to say, “If this truly makes a difference, then it should show in the way you interact with others.” 

These next few verses, to me, are the most difficult to understand; “be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”

As we have tried to live this out, many of us have believed that harmony is the highest virtue.  We have set aside our own thoughts and feelings in order to get along. We have tried to “play nice” and avoid disagreements or arguments.  We have tried not to think too highly of ourselves and to always let other people get their way.  We have believed that is not ok to say what we want or what we like.  We have attempted to defer to others and to only think about what is best for them, but not think about what is best for us.  The result of this way of trying to live out this passage, results in all the things I mentioned above – burnout, resentment, depression, anger, and disappointment.  How can we live to the fullness of what we were created to be if we keep denying our gifts, abilities and interests in order for others to succeed? 

In our churches, we have gravitated towards being with people who look like us, believe like us, and live like us.  We have divided the body of Christ because we cannot figure out how to live in harmony and because we cannot accomplish what we think it might mean to be of “one mind”.  We have made this about uniformity rather than unity. 

Paul’s encouragements in verses 1-4 are often taken out of their full context of the verses that follow. Paul suggests that we look to the example of Jesus as the guide for what this Should look like, and this may help us to better understand these verses.  Paul is pointing out that while we call Jesus the son of God, Jesus is part of God’s being and has existed with God and is, himself, God.  However, in order to demonstrate God’s love for us and in order to provide us an example of what is important to God, Jesus comes to live among us as one of us.  Paul points out that Jesus is fully God, but Jesus divested himself of his divine place, his divine privilege and his divine prerogatives.  He does not deny his own identity but chooses to not benefit from it in order to encourage and empower others. This is Jesus’ humility.  As I look at this, I see there are some major ideas that might be helpful to us as we learn to live this out for ourselves.  I am not presenting these in order of importance.  It is just a list. 

Humility does not mean denying your gifts and abilities.  Humility is not about losing your identity.  It is about working to be all that you can be and encouraging others to be all that they can be.  It is about recognizing the support and contributions that others make to our success.  It is having the awareness that as much as some might like to believe it, there is no such thing as a “self-made” man or woman.  We were created for connection, we live in community, and the humble person accepts the contribution of others to his or her success with gratitude and is willing to make some sacrifices to help others succeed as well. 

In a similar vein, humility does not see success as a zero-sum game.  A “zero-sum game” is one in which in order for someone to succeed, someone has to lose.  This idea breeds competition and envy.  It assumes that if another is doing well, I have lost my opportunity to also do well.  Our culture pushes us to be the best.  Our culture values doing and values material wealth as a measure of success.  We are pushed to look good on the outside, whether we are healthy on the inside or not.  Humility would be able to admit when we need help.  It acknowledges that we are not self-sufficient, and we need others in our lives.  It means I have gifts and abilities that I can use to contribute to the community, but you also have gifts and abilities for the community.  I do not lose anything if you are successful and it should not diminish you, if I am successful.  If it does, we are probably doing it wrong. 

Conceit might be defined as thinking too highly of ourselves and Paul warns against this, but there is such a thing as healthy self-esteem, and this is not what we are warned against. Healthy self-esteem accurately evaluates our own abilities.  We should know what we are good at, and we should know the places that we struggle.  We should be able to be honest with ourselves and others about both of those things. Paul’s encouragement does not prevent us from knowing our gifts and abilities and his encouragement is not to neglect our own needs.  One of the places that you see a difference between translations of this verse is at this point.  The difference in translations indicated the fact that when Paul says let each person look not to their own interest, this might be better rendered as “let each person not look only at their own interests.  Some of your translations of this passage say it exactly this way.  The assumption is that we will look at our own interests and that is not a problem.  What becomes a problem is when we look ONLY at our own interests and do not consider the needs of others or how our actions affect others.  This indeed, is a lack of compassion and sympathy for others.  

Many of us might be able to point to various industries or companies that are notorious for minding their own bottom line at the expense of others.  I have seen stories on the trucking industry, the owners of Trailer parks, Amazon warehouses, payday lenders, and fossil-fuel powered power plants – just to name a few of such businesses in which the way the business is run, adversely affects the employees, the consumer, or the environment in the interest of making more money for the owners or the shareholders.

Focusing more on our own interest also occurs at a personal level.  We see it when a person only looks to what they are getting out of a relationship or looks at other people as a way to get that they want.  When other people are reduced to what we can get from them, we do damage to them, but we also hurt ourselves.  It is ok for us to have our own wishes, dreams, desires, likes, and ambitions, but we cannot act on these without considering the implications for others.  In some cases, this might mean we sacrifice something of our own for another’s benefit, but in other cases, it might be working collaboratively with others to reduce the negative impact of our plans on someone else. 

Another way that I think about this is about how we relate to people who might be lower in rank than we are.  How do we treat children, servers, people who make less money that we do, people who are different than us, or people who cannot “do” anything for us?  Do we see the inherent value in the person as a child of God who is also created for community, or do we measure the other’s value by what they do or what they can do for us?  Jesus made time for children.  He made time for those who were shunned and rejected.  He offered great love to those seen as bad or useless.  This is what humility looks like – not thinking about ourselves as so important as to not take time to know the humanity of another. 

 So, if we revisit those first four verses of Philippians 2, I might paraphrase them this way:

If your faith makes a difference.  If you believe that that the love of God transforms lives.  If you believe we are called to offer compassion and sympathy to those who are hurting and those who struggle, then let this be true in your community of faith.  Strive to prioritize this love and compassion in every aspect of your life.  You don’t have to agree on everything, but make sure you are prioritizing compassion in everything.  Make sure you are valuing people and relationship over material goods or earthly measures of importance.  Let the love of Christ and the example of Christ be the singular focus in our life.  Community only functions when every person develops his or her gifts to the fullest and so encourage others to be the best that they can be.  When you are thinking about how you live your own life and what you want, don’t just think about your own needs, but also consider how your decisions will affect others.  Live in a relationship where you encourage one another, where you support one another; rejoice with those that rejoice and cry with those who cry.  Be willing to sacrifice your own privileged position to help someone who may not have equal opportunity.  Do your best to live and love as Jesus did so that He may be exalted in your actions.  Amen.

 

 

 

Tempted to Inauthentic Living

The following sermon was preached at Believer's Baptist Fellowship in Hendersonville, Tennessee on March 6, 2022.  An audio of this sermon is available on Soundcloud. Click HERE to listen. The Gospel reading of the day was Luke 4:1-13. 

 If you are comfortable, close your eyes.  I want you to completely clear your mind.  I don't want you to think about anything, especially pink elephants with purple polka dots.  Whatever you do, do not think about pink elephants with purple polka dots.  Now open your eyes.  What were you thinking about?  

Too many times, we tend to think of temptation in this way.  We think about the things we don’t want to do or the feelings we don’t want to feel, and we try real hard to not think about them, but our efforts only reinforce their presence and power in our lives.  This passage today may give us a different way to think about this. 

As we look at this passage, we need to take note of the context. Jesus has just been baptized by John the Baptizer in the Jordan river.  Now, Mark’s gospel tells us that the spirit sent Jesus into the wilderness to be tested.  It is harsh and does not include much information.  Luke tells us much more and Luke says that the spirit led Jesus in the wilderness or into the wilderness, and while he was there, he was tempted (the same word could also mean tested.)  Luke says that Jesus was “full of the spirit”, which has led some others to speculate that a lesson for us might be that coming from such a profound spiritual experience and feeling “full of the spirit” is just when we often experience hardship, struggle, or temptation.  I can definitely see that interpretation.  I feel like I have experienced that before, coming from a profound religious experience at a retreat or such only to go right back to find some significant challenge in my life. However, I have a different reflection on this today. 

Jesus has not yet begun his public ministry.  He has submitted to being baptized by John as a possible movement towards a new phase of his life and ministry.  Feeling full of the spirit, a contemplative Jesus feels led into the wilderness for a time of intentional reflection.  He goes to a place of solitude and for 40 days he fasts, prays, and reflects.  The literal time in the wilderness may have been shorter or longer than 40 days.  In a parallel experience, in I Kings, the Prophet, Elijah, also goes into the wilderness for 40 days.  This “40 days” is like us saying, “I haven’t seen you in a month of Sundays”.  Do we literally mean a period of time that encompasses a month’s worth of Sundays, or do we simply mean a long time?  Forty days was a long time. We know it was a long time because when Jesus had reached the end of this time of fasting, he was famished.  No duh, right?  Last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday and that marks the beginning of Lent.  In this time many Christians choose to give up something in order to help them focus on Christ in the time of preparation leading to Easter.  I don’t know anyone personally who decides to give up food for lent.  I am sure someone has, but that would be huge sacrifice for most people!  After not eating for that period of time, I am sure you would feel beyond hungry.  And that is when Luke says that Jesus was tempted. 

In the 12-step programs, they sometimes use the acrostic H.A.L.T. or HALT, that stands for “Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired”.  These 4 states or feelings are things that can be risk factors for those in recovery to be tempted to relapse.  They are also states of being that can lead us to be tempted to be less than our best self.  This is why it has become so cliché to talk about self-care, but literally tending to your feelings, taking care of your basic needs like good food, adequate food and sleep is so important. 

Jesus was potentially lonely and tired, but we know that he was hungry, and it is at this point Luke says that Jesus was tempted.  The first temptation is to turn stone into bread.  And would that have really been so bad?  I mean we just talked about the importance of taking care of your basic needs.  So, what is the difficulty here? Many have offered various ideas and reflections.  Is Jesus being tempted into selfishness, a misuse of power, or some other use of power for the wrong reason?

I read this in a possibly different way.  I think about that HALT acrostic in AA and the possible triggers for relapse.  These states and emotions are things that can lead people to make poor decisions.  Lower their resistance.  Lose sight of their goals.  It is possible that Jesus is tempted to focus on his current state of hunger and say, “forget it, I want to eat” and lose sight of his larger goals.  His response communicates to me that we should not live only be our emotions, drives, or reactions to those around us who can provoke us. We are to be motivated and driven by the words of God – the fullness of the spirit that dwells in us and the teachings of scripture for us – these need to be our guides, not whatever way the emotional wind is blowing today or not how those around us are behaving today.  Keeping an internal compass of who we want to be and what we want our lives to be about can be challenging in those times when we are tempted to react solely on our emotions.  When we are only governed by human drives and desires for revenge or other immediate gratification, this can lead us to alienation from others, disconnection from ourselves and God, feelings of hopelessness, and depression.  Jesus demonstrates that he is grounded in his internal compass and refuses to act only on his immediate feelings or drives. 

 The second temptation is to worship Satan in exchange for earthly power.  I think some people might struggle with the idea of Satan or the devil.  This is perhaps fueled by characterizations of the devil as a little guy with horns and pitchfork.  Those images can be cute, but most people understand that when we talk about the devil, we are talking about the distortion of the truth, deception, and temptation to be our worst self.  We never talk about being tempted to live a healthy life, with healthy emotions, and a strong spiritual life.  In fact, when we talk about the devil or Satan, it is always in direct contrast to that which is good, healthy, or godly.  So, when Satan says that he has the power to give to Jesus land, power and riches, it should seem absurd to us.  It would also be just as absurd if another person told us that they could give us everything. 

 For the original audience of Luke’s gospel, the people were regularly confronted with demands to worship the Ceasars as gods.  There were temples and worship of Ceasar and there were horrific punishments given for those that did not participate.  If someone wanted to be able to conduct business and move freely in that society, they would need to participate fully in the Roman culture.  The temptation that Jesus experiences is reminiscent of that experience.  Similar to the first temptation, this seems to be a temptation to lose sight of our true call and our true nature and focus on earthly wealth and power. 

There are several versions of the story of Faust, but each contains a story of a man who makes a deal with the devil for success of one kind of another, in exchange for his own soul.  It is a story of the man’s loss of his true nature for that which is less than ultimate concern.  That deal with the devil is rarely so blatant.  Al Pacino’s movie, “The Devil’s Advocate” was one of the best representations of how this deal usually might go.  In this movie, the devil is present in the life of a young lawyer and his wife.  He does not confront the young man directly but plays on his own fears and goals and distorts reality enough to make the wrong decision seem acceptable and the young lawyer gives up a little moral ground at a time as his life spirals out of control.  That is more how the Faustian deal happens, not with a conscious decision and signature in blood, but in minor distortions and deviations.  We rarely make a dramatic shift to place a distorted idol at the heart of our lives, but slowly drift to that point.  Pastoral theologian, Merle Jordan, writes: “Idols tend to clothe persons in ill-fitting suits.  But God does not impose an agenda onto another’s life, but lovingly invites and calls for the unique agenda within the heart of each person.  The worship of idols leads to the formation of a false self; the love of God invites the true self into abundant life. Because Jesus is full of the spirit, he is able to recognize the absurdity of Satan’s offer, he again quotes scripture to deflect the temptation, holds to his authentic self. 

 The final of these three temptations is to make a grand showing of his power.  Jesus is tempted to throw himself off of the temple and have God demonstrate power by keeping Jesus from hitting the ground.  This would have perhaps been a sin of pride in the form of a big showy gesture that would have indeed shown Jesus’s power and identity, but Jesus again and again refuses such big demonstrations of power in order to gain followers. 

 Theologian, Martin Luther, makes the distinction between “left-handed power” and “right-handed power”. In this context right-handed power is power that is derived from might and force. It is a power built on hierarchies and military might.  It is majority rule and military strength in numbers.  It is built on bullying and intimidation.  It is easy to see such power in things like a Russian invasion of Ukraine, but it is also in other forms of coercion and control that seeks to divide people, elevating one group while hurting another. 

 Into this kind of world, Jesus was born as an infant in a stable.  There is nothing more vulnerable than a baby.  It depends on others for everything and has no defense against harm.  From the beginning, Jesus’s life reflects Luther’s “left-handed power”. Jesus resists the big shows of power.  He deals with others with love and humility and teaches his followers to do the same.  In a world where a soldier could force a citizen to carry his pack a mile (right-handed power), Jesus says, show love and carry it an extra mile.  In a world where we are to love our neighbor and hate our enemy, Jesus says, “no, love your enemy and pray for them”.  The way of Jesus is not easy, it is hard, but what Jesus shows us in his own temptations, is that with the power of God, it is not impossible. 

As I see it, when we take all of Jesus’ temptations together, the temptations are about acting impulsively, focusing on power and influence, and drawing attention to oneself.  In each temptation, there is an element of truth, but a distortion – a lie.  A person who lived their life driven by emotions and impulses, who is more focused on gaining power and being right, and who is more focused on maintaining an image, would be dramatic, shallow, and self-centered.  They would be more invested in looking good or appearing right, than actually doing the internal and spiritual work that is required to live a grounded and authentic life. 

It is my belief that Jesus spent time after his baptism and before beginning his earthly ministry to look inside.  He spent intentional time alone and in introspection. He wrestled with various ideas about how to live and what he wanted his life to be about. In each instance, he came back to what he had chosen as the grounding of his life.  He had his internal compass set.  He had grounded himself in scripture and the love of God.  He would later teach his disciples the same and would give them the same fullness of the spirit to be their guide. 

 Too often, we reduce temptations to the pink elephant issues that we just try to avoid and we waste our energy fighting what we don’t want.  The example of Jesus is different.  Jesus acknowledged the temptation but made a conscious decision to focus his energy elsewhere.  For us, we may need to come to grips with some of the ways we have gotten off track.  We may need to do the introspection to better understand ourselves.  We may need to be honest with ourselves about what our temptations might be.  We may need to look at where we are seeking a more “right-handed approach” to life and relationships.  Being honest about our feelings, whatever they are and being honest about what tempts us, whatever it is, is the first step to overcoming those things.  We do not do that by trying to ignore them or fighting them.  We do that by working on the things that nurture our internal compass.  We do that by focusing on health and wholeness.  Often, we find that in our quiet moments with God, the teachings in scripture, and the example of Jesus. 

 As you go into the wilderness of your life, may you have the eyes to avoid deception and distortion, the internal wisdom to choose your response and action rather than reacting, and the courage and patience to choose the path of wholeness and healing.    Amen. 

 

 

Outrageous Nonsense: A Sermon on James 2:1-17

Preached at Eno & Oak Grove United Methodist Churches

(For a recording of this sermon, Click Here)

Dickson, Tennessee

September 9, 2018

James 2:1-17 (NRSV)

My brothers and sisters,[a] do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?[b] 2 For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, 3 and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,”[c] 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters.[d] Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? 7 Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

8 You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. 11 For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters,[e] if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, he said that a person should love God with their whole being but said that the second commandment was like it in that a person should love their neighbor as they love themselves. So, just to make sure his bases were covered, a person there in the crowd asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus told him the story of the kind Samaritan that demonstrated that anyone who is in need is our neighbor (Luke 10:25). In another place, Jesus says that loving God and loving others as ourselves is the basis of all of the laws and other teachings of the Bible (Matthew 22:40). That seems to be a fairly strong statement and seems pretty clear that keeping a good relationship with God and others is of fundamental importance. However, just a few years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, James, Jesus’ brother is having to write to Christians outside of Israel to remind them that this teaching was still fundamentally important.

These two commandments that Jesus calls the most important are intimately related. Loving God with our whole being requires us to be completely open with God. We cannot love God with only part of ourselves while holding back another part. We cannot love God with our spirit, but not our body. We cannot love God with our Sundays, but not our Mondays through Saturdays as well and we cannot love God with our heart and not our time or our wallet. We must let the love of God into every part of our lives. God must be able to love and forgive the parts of us that we do not like and that we feel ashamed of and God must be able to love and use our gifts and abilities. We are to love God with our whole being. When we have loved God with our full being, then the love of God fills us to overflowing and we love those around us.

It is important to note that Jesus did not command us to love our neighbor instead of ourselves and he did not command us to love our neighbor more than ourselves, but as much and in the same way that we love ourselves, we should love our neighbor. When we think about what we want or what we need, we must also think about our brother and sister and what they need. We cannot think about taking care of ourselves without also thinking about how our lives connect with others and how our lives impact others. The command that James calls the “Royal Law” does not say that we can never do anything for ourselves, but it does help us keep from being selfish. If we only think about what we want, then we are not thinking about our neighbor. However, it is not just enough to think about our neighbor. If we are caring for ourselves, we must care for our neighbor, but we know that this way of living is not really our nature.

As a general rule, we tend to think too much of ourselves. We don’t like to wait behind other people in line. We get angry when someone cuts us off in traffic because they “obviously think they are more important than us”. We want to be sure we have enough of…well, everything and way too often we are led to believe that having more stuff or having certain things will make our lives better. This car will make you feel powerful or full of life. This kind of beverage will make you feel energized. We are told every day through our media that more is better, and we see that the more money a person has, the more power they have, and we also want to feel important.

When we look at those running for office right now and all of those painful commercials on T.V., we see that all of those candidates are millionaires. The large majority of those who are in political office right now are from the wealthiest class in our society. Since the 1970s the number of extremely wealthy people in the U.S. has gotten smaller, but their share of the wealth in our country has gotten larger. So fewer people own more and more of our nation’s wealth. In the same period of time, those that have been called the middle class has gotten smaller and those who live in poverty has increased. It literally has been true that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Based on the research for his recent book, Dr. Bruce Vaughn at Vanderbilt notes that this trend has been true since the 1970s regardless of which political party has been in power. He also notes that in same period of time, we have had an increase in the number of people dealing with depression and anxiety. If we find ourselves in that lower 99% of people, we can often look at that 1% and wish we could be more like them.

I remember the first time that I got to attend a concert at the arena downtown and got to sit in one of those private boxes. I sat with people I knew and liked. I ate the food right there in the box. I didn’t even have to go out of the box to use the restroom. We had a private one right there. I though, “Man, this is the way to go to a concert.” It was nice. If you have the money there are a lot of perks in this world. The very wealthy get the best interest rates, the best mortgage rates, and the lowest fees. If you have the money, you can pay to skip the line at the amusement parks you can get your pizza delivered before anyone else’s. If you have money, you don’t have to worry about things breaking down or healthcare emergencies, you can afford a vacation, you can eat at nice restaurants and people love to have you around because they feel powerful when they are around you and they benefit from your money. Who wouldn’t like that?

The problem is that as Christians, we are called to a different way of thinking and different priorities. The reality is that we do not know exactly who these words in the book of James were written to and we do not know exactly why they had to be written, but apparently, they had to be written… because human nature continues to challenge the nature of God.

James says that if a wealthy person comes into your church and you are tempted to show them favoritism like is shown in other places in our lives – don’t! James reminds us that the economy of the Kingdom of God is not the same as the world’s economy. The world looks at the wealthy and thinks, “What can they do for me?” and the minute we make a distinction between people for whatever reason, we have put ourselves in the place of judgement. When we decide who gets favored treatment, when we decide who is in and who is out, and we make distinctions between ourselves, we often do it for selfish reasons. We may show favoritism to one person because of what we hope to get, or we may reject another person out of fear. James reminds us, however, that in God’s economy, it is the “least of these” that are important. In God’s economy, those that are humbled and lowly will be lifted up.

James is not saying that the wealthy are not welcome in the assembly, but that the distinctions that exist outside the church body should not exist inside the church body. James does seem to suggest that at least some of those who are wealthy have used their power and influence to hurt those who do not have power. James seems to suggest that some who have great wealth have achieved it by taking advantage of those that are poor and who have less power. This seems to have been true not just in time of James’ writing, but throughout history. The fight for the poor and the powerless has been slow and change has been hard-won, if it has come at all. If the world’s economy was like God’s economy, there would have been no need for Moses to help free the Israelites from the Egyptians. There would have been no need for the protestant reformation. If the world’s economy was like God’s economy, we would not have needed the American revolution or the French revolution. We would not have needed the 13th Amendment to the constitution that abolished slavery, the 15th amendment that gave African-American men the right to vote, or the 19th amendment that gave women the right to vote. If some of the rich and powerful did not take advantage of the poor and powerless we would not need the laws that abolished child labor, the laws that established a fair wage for workers, or the fight to end segregation. James is clear on this point, if a person is made wealthy and powerful in the world’s economy by taking advantage of others and by satisfying their own selfish desires that only cares about their own wealth and their bottom line – then in God’s economy, they will be humbled. James says that God favors those who are poor and downtrodden. In God’s economy, those that are used, oppressed, and poor will be made great in faith. If the powerful are humbled and the powerless are lifted up, then in the middle there is equality. In God’s economy, all are equal, and all are welcome in the assembly and at the table of God.

James does not stop there, and it is what he writes next that has created the most controversy over this book of the Bible through history. In talking about how the Christians should not make distinctions among themselves, James certainly talks about how doing so puts us in a place of judgement. And while we might argue, that making such distinctions is not as bad as committing adultery or murdering someone. What James writes is essentially this, “if you think you are not in the wrong because you have not committed one of the ‘big sins’, you better think again.” In the law of God, if you are guilty of judging others and withholding mercy, then you are just as guilty as the adulterer or the murderer. James goes on to say:

What good is it, my brothers and sisters,[e] if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

Through the ages, there have been great debates over the meaning of this passage and others in the book of James. I am aware that these questions apparently resolved in the theology of John Wesley and the tradition of the Methodists but indulge me for a moment. The controversy of this passage has been in the question of what saves a person. Paul writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9). I do not believe that Paul and James’ perspectives are contradictory and if I know my church history, neither did John Wesley.

It is our faith in Christ that saves us. Our belief about God, the person of Jesus, His saving work on the cross, and his resurrection is what saves us. However, if that faith in Christ is genuine, then it should result in a change in our outlook, attitudes, priorities, and actions. If we truly grasp God’s love for us, then we are humbled by the gift and will desire to share it with others. We will seek out ways to live the gift of God’s love in every part of our life – that is, love God with our whole being. We are not saved by keeping the rules, but a change in how we live results from inner change that occurs through faith. Our personal economy begins to look like God’s economy.

However, there is an additional layer of truth here as well. If in our faith, we do not yet understand what it is to live out our faith. If our transforming faith has not yet transformed our whole being, James gives us some very practical instruction here. I was in a training yesterday that reminded the participants that when it comes to our clients in psychotherapy or to anyone who wants or needs to make a change, it is not enough to simply want to change. If we want to make a change in our life, we have to practice a new way of being. One way people talk about this is like this is to say that if you want to develop new habits or ways of being, you can begin to act “as if” you already have those qualities and you begin to practice those new habits until you have practiced them so much that they become part of who you are. Or as some say, “fake it till you make it”. I do not remember a lot of the Spanish that I used to know, but I did study Spanish in Spain in the summer of 1987. I lived with a family in Spain that spoke no English. I walked every day to a small language school where my teacher spoke no English. Every day was a struggle as I tried to navigate maps, buy food, communicate with my hosts. I had to think about every single word I said and formulate every sentence carefully. I would long to just have the ease of speaking my native English and at night when my roommate and I were in our room, I would love to just talk a while in English. As we would talk, our host “mama” would come by our room and say to us in Spanish, “No Ingles, Espanol solamente” (or No English, Spanish only). It was exhausting, but to learn the language we had to practice. Over the weeks I was in Spain, I began to write in my journal in a combination of English and Spanish. I began to have dreams in Spanish. I got more comfortable in carrying on basic conversations in Spanish.

James is suggesting a similar thing here in verses 16 and 17. Living with another person in mind and loving our neighbor as ourselves can feel as awkward as trying to learn a new language. Thinking of ourselves seems to be our default “language”. However, it was not enough for me in Spain to wish I could speak a new language and it is not enough to wish good for those who are poor and downtrodden. We have to practice. If we are to do what James suggests in actually providing directly to the less fortunate rather than just praying for them or wishing them well, we would have to get to know those who struggle. We would have to meet these people and get to know their names. We would have to learn their story and understand their needs. To do this, we will have to practice generosity and humility. We will have to sacrifice the comfort we have in doing what is familiar and practice what is more difficult and less natural for us. In our faith and through practice, we may find that over time the awkward actions are perfected in a transformation of our heart. And, whether our life is transformed by some faith experience or our life is transformed by our efforts to live out our faith, the bottom line is that having faith is not just an intellectual pursuit; it is something that gets down in the cells of our bodies and changes the way we think, the way we perceive others, the way think about what is important, and how we spend our time and energy.

I loved Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of this passage in The Message. I will read just a portion of this. It reads this way:

2 1-4 My dear friends, don’t let public opinion influence how you live out our glorious, Christ-originated faith. If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, and you say to the man in the suit, “Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house!” and either ignore the street person or say, “Better sit here in the back row,” haven’t you segregated God’s children and proved that you are judges who can’t be trusted?

Listen, dear friends. Isn’t it clear by now that God operates quite differently? He chose the world’s down-and-out as the kingdom’s first citizens, with full rights and privileges. This kingdom is promised to anyone who loves God. And here you are abusing these same citizens!

You do well when you complete the Royal Rule of the Scriptures: “Love others as you love yourself.” But if you play up to these so-called important people, you go against the Rule and stand convicted by it. Talk and act like a person expecting to be judged by the Rule that sets us free. For if you refuse to act kindly, you can hardly expect to be treated kindly. Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time.

Dear friends, do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you?

Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

“Outrageous nonsense”, indeed.


Let us Pray

God, we know that our human nature is to think about ourselves only. Our human nature is to think of ourselves as more important than others. We are tempted so often to desire and seek the things of this world that we believe will set us apart and make us powerful. Thank you for the reminder in the words of James and the life of Jesus that remind us that your ways are not our ways and your economy is not the worlds economy. In your eyes, each of us is already important. To you, every person we will encounter this week is important regardless of what they look like on the outside. God, continue to work in our lives to perfect us that we may see others as you see them, that we may prioritize what you prioritize, and that all that we do will reflect your love that is in us. Amen.

What Other Commandment Would We Need?

This sermon, based on Matthew 22: 34-46 was first presented at First Baptist Church, 

Nashville, Tennessee at the "Word & Table Service". 

October 29, 2017

Last week we looked at the story of the Pharisees seeking to trap or trick Jesus by forcing him to pick a side on the controversial issue of paying the Roman tax.  After that, in a story we did not read, the Sadducees sought to trick Jesus on the issue of marriage after the resurrection. Today, we once again see the Pharisees back to trick Jesus.  Tim Wildsmith did a great job reflecting on this passage in the sanctuary service last week – as he always does.  I will do my best to keep up this week. 

In our reading from Matthew this morning, we see the Pharisees trying to discredit Jesus by revealing what they assume will be his lack of knowledge of the law.  The name, “Pharisee”, literally means “Separatist” and it alluded to the fact that the Pharisees had as their purpose to separate themselves from ritually “unclean” people and things.  Beyond that, the Pharisees were serious students of the Jewish law.  They had studied the entirety of the Hebrew scriptures (our Old Testament) and could tell you that they found 613 laws – 365 prohibitions and 248 positive commandments.  The Pharisees had studied each and every one.  They had created sub-rules and ancillary laws that were designed to make the existing laws clearer.  For example, the Sabbath was to be remembered as a day of rest and kept holy because that was one of the ten commandments that God gave Moses.  The Pharisees would have discussed and collected rules about what it meant to keep the sabbath holy; what could be done and what could not be done in order to honor that day as intended. 

Part of the discussion that Pharisees, and those like them, would have had, would be to take those 613 laws and rank them according to weight.  The would have considered all the laws to be important and would have sought to keep them all, but they would rank them as which would be the most important or first among the laws.  The Pharisees had already agreed that Deuteronomy 6:5 (that you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and might) was the most important of the laws.  So, their question to Jesus was to test and see if he would also say the same thing or find out if he had studied sufficiently to know what the “right” answer should be. 

Jesus answers the Pharisees well and he adds the bonus question of what is the second most important, which is to love your neighbor as yourself.  This was not radical for Jesus to say this, but Jesus would have had a very different understanding of what this meant than those who were questioning him.  Jesus says that the entirety of the law and prophets hangs on these two commandments.  Which is to say that every rule given by God in the old testament could be summed up in Love God with your whole being and love your neighbor as yourself.  While the Pharisees would have still been seeking to obey all of the 613 laws and their additional counterparts, Jesus is saying all you really need to know is love God with your whole being and love your neighbor as yourself. 

As Tim Wildsmith pointed out last week, these commands sound pretty straightforward as presented.  Do I love God?  Yes.  Do I love other people?  Well, not ALL the people and not necessarily ALL the time, but I try.  So, I am doing pretty good.  So, end of sermon.  I love God.  I try to love other people.  I’m doing pretty good.  And that is probably what the Pharisees thought.  They certainly were trying to prove their love for God by obeying all the commandments.  They would have also said they were seeking to love their neighbor.  However…

I told you a minute ago that the name, “Pharisee” means “separatist”.  However, that name is not what the Pharisees called themselves.  “Pharisee” was a nickname used by people who were not Pharisees to describe this group.  The Pharisees actually referred to themselves as “Haberim” which means…Neighbor.  For the Pharisees to love their “neighbor” as themselves was pretty easy if they considered their “neighbor” to be the people that thought like them and lived like them, but Jesus demonstrates again and again that this is not what he means. 

Earlier in Matthew (Chapter 5) Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you… For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? …And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Jesus’ story of the compassionate Samaritan man in Luke 10 is in response to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus flips the question and does not say who is the neighbor but asks “who was a good neighbor to the man in need?” indicating that the importance is not on who to love, but how we love.

These greatest commandments would indicate that love originates with God, for the bible says that God is love. We must love God with our whole being. Jesus says to love God with your heart, soul, and mind. Deuteronomy says, “heart, soul, & might”. Other gospels include “Strength”. We could analyze each of these words and it would be interesting and enlightening (Tim did a bit of this last week and did a great job), but the point of including all these qualities (heart, soul, mind, might, strength) is they are inclusive of the whole of our being. They represent our intellect, our spirit, our feelings, our relationships and should encompass everything about us. The point of the commandment is to love God with your whole being and everything you have and everything that you are.

The reality is that though we say that we love God, we do not always show it with every part of our life. We have the parts that we hold on for ourselves out of fear, insecurity, materialism, lust, anger, among other reasons. Demonstrating our love for God with everything we are and everything we have is hard. We may desire it, but we rarely accomplish it. It is a good thing that our loving God perfectly is not a pre-requisite for God loving us perfectly. Our grasp of God’s love for us is the beginning of our ability to love God, love ourselves and love others. When we have aligned our whole being with the God who is love, then we, in turn, can love well.

The command is to love your neighbor as yourself. It is clear that this love of neighbor also grows from our love of self. It seems perhaps the implication would be that we already love ourselves. We already seek what is best for ourselves. We already try to get what we want or what we think we deserve. We are concerned about our rights and our freedom. We want to be sure we and those we love are taken care of. If this is the interpretation, then the encouragement is not just look out for your own interests, but look out for the interests of others as much as you look out for yourselves. It would be impossible for us to be completely selfish if we are considering others as important as we consider ourselves.

But many of us have been taught that we should not love ourselves at all. We have associated love of self with self-indulgence or selfishness. We don’t want to be selfish or self-focused and so instead, we focus on how we should be loving and serving others. However, this verse does not say Love your neighbor instead of yourself. It doesn’t even say love your neighbor more than yourself, but as much as you love yourself, love your neighbor that much. There is some love of self that is involved. I have thought a great deal about this passage through the years because my experience has been that in trying to live out different understandings of this and other passages in the bible, so many people have felt that they have been called to be doormats in the world to be walked on by others. In trying to live this out, some have tried to avoid arrogance and potential conflict and have limited their own abilities, diminished their own gifts, and denied their own wishes and will. In trying to always put others first and in the name of trying to keep the peace, many become “burned out” and exhausted because they are always giving and giving to others and never taking care of themselves. For many of us, to always deny ourselves and put others first without any conflict means we seek a kind of watered down conformity that does not allow for a genuine expression of our personality. For some it means limiting ourselves, not expressing our opinions or developing our own interests in order to make others happy. But I do not believe that this way of thinking about this passage captures healthy love of self either. If we are not practicing a healthy self-love, then we can assume that we are not practicing healthy love of others either.

There are two truths that form the foundation of healthy self-love. You have gifts and abilities and you are imperfect. You have gifts from God. These gifts are a combination of your genetics, your life experience, your influences, and more. Our personal calling and our source of fulfillment is often found, as Frederick Buechner said, “…[in] the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” We should follow our passions and gifts and seek to cultivate those things within us.

As we seek to cultivate our giftedness, we strive for excellence, but we must also acknowledge that we are also flawed and broken. Again, our genetics, our life experience, our psychology and other influences are always at work in us as well. Too many times when the evidence of our “failure” is exposed, we feel flawed. We are embarrassed, and we try to hide from others. We can beat ourselves up and we are hard on ourselves. However, if we are seeking to love God with our whole being, we might seek to accept that God loves us every day, all the time. The things we see as our failures are not game-changing incidents. They are merely setbacks in our effort to be all that God has created us to be. So, we accept that God loves us. We acknowledge that God is with us. We seek to learn from our setbacks and we get up each day and try again.

Loving ourselves is seeking to be all that God has created us to be in cultivating our gifts and passions and seeking to learn and grow from our setbacks knowing that God’s love is steadfast. Caring for ourselves, also includes caring for our physical and emotional selves. We seek to eat healthy, we exercise our body, and we seek to get adequate rest. It may mean that we do not waste our time trying to do things that others are more gifted at doing because our job is to what we do, as best we can.

Our healthy love of ourselves says that we do not think too little of ourselves because we are all loved by God and we are all gifted, but we cannot think too highly of ourselves because we are all flawed and broken. So, we are honest about our struggles and we encourage others when they struggle. We cultivate our gifts and we encourage others to cultivate theirs. As we seek to be all that God has called us to be, we help others become all that they are called to be. In our relationships we sometimes have difficulty because we are afraid that another’s success means that we might not get enough. We sometimes feel jealous of other’s gifts. However, the greatest commandment we have is to love God with all of what is in us, let the love of God inform how we love ourselves and, in turn, love others in the same way. What other commandment would we need? Is not everything we need to know wrapped up in these two great commandments – to love God with your whole being and love your neighbor as much as you love yourself?

Rejoice? Don't Worry? That's Easy for You to Say

This sermon, based on Philippian 4:1-9 was first presented at First Baptist Church, 

Nashville, Tennessee at the "Word & Table Service". 

October 15, 2017

8:15A.M.

I have a newsflash this morning; Life is hard.  As I get older, I keep learning new ways that this statement is true.  In the movie, “The Princess Bride”, the character “Buttercup” says to “The [masked] Man in Black”, “You mock my pain” and the man in black responds, “Life is pain, highness.  Anyone who tells you different is selling something.” 

Indeed, life is filled with pain – both physical and emotional.  Through life we each have to deal with losses, both big and not so big.  We deal with traumatic events, personal struggles, disappointments and strained relationships.  We are hurt by illness, injury, betrayal, anger, abuse, addiction, depression, and on and on.  I don’t really have to name all the things that hurt us because you know them…well. 

When we experience difficulty and hurt, we each respond in a variety of ways.  We want to avoid feeling the pain of loss, so we try not to get too close to people.  We want to avoid disappointment, so we avoid letting people get too close to us.  We have difficulty trusting, so we are always looking for ways that others are trying to take advantage of us.  When we are hurt by someone, we may try to hurt them back.  When we have suffered great loss or other great pain, we may try to just numb the pain through frantic activities or drugs and alcohol.  In short, we focus on what has happened, we worry about what might happen and we try to control the outcome or consequences.  The result is a disconnect from ourselves, a distance in our relationships, and a loss of who God is.  We construct a God who will help us maintain our defenses and give us the means to be safe rather than connecting with God who calls us to abundant life and the adventure of deep connection. 

Paul’s words to the church at Philipi that we read this morning are a challenge to us in our lives of hurt, difficulty, loneliness, and disappointment.  Beginning in vs. 4, Paul says to “rejoice” and then he says it again.  Rejoice.  We might hear this and ask, “What do I have to rejoice about?  It is easy for Paul to say, ‘Rejoice’ because he doesn’t know what I’ve been through!”  If you said this, you would be partially right.  However, Paul wrote this letter to the Philippians from prison.  He had been beaten and arrested and was being held under a form of house arrest.  So, he did know something about suffering, but I will admit knowing that one person suffers in one way does not mean that your suffering feels any better.  People often say, “I shouldn’t complain about what I am going through, because someone else has it worse.”  Someone else having it worse does not mean that your pain or suffering is diminished.  It might give us a different perspective to realize others are suffering, but it doesn’t alleviate our pain. 

Notice, however, that Paul does NOT say, “Be happy no matter what and again, I say be happy about everything that is going on.” No, Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord”, which seems to be something altogether different?  Too many times we as Christians reduce these words to some kind of syrupy superficial expression of happiness no matter what is going on in our life.  We go through a terrible experience, but somehow show up to church on a Sunday morning, slap a smile on our face, pretend like we are doing fine and think we are living up to Paul’s encouragement to rejoice all the time.  This cannot be what Paul is encouraging us to do because what follows seems to be direction on how to live more authentically and fully and to pretend things are ok when they are not does just the opposite. 

One of the first things that Paul says is, “The Lord is near.” While there may be more than one understanding of what this means, it most definitely includes the idea that God is near to us and God cares for us.  Paul then says, “Do not worry about anything.”  Again, I think this is an idea that we have abused as Christians.  It is normal to worry.  When faced with uncertainty when we don’t know what is going to happen or how things are going to turn out, we have concern.  I have known people who are going through difficulty who cannot say that they are concerned about an outcome because they fear it is a sin to worry.  This passage does not say it is a sin to worry.  Paul is encouraging the people of Philippi  and us, not to worry, but he gives us a different strategy.  Rather than worrying about what will happen in any given situation, Paul suggests that we let our requests be known to God with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.  Note that there are several components to Paul’s suggestion.  Prayer is simply the act of addressing God.  Our prayers need not have particular words or be in a particular place.  Anything we do or say in our lives that we intend to be a communication with God can be a prayer.  When we are worried, our prayers should contain supplication, which literally is just asking for something.  We should offer these prayers in a spirit of thanksgiving. 

There are many thoughts on this and I am not offering mine as a counter to any of the other, but as one way of thinking about these things.  When we worry, we are generally afraid of a particular outcome.  We are worried about being adequate.  We are worried about what we cannot yet see.  We are focused on what has not yet happened.  For us to step outside of our worry and to make an honest of assessment of what we really need, takes perspective.  It involves setting aside our need to be in control or try to manipulate the outcome we think is best.  Being able to report to God our needs is an opening of ourselves to the reality that we, in and of ourselves, are not sufficient to control anything.  For us to try to control something is to suggest that God cannot handle what is going to happen or that God cannot bring about something that will bless us.  Admitting to God that we have needs is to admit that we are not complete in ourselves and we are in need of God.  To admit we have needs is a stance of humility.  But Paul says we should also have a perspective of Thanksgiving. 

An attitude of Thanksgiving turns our focus from the struggle currently before us and the fear of what might be to a focus on the good that is present and the blessings that we have received.  Several years ago, I was suffering from a short-sighted way of living life in which I wanted things in my life to be a certain way.  I got frustrated when things were not the way I thought they should be.  I suffered from the idea that I somehow deserved to have the outcome I wanted in things.  I was often frustrated that life was not what I thought it was supposed to be and what I thought I deserved.  I had an epiphany one day that I did not “deserve” anything.  I realized that my expectations were killing my ability to enjoy and appreciate what I had.  I made a conscious decision to seek to be more grateful.  I began to thank my wife, Lynda, for doing things that she was already doing around the house because I realized that she didn’t “have to” do those things for me.  I tried to expect less from others which on the surface, sounds bad, but I realized that if I expected nothing, then when others offered to do anything with me or for me, I felt genuinely grateful rather than being angry or disappointed that what I got was not what I expected or thought I should get. 

To go to God in times of hurt and uncertainty with that kind of attitude of thanksgiving and to acknowledge that I, by myself, cannot control everything in my life, and I have needs, opens us up to see God’s presence and blessings in ways we had not imagined.  We truly have peace because we trust that God is near and God will be with us no matter what happens in the worrisome scenarios of our life. 

I wish we had time to continue to unpack versus 8 and 9, but I want to note that these verses also require a shift for us.  Too many times Christians are known for what we are against.  We seem to look for the negative and look for the bad and we love to point it out, but Paul suggests that if we shift our perspective and seek to see things as God sees them, we find the beauty, the good, and the honor in others.  I recently heard a story of a young man that visited this congregation that came dressed in shorts.  As he walked down the hall, he heard an older adult make a condescending comment about his clothes.  The young man did not return to our church because he did not feel welcome or loved.  He did not experience the joy of the Lord in that moment.  That adult in our church failed to embody this way of thinking that seeks to see what is good and build up rather than focusing what they thought was the bad and tearing down. 

If you are a person who struggles with worry, you are not living in sin.  In fact, there may actually be some biological reasons why that is true and there are medications and talk therapy that can help (I have utilized these things myself), but each of us worries in some way.  We are, however, called to make an honest assessment of ourselves.  We are encouraged to share our need with God, not because God needs to hear it or God needs us to beg, but because sharing our needs with God opens us up to looking for God at work in our lives.  Sharing our need with God reminds us that we do not and cannot control every outcome, but that when we look for God at work and let go of trying to make things happen the way we want, we open ourselves to the peace of God that does not make sense to anyone else.