The Anguish of Truth

The Anguish of Truth

A sermon delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson

October 14, 2018

at Bethany Presbyterian Church, Zuni, Virginia

Romans 9: 1-19

Exodus 9: 8-12

Let us pray,

Help us to see despite our eyes

Help us to think outside of our minds

Help us to be more than our lives

For your eyes show the way

Your mind knows the truth

Your being is the life.

Amen.

Story of memorizing Tell all the Truth . . .

Tell all the truth but tell it slant —

Success in Circuit lies

Too bright for our infirm Delight

The Truth's superb surprise

As Lightning to the Children eased

With explanation kind

The Truth must dazzle gradually

Or every man be blind —

It is one of my favorite poems to this day. . . and I can recall it whenever, having spent that final exam time, going through it. . . at the time it kept falling out of my brain, but now it is there, and will be forever. . .

But it’s message is so true because telling the truth to someone when you know it may hurt them is one of the hardest things to do. . . and it’s especially hard when you need to tell them for them not for you. . . if you need to tell them for you, often maybe it’s better to keep it to yourself, there is always so much to weigh in those situatons.

But when you need to tell someone something, they are not going to like it, but they need to hear it, is one of the hardest things to do. . . Emily Dickinson says that sometimes the truth must dazzle gradually if it really to set in. . . but sometimes that strategy just won’t work. . .

Paul finds himself in this very place. . . his message he knows is true, he’s convicted by it, in it, and through it, he’s had his encounter with the Risen Christ, on the road to Damascus, he has reread scripture, he has applied his new knowledge to everything he has ever known, and he now is preaching it, travelling creating churches, supporting churches, and instructing churches in his knowledge. . . but he knows that to many of the people he loves, this teaching will be a challenge. It will be new, and many of those whom Paul loves just may reject it. And time is short for him. We, with the perspective that history grants us, know that Paul’s life will be cut short, and the sense that time is short, the sense that the time is now, that they are living in apocalyptic times is throughout his letters.

So he must push forward this message. . . listen to his words. . . and the anguish he feels as he writes, this his most thorough treatment of the good news he brings. . . though in that anguish he laments that all will and do not see it as good.

Here is Romans 9: 1-19, but we’ll look at it in parts. . . the first part being 1-5

9 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— ² I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³ For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, ⁴ the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. ⁵ Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised!^[a] Amen.

Here he is the spreader of good news. . . but he has sorrow and unceasing anguish in his heart. . .

I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ- for the sake of my people

And that is exactly his issue. His people are rejecting Christ

Those who have always been chosen. . . anguish

What a great word it is. . . its one of those perfect words that sound like what it means. . .anguish. . . . you almost can’t even say it without letting out a little grown and squinching up your face. . . look at what saying it does. . . .

And they were chosen. . . theirs the patriarchs the human ancestry of the messiah. . .

But he goes into more detail about the issue. . . 6-9

⁶ It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. ⁷ Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”^[b] 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. ⁹ For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”^[c]

Look at these details. . . he is again going back to the beginning, the foundations of what it means to be a child of Israel. . . and it leads us to ask the question. . . Why Isaac and not Ishmael? I mean really when you think about it? Why Isaac and not Ishmael? Why does God choose one over the other. . . back to that in a minute. 10-13

¹⁰ Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. ¹¹ Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: ¹² not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”^[d] 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”^[e]

Whoa we come to it and again God is doing the same thing? Why one and not the other? And its not because it’s the older, but instead the younger. . . so even that breaks the mold. . . . He doesn’t mention it, but we can even go back farther. . . isn’t this the same issue with Cain and Abel? How should we react? How did he? Let’s listen to Paul, remember Paul is in anguish. . . (see my face scrunched again) 14-15

¹⁴ What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! ¹⁵ For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
    and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”^[f]

Here is Paul with another of his “not at alls” . . . logic might point us in that direction. . . . our human wants and desires might point us in that direction. . . the past. . . tradition. . . every fiber in our being might have us questioning. . . but that is that old slavery. . . the kind where we find our brother lying in the dirt below with his skull crushed by the stone that just happens to be sitting still in our hand. . . 16

¹⁶ It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 

So that leaves us asking. . . what is it? That’s a big it. It would appear if we were to look backward we would find that it is “God’s compassion. . . . “ and that doesn’t depend on human desire or effort. . . but on God’s mercy. . .

And what’s the difference between compassion and mercy. . . they are both generally the same. One might say that one gives cause to the other. . . out of compassion comes mercy. . . but check this out. . . Compassion depends upon God’s mercy. . . . ain’t that backwards. . . and the answer is yes, but not to flip the world upside down, although in many ways it does, but instead it creates a circle. . . and in this circle there is no beginning and now end. . . in other words it is eternal. . . just like God, and therefore God’s mercy is not reacting to us, is not dependent on us, but is completely free, unto itself. . .  how does that make you feel? Anguish? Let’s get back to Paul, and close it out. . . . 17-19

¹⁷ For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”^[g] 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

Whoa. . . really. . . God turns those hearts he so desires. . . either to compassion, and faith as we have seen with Paul, and towards hardness, as we see with Pharaoh.

I was at Monday Night Bible Study. . . and we talked about God hardening the heart of Pharaoh. . . I heard it said, can’t remember who, doesn’t matter. . . but they said. . . we don’t really think God did that do we?

Paul seems to. . . but good thing for us we have instant replay. . . we can go to the tape, well the text, but remember we need incontrovertible evidence to overturn the call on the field. . .. which was by Paul saying. . . yes God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. . .

Let’s enter the booth, and check this situation out. . . Exodus 9: 8-12

⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from a furnace and have Moses toss it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh.⁹ It will become fine dust over the whole land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on people and animals throughout the land.”

¹⁰ So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on people and animals. ¹¹ The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them and on all the Egyptians. ¹² But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said to Moses.

WE back it up and replay it there it is verse 12. . . his knee was down, by contact. . . yes the call on the field has been confirmed. . . the Lord in fact did harden Pharaoh’s heart.

But maybe we still have some grumbling in the play by play booth. . . “I know they made the call, but I’m just not seeing it. . . We have a few more camera angles

Vers 10:20

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.

V 10: 27

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go.

V11: 10

Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.

Now you might say to yourself. . . I do not believe that the God I worship would do such a thing. . . perhaps. . . but at that point you have left the authority of scripture. . . which is your right to do. . . but it is something that must be acknowledged. . . .

Anguish right. . . say it with me anguish. . . did you feel your cheeks pinch into a frown of disgust.

And those other denominations are always giving us a hard time. . . telling us we are all hung up on predestination. . . . you read this. . . and you wonder why we are the only ones. . .

We’ll fight to the nail about creation in 7 days. . . noah and the ark. . . and the virgin birth, but in a Bible containing these anguish filled lines. . . Calvinists get a bad wrap for holding up the doctrine of Predestination

But is it predestination or is it God sovereignty. . . Paul says

God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

It reminds me of Jamie Fox playing Ray Charles in the movie. . . and he plays one of those signature Ray Charles licks on the piano and puts the song just into orbit. . .and when he finishes the room erupts, calling him a genius. . . he saya. . .its gonna do what its gonna do baby. . . there is something else in charge of it. . . .

But is it that we get in with the predestination language when we start talking about Heaven and Hell. . . because look at where Paul takes it next. . . . this closes our reading 19 and going over into 20 & 21

¹⁹ One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 

You see, we do want to go to the mysteries of heaven and hell. . . Paul predicts it. . . why still blame us? Why condemnation? If he is in control. . . what is it all about then? How does Paul answer. . . he again steals from the Old Testament. . .listen he says

²⁰ But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”^[h] 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

We’ve heard this before right?

Isaiah 29:16

You turn things upside down,
    as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,
    “You did not make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter,
    “You know nothing”?

Or 45:9

“Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker,
    those who are nothing but potsherds
    among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
    ‘What are you making?’
Does your work say,
    ‘The potter has no hands’?

The ones in Job, go back and look at Job 38 – 42 sometime, they are phenomenal

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
    Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
    Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
    or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together
    and all the angels[a] shouted for joy?

Have you ever given orders to the morning,
    or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the edges
    and shake the wicked out of it?

Have you entered the storehouses of the snow?

Can you bind the chains of the Pleides

Can you raise your voice to the clouds

Job 40

“Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
    Let him who accuses God answer him!”

“Would you discredit my justice?
    Would you condemn me to justify yourself?
9 Do you have an arm like God’s,
    and can your voice thunder like his?
10 Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor,
    and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.
11 Unleash the fury of your wrath,
    look at all who are proud and bring them low,

No  you can’t

Or Job 41 – Can you capture Leviathan?

You see we can’t. . . God is bigger than you and I. . . Elvis sings about it. . .

Who made the mountains. . . who made the spring

Who made the songs for the Robins to sing

And who brings the rain when the earth is dry

Somebody bigger than you and I. . .

It’s not about predestination it is about the amazing world shaking sovereignty of God.  . . who is very much in control, who can harden our hearts, and who if he so wills compassion, mercy, and grace, will do so with no Earthly reason for it that we can comprehend. . .

Alleluia right. . . . Amen right. . .

Why is this a theological stumbling point? Why is there anguish?

Why does it confuse us?

Why do we make something so simple complicated?

Because we don’t like it. . .

I one time wrote a poem called “Mercy” . .. I put it in the weekend welcome. . .if you want a copy I can make you one. . . or I have it in a book I published. . . which are available online, for purchase, if your heart is so compelled by compassion? Or because you know me I might just be able to get you a good deal on one. . .  It’s about what we don’t like. . .

Fairness does not survive in a world of grace,

For it would be fair and just to punish us,

For we fall far short of the standard.

It makes us question the divine wisdom of one,

Who creates a world that makes no sense

To us for we cannot fathom mercy.

Mercy takes away the limits that comfort us,

Finding peace in control, in order, in symmetry,

Blind to invisible order outside of our plans.

We need limits because we are created finite.

At some point, though we push, there is the end.

It takes mercy and love and faith and

God out of our plausible categories. To truly

Understand God, our must be put aside,

Leaving only the eternal mercy of the infinite.

Yo that’s way deep. . . I can hear my student’s now. . . I just don’t get poetry. . . and I’d be like what part. . .

That eternal mercy of the infinite. . . that sounds crazy. . .

Why?

You know what eternal means. . . yes

Mercy. . . yes

Infinite . . . yes

Then whats the problem. . . I just don’t get it

Is it that  you don’t get it or you don’t agree with it. . . and so your mind makes you stop short of it all. . .

I think we as humans do that all the time.

We say things are complicated. . . we say it’s hard. . . confusing. . . because we don’t like it

God’s sovereignty is a pretty concrete concept.

God is in complete control. . .he gives compassion. . . when he wants

He gives mercy when he wants

He hardens hearts when he wants

And it is not in reaction, but connected to his perfectly, free, infinite, eternal, will

I’m not saying it’s easy to accept, but it is easy to understand.

To truly understand God, our must be put aside --- another concrete line of poetry

Help us to see despite our eyes

Help us to think outside of our minds

Help us to be more than our lives

You see this is why in my statement of faith I wrote. . . God is the great poet of the universe

Because you see he creates things as plain as day, but in trying to grasp them, to know them, we lose sight of them

I don’t get poetry Coach A. . . me neither, but its not for you to get. . . it’s not a mystery for you to solve. . . it is a gift for you to experience.

So is grace. . . Let go.

The anguish comes because we don’t want to.

I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, Paul says. . .

Too bright for our infirm delight the truth’s superb surprise. . .

We have to be freed from our infirm delight first. . . then we can hear the truth

For sin has been taken from us, our burden lifted. . .

This was done at the cross. . . we should not then need to tell it nor hear it slant any more. . .

God help us when we do.