Sermon: Choose

          Ecclesiastes examines the age old question:  why are we here?  Koheleth, the author/teacher/pseudonym for Wisdom, goes through a litany of experiences in life, building on basic knowledge, acquiring proficiencies, enjoying sensual experiences of all the senses.  He concludes, however, that without fear of God – fear meaning trust, awe, reverence and submission to God's will –all is meaningless, a mere vanity.

          Referencing back to Genesis 3, when humankind disobeyed God in their acquisition of knowledge, it was the fear of God that began the building of wisdom.  Two verses in Proverbs sum up how the author could come to this conclusion: 

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." (Proverbs 9:10)

"The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom.  Though it cost all you have, get understanding." (Proverbs 4:7). 

          Humans toil, build, accumulate things, but also accumulate the intangibles like knowledge, skill, understanding.  The author points out that these are things that, when we die, will be left to those who haven't acquired those things on their own – which is both meaningless and "a great evil."  (Ecclesiastes 2:21)  Alternatively, the tangibles will turn to dust and the intangibles will die with us.  As indicated in Ecclesiastes 3, everything has a time or a season; but with the understanding of the fear of God, one realizes that time is a true gift to experience those things, for only that which is created by God endures.

          It is not really that humankind should not strive or do their best, but rather that in striving and doing their best, they gain the knowledge, wisdom and understanding that humankind truly knows nothing, and are at the beginning of their journey.  With the fear of God combined with what they have achieved, then they can begin to understand that all of their efforts are as a mere breath when compared to what God has created.

          When we look then at the lessons this morning from both Colossians and Luke, we see that again, we have the choices before us:  We can shuffle along, eyes on the ground – or in your phone, absorbed with things right in front of you. Look up and be alert to what is going on around with Christ. 

          There's an interesting story from Max Lucado, a preacher and story-teller, who tells the story of Bob, who was born into the land of coats.  His mother loved the color blue and made Bob's first coat a lovely shade of blue. Every time she noticed her son in his lovely blue coat, she cheered, "Yay, Bob!" He felt good in his blue coat, but Bob had to grow up and go to work. So he put on his best blue coat and slipped out of the house, going to his new job. The people on the street saw him and began to yell, "Yuck, Yuck!" Their coats were yellow and they hated blue.

          Into a store ducked Bob and bought a yellow coat, put it over his blue coat and continued on his way to work. The people cheered, "Yay! Bob!" Bob felt good in his yellow coat over his blue coat. He stepped into his boss' office to get his assignment for that first day. He sat waiting for this boss, who came in, looked at him and yelled, "Yuck!" Bob jumped up, took off the yellow coat and stood waiting for approval in his blue coat. The boss yelled, "Double Yuck! Bob. Here at work we wear green coats!" With that, Bob slipped back on the yellow coat, over the blue coat and put the green coat on top. "Yay! Bob!" said the boss. As he left for work, Bob felt good.

          Bob became very good at changing his coats to match what other people wanted him to wear.  He became a popular man around town. He changed coats so swiftly until he had folks fooled into believing that whatever coat they had on, he had it on too. Bob loved hearing the crowd say, "Yay! Bob!" He couldn't stand hearing any criticism, and Bob was elected mayor of the Town of Coats and had a faithful constituency. One day he heard a noise outside of his window and then heard a pounding on his door. The Yellow Coats brought in a man wearing no coat. "Kill him!" they cried, "he doesn't fit in!" In his yellow coat, Bob said, "Leave him to me."

          "Man, where is your coat?" he asked. The man said, "I wear no coat." Bob replied, "everyone wears a coat. What color do you choose?" The man responded the second time, "I wear no coat." By then the Green Coats had gathered under Bob's window. Running to the window, his green coat on top, Bob yelled down to them, "I have it under control." The Green Coats shouted, "Kill him!" At this time his mother entered into the room, and Bob slipped his blue coat on top. "Bob, where is his blue coat?" Mother asked, The Man replied, "I don't wear a coat." "Kill him," said Mother as she left Bob and the man alone.

          "Man, said Bob, you have to wear a coat or they are going to kill you."

          "Bob," said the man, "you need to decide to stop wearing your different coats. Take them off, take them all off and let the world see who you truly are." "Take them off? Take them all off?" asked an incredulous Bob. The man said again, "Bob, you have to make a choice." As the crowd kept crying, "Kill him!" Bob washed his hands, opened the door and marched the man toward sure death. The man looked at Bob, with one final word, "Choose." Bob was left alone with his three coats and the questions ringing in his mind, "Take them off? Take them all off?"

          Paul responds to us that we "have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ who is our life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory."  It's about taking off the politically correct, the socially right, and morally expedient coats and standing naked before Christ in order to be fitted with the appropriate Christian garb. It's time to select from all the world's popular options and to stand up for Jesus Christ. This passage says that deceiving ourselves and trying to fool others is not sufficient for eternal life. This passage comes and declares that there are some things we can no longer do and call ourselves Christ-like. We have to take off that quick anger and temper. We have to take off that meanness which allows us to do three snaps and a flip of the third finger, when someone cuts us off on the highway. We have to take off that dirty language that just slips out. We have to take off telling those nasty jokes which make fun of God's people who don't look like us. We have to take off lying, which we claim "everybody does it." All of those things belong to the outdated, outmoded wardrobe we wore before Christ! 

          Jesus stands with one word for all of us today--choose! Choose by making the decision with Him today.  Let's avoid all the coat-changing, or how we fit into this group, that employer, this set of friends and family.  Christ tells us in Luke, "So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."  Look at the lessons from Ecclesiastes, from Colossians and from our Gospel, and choose to stand naked before Christ and to allow Him to dress us with His wardrobe of love. All that we have comes from God.  While we are yet lost in our sins, wearing all the colorful coats, trying to cover ourselves, to fit in, to strive for more "stuff", God loved the world so much, that Jesus came to die for our sins and to rise that we might have eternal life.

          How can we dare to continue slipping off one coat into another coat, filling in where others want to dictate where we should be fitting in, when every coat, every thing created by God belongs to God?  In the way we use all of our material goods, from water and food, to the way we use our money and resources and in our care of all of creation, we can be "rich toward God."  We must instead become much more responsible stewards with which we have been blessed, so that we learn our abundance is not meant to be consumed solely by us, but must be protected, cared for and properly distributed.

          Without God, we are but a mere vanity.  With God, we choose to be clothed as He would have us be, choosing to be rich with God, blessed with the glory of God.  Let us pray:

          Lord, you have blessed us with so much! We want you to know that we are truly grateful. Let us never fall into the trap of becoming wasteful or overly preoccupied with storing up for ourselves that which is not truly necessary and let us use everything you have blessed us with to be a blessing for others. May your generosity toward us make us truly more generous toward all, especially those in greatest need. Amen.