June 16, 2002
Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost
"Just A Sack Of Stones"
(Romans 5:1-8)
Rev. Billy D. Strayhorn
Romans 5:1-8
[1] Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
[2] through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.
[3] And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
[4] and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
[5] and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
[6] For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
[7] Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die.
[8] But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.
[NRSV]
Frank and Ernest are standing outside the Mega-Corp HQ. Frank says: "I was born on Labor Day. My birth stone is a grindstone." (1)
A woman was talking to her friends about her husband who had passed away recently. He made her death so much easier for her. When he was on his death bed, he told her that he had three envelopes in his desk drawer that would "take care" of all of the arrangements. Shortly, thereafter man died, so the wife opened the drawer, and there were three envelopes just like he said.
The first envelope said, "for the casket" .There was $5,000 in the envelope, so she bought him a very nice casket.
The second envelope said, "for the expenses" and had $4,000.00 in it, so she paid all the bills from the funeral.
The third envelope said, "for the stone" and had $3,000.00 in it. She then held her hand out to her friends and said, "Isn't it beautiful!" (2)
Today I want to talk about something that we each have. You see, we all do have one. Oh, may not remember ever receiving it but we've got it. It was part of the package at birth. Nobody else can see it except in the strain they see in our eyes and on our face.
We can't even see it. Not even if we look in the mirror. We might be able to see the strain it causes but we can't see this thing any more than anyone else can.
But we all have one. Even if you aren't aware of it, you have one. Some are bigger than others. And some are smaller. You didn't ask for it, it just came. You might not remember ever seeing it but you've felt it. It's heavy and it's itchy. And it weighs you down wherever you go.
What am I talking about? Your sack. Did you know you had it? So why do you need it? It's not for the grindstone or even a precious stone. We need it to carry the stones you've picked up along the way in life. Stones of all sizes, all shapes. Pebbles and boulders. Some small. Some huge. Some smooth. Some with rough, jagged edges. Some you picked up willingly. Some you didn't ask for at all. Some were just tossed your direction and stuck like cling wrap to cheese and lint to a black wool suit.
In the movie, "With Honors" starring Joe Pesci and Brendan Fraser there is a wonderful scene. The main character, Simon Wilder is a homeless man slowly dying from asbestos poisoning. He is reluctantly befriended by, Montgomery 'Monty' Kessler, a Law student at Harvard University. In one of their conversations Simon pulls out a leather pouch filled with stones and says, "There it is. That's it, my life."
Simon dumps them out in his hand, picks up one of the stones and says, "I picked this one up in Bali. Best night's sleep I ever had."
Monty asks, "You remember one night of sleep?"
Simon says, "Last good one I had."
Monty looks at all the stones and asks, "What's that shiny one?"
"A woman. The right one. Yep, each stone tells a story that I want to remember. All I do is put them in my hand and rub them and abracadabra, I'm back there." Simon puts all the stones back in the pouch.
They walk on and Monty asks, "Tell me about the woman."
And Simon says, "I can't. I'm not holding the stone."
Like Simon, we all have a pouch or a sack or a backpack full of stones and rocks that we've collected over the years. We may not be able to remember what they represent until we hold them in our hands but we feel the weight and the burden of them every step along life's journey.
A. REJECTION:
Some of the stones we carry are stones of rejection. You were given one the time you didn't make the team. It wasn't because you hadn't practiced, you did. That's all you did for weeks. You thought you were good enough but the coach didn't. You thought you were good enough, but they said you weren't.
You don't have to live very long before you get a sack full of stones. Make a bad grade. Make a poor choice. Make a mess. Get called a few names. Whoever said "Stick stones will break your bones but words will never hurt you," didn't know what it was like to made fun of because you are overweight or blonde or redheaded, smart or slow or skinny or uncoordinated or a jock or black or brown or yellow. Every name you were ever called added a stone to the sack.
And the stones don't stop collecting with graduation or adulthood. Unfortunately, they keep coming. I know a man who hasn't had a job in two years. All he wants is a decent job so he can care for his family and not lose his house. But he's either over qualified or doesn't have the skills or wants too much money or they can't pay him what he's worth. And every rejection dumps another stone in his sack.
Stones of rejection. We all get them and they're heavy. Even those folks who seem to have it all together.
Just say his name and most Christian readers will know who you're talking about. In fact, they've probably read at least one of his books. His book sales are exceeded only by the likes of Billy Graham and Charles Swindoll. Max Lucado has a last name many people struggle to correctly pronounce but they sure know who he is and they love his books.
His book, "When God Whispers Your Name" was named the top-selling book of 1994. Word Publishing Company considers a book to be successful when a first time author sells 50,000 copies and an established author sells 100,000. Each of Lucado's 14 books have sold more than 300,000 copies. But it hasn't always been that way for the Church of Christ minister. In 1985 he put together his first book while serving as a missionary in Brazil. That book, "On the Anvil: Thoughts on Being Shaped Into God's Image," was rejected by 15 publishers. What a treasure the world would have missed had he given up on writing. (3)
Stones of rejection. We all get them. They're heavy and they weigh us down.
B. REGRET:
If you look in the sack, you see more than one kind of stone. Some of them are stones of regret. Regret for losing your temper. Regret for losing control. Regret for the job you should have done and didn't do. Regret for words you've should have spoken in someone else's defense but let slip by. Regret for the malicious gossip you started about a friend. Regret for the harsh words you had with whoever was in the way that night. Regret for a misspent youth.
I don't know if it's still around or not but I remember reading about a new 900 phone number. It's called "Mr. Apology." Some clever capitalist has figured out how to make a buck off of our regrets and sense of guilt. The story said that "Mr. Apology" gets over a hundred phone calls a day.
What people do is leave their anonymous apology on the system answering machine. You can leave your apology, or listen to other's apologies, without ever having to deal with the real damage that you did to another human being. You can now dump that garbage without any real accountability.
That's a whole lot different than what Scripture says we should do. But it does point to the whole idea of regret.
The stones of regret build up: one guilty deed one stone of regret. It's not long before the sack gets heavy and we get tired. How can you dream about the future when you're worn out from carrying the weight of your past? No wonder some folks look so tired and miserable all the time. Their loaded down with the stones of Regret.
C. JUDGMENT:
And then there are the stones of Judgment. A Sunday School teacher told the class the story of David and Goliath, with great detail with lots of gestures. She told how little David killed Goliath with a rock from his sling. At the end of the story the teacher asked the class what lesson they had learned.
One of the little boys popped up and said: "Duck!"
That's what we want to do sometimes isn't. Somebody once said, "Watch how you walk through life. Everybody else is."
We don't like to be judged do we? And whether we like it or not, we're judged all the time.
That leads us right to the most important stone of all The First Stone. Remember that one? Jesus said, "let whoever is without sin cast the first stone." I know a pastor who has a stone sitting on his desk. It's mounted on a little stand and is engraved with the words, "The First Stone". It reminds him not to be judgmental.
You see, we know the burden of the judgment stones. We've all ducked as somebody chunked one of those judgment stones at us.
But then, we've all fooled ourselves, too. None of us are without sin. We've all bent over, picked up that first stone and joyfully, knowingly cast it at others. The problem with judgment stones, the problem with First Stones, is that every time we cast a judgment stone, it's like pointing your finger at someone. There's one pointing out but there are three pointing back at you.
Every Judgment Stone we cast has a multiplying boomerang stick burr effect. Because for every one we toss, at least four more get hurled back to land in our sack and weigh us down even more.
We know about Judgment Stones. They hurt and they are a heavy burden to bear.
And what do we do with this sack full of stones? We carry it with us. It gets tangled around our feet. It slows us down wherever we go. But we still carry it. We work harder and harder, trying to forget about the sack; trying to make ourselves think it doesn't exist.
We pour ourselves into our jobs or our hobbies or our studies. But we can't pour out the stones.
We get involved in a ton of activities. People think we're great. We might get so caught up in the activity or good deed that we lay the burden down. But when we turn to head home, there it is, right in our path and we can't leave without it.
Sometimes we drag it to a counselor. We sit on the couch with the sack at our feet. In the midst of counseling we dump them all our stones out on the floor. We look at all of them, we name them and describe them and even relive some of them.
The counselor listens. She gives good counsel. Sometimes we're even able to leave one or two of the stones behind and that's good. But generally we lean over, scoop all the stones back into our sack, hoist it onto our shoulders and carry the burden out with us.
Some folks even bring their sack of stones to Church thinking religion might help. Sometimes all the church does is add more stones by playing on our guilt. Or setting new rules we can't keep. Or telling us we have to dress or look or speak or sit or not do this or not do that before we can REALLY be a REAL CHRISTIAN whose sins are forgiven. And the sack just gets heavier.
Do you know what Jesus says about all that? First let me tell you in the RSV, the Revised Strayhorn Version. Jesus looks at our lists of requirements; our 12 step programs; our four square laws of redemption; our three principals of salvation; he takes two steps back and says one thing , "Pbbht!"
Now in the real scripture, in Matthew 11:28, Jesus says: "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."
Jesus doesn't want us burdened by all this garbage. He doesn't want us wandering around making a smelly mess of our lives and the world. He didn't give us fourteen positive ways to know God better. He didn't give us ten scriptural principals for health and happiness. What he did give us was an invitation.
If you are tired and need rest from the struggles of life. Jesus says, "Come to me."
If you're tired of the stink of sin in your life, Jesus says, "Come to me."
If your sack is filled with stones of rejection; stones of regret; stones of judgment; and the load is too heavy for you to carry a step further; Jesus says, "Come to me."
You see, Jesus invites us to come to him, to open up our sack and pour all the stones that weigh us down at the foot of the cross. Jesus poured himself out for us, so that we might pour out our sack and know the joy of forgiveness and the inner peace which is promised. The inner peace from being justified through our faith.
Do you know what that word Justified means? In printers terms, it means being lined up straight on both sides of the page. There are no ragged edges. Newspapers use justification when they print.
But in other terms, to justify means to make right or excuse.
I have a friend, George Sutton, the Senior Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Cleburne, Texas, who explains it this way. He says when we dump all our sins, all those regrets and rejections and judgments and all the stuff that stinks in our lives at the foot of the cross; then God looks at us and it is "just if I'd" never done any of that.
In other words. That sack of stones can be emptied. That sack IS empty. The weight of the burden is gone because the stones are no longer in it. The stink is all gone because we've been all cleaned up by Christ. And we can feel good about ourselves because of what God has done for us in Christ. We can love ourselves because God loves us.
It took me a long time to figure that out. This is Father's Day and because of that I can talk about my Four Fathers. Not "fore" like those who came before me. But four like the number four. You see I really have four fathers.
There was my biological father, the one whose name I bear. But that's not all he gave me. You see, he gave me a sack already full of stones; stones of rejection. Because I never knew him. He was never a part of my life.
Then there was my Dad, my stepfather who was a real father to me. It took me a long time to figure that out, too. And I carried stones of regret for all that I thought and did which challenged and tried to nullify everything he ever did.
Then there was my Spiritual father, Bob Core, my Pastor who lead me to Christ and helped me answer the call to preach. He help start me on a spiritual journey that lead me to the cross where I could empty the sack of stones I was dragging around. And he's the one who introduced me to Christ who in turn introduced me to my Heavenly Father.
So you see, I have four fathers. I'm thankful for all of the others but there is only one who can and does offers peace and justification.
And the only way to know that peace is through emptying our sacks at the foot of the cross. Scripture says, "God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us." (Rom 5:8)
Did you really hear that? "God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us."
Jesus came to offer Himself up for each of us before we ever heard about Him. Jesus came for us while we were still seperated from God. Jesus came for us while we were still alone and cut off, while we were still rebellious. It cost Him His life, but He came anyway. That's how much God loves us.
Through His life, Jesus offers us forgiveness, new life and inner peace. He came to offer us Justification and Salvation from the consequences of our sin. All we have to do is have faith in him.
Take time this morning to empty out that sack you're carrying. Yours may not be that heavy, but I'm sure it burdens your heart tremendously. So, open it up and pour out all of those stones of rejection, regret, judgment, denial, resentment, jealousy, anxiety, anger and all the other burdensome stones in your life.
Empty them out and then leave that sack behind.
It's Just A Sack Of Stones but you have been justified by faith in Christ. Your sins have been forgiven. And you don't need to carry that burdensome sack of shame and guilt anymore.
Lay it down.
1. From Frank and Ernest, by Thaves, September 6, 1999
2. Parables, Etc. (Saratoga Press, P.O. Box 8, Platteville, CO, 80651; 970-785-2990), February 2000
3. San Antonio Express-News, 4/9/95, p. 1A
4.
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