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Godly Actions, Blessed Life

Preached at St. Barnabas Church, Bellville, TX

The Third Sunday after Epiphany, 2010

by The Rev. Stephen E. Stults

Romans 12:21  Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

What a blessed day it is! Here we are, in a free country, worshipping our Lord freely. We are enfolded in the bosom of the Church Militant, while looking forward with blessed anticipation to our life in the Church Expectant, until we are glorified with Christ forever in the Church Triumphant in Heaven. We, brothers and sisters in Christ, have more reasons than ever to give thanks and praise to Him who does all things well.

How can this preacher make such an extravagant claim? How can I say such a thing with such certainty and conviction? Not only for the reasons already mentioned, namely that God has blessed us with this good and free land, but because we in the Body of Christ have something different than non-believers. There is, if we choose to accept the enabling Grace of God to facilitate it, a discernible difference between those in the Church and those who are not. That difference is simply the opportunity and even capability to engage in godly actions, thus providing us with the means to a blessed life.

Surely you may say, “Why, what difference is this? Surely all men of a 'good' nature and will do the same? The so-called 'noble pagan' and 'enlightened Humanist' will do all they can to help their fellow man, won’t they? They will enact laws to protect the low and poor, seeking to create a more just society. They will seek to enable a more just society.” How then is the committed Christian different? What sets us apart?

This is an interesting question and one that certainly we cannot hope to totally unravel in one brief address. Yet, we can with unequivocal boldness point to the one difference between the Christian and the non-Christian. That difference is simply the contrast of finitude vs. infinitude. Let us explore that.

First, we must acknowledge that this difference exists and in what measure it exists. In doing so, we must, at the outset, recognize the mighty power of man. People are capable of doing incredibly good things, brave things, generous things, and even ingenious things. We are capable of doing great, great good. Man is indeed a mighty creature.

Here, however, is where a chasm between the Christian and the non-believer begins to open. The Christian sees the majesty of man and gives thanks to His Creator, who is the author and finisher of all things. Knowing that man is God’s greatest creation, he will bow his head in worship and adoration, giving thanks and praise to Him who is at once omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. The believer has, in this action, linked himself, in some degree, to the power and possibility of the infinite.

On the other hand, the ‘good’ non-believer may give a nod to Nature, or the Big Bang, or to some impersonal force for the miracle that is man. He will accept, in blind faith, the possibility that something as complex and profound as man “just happened” through some impersonal process. He will accept the virtually impossible odds that a chance combination of amino acids, atoms, and some kind of life force made its way into existence without a master plan, or a master planner. He may even reject the idea of intelligent design, preferring to increase to a fantastic degree the improbability that life without plan came to be.

In so doing, this type of person has displayed infinitely more “faith” than the Christian ever has to espouse. Instead of simply believing that life has one Source and rather than holding to a clear and coherent world view, this person chooses to remain in a state of “credible unknowingness,” or if you will, even a state of willful ignorance. Certainly they will trust secular science for their origin. They will accept the various theories for the origin of life, none of which can ever be fully proved, and will reject the clear, simple truth that there is one God who made all things to His honor and glory, to whom we humans owe endless thanks and praise.

In so doing, the non-believer ties himself firmly to the finite. He will limit both his world view and his possibilities. It has been said that it takes much more faith to be an atheist than to be a Christian.  With all the virtually unlimited existence of patterns throughout life and the orderly appearance of Nature, not to mention its incalculable beauty, it must be so.

We are celebrating a special Sunday this week. It has been named the “Sanctity of Human Life” Sunday by the entire Anglican Communion as an expression of solidarity in giving thanks for God’s incredible gift of life. Today we celebrate the one thing that is unexplainable for those who trust not in Christ for their salvation, namely where does life come from, the life force that moves all things? In what form is it and how does it come to us?

Alas, this is truly a mystery even for the household of faith. While we know that life is a gift from God and a true miracle witnessed by every new birth, we know not how it works. All we know is that God gave Man and Woman the ability to create life, accoring to God’s plan and purpose.

We humans can create a masterpiece, a baby, the jewel of God’s handiwork. More amazingly, we can create something that has no end. Life, once created, does not end. Certainly, it changes state, as if passes from the earthly realm into the eternal, but it never ends. To us physically finite humans God gives this ability and this power. The implications of this are too profound to fully understand. We know that through the Grace of God and His handiwork, a human soul comes forth on Earth from the union of two humans, each of them also a miraculous work of grace.

What is the origin of the soul, this life force? Has it always existed, to be joined with an earthly body when it breaks forth from the womb? Is the human soul actually generated at the time of conception? We really do not know.

Yet, we do know one thing with absolute certainty. This life force, this soul, this spark of eternality, is sacred and eternal. We Christians know that it shares the qualities and nature of its Creator because it comes from Him. Thus, human life is wonderful, sacred, and blessed in its very essence.

This is why life is sacred. Perhaps this has become a truism in our impersonal age, but it is true. Nothing is more sacred than life itself, except for God, because He is the author and creator of it. It is His eternal attribute and His characteristic. God never was, or never will be .  He simply IS.

Thus, the celebration of life is a most glorious thing. Inversely, the taking of life or the disrespect for life is one of the more flagrant violations of the Law of God. We know that the sinfulness of man and his insatiable appetite for power makes this the most frequently used threat of man vs. man. Also, the ultimate disrespect for life, abortion, is an affront to the very life-giving nature of God. Finally, we Anglicans in particular and all Christians in general must celebrate life both at its beginning and at its end. Thus, we also reject euthanasia and assisted suicide as a means to end life. Our lives are not our own. We did not create them, and we do not have the right to end them. It is not up to us, but rather up to Him who enabled our being. Just as life in the womb must be protected, so must those in the last extremes of life be protected. Simply put, just as the child in the womb is a life and not a choice, so is the person at the end of their earthly sojourn. They possess a life that must be protected until it is time, in God’s perfect Will, to end their earthly experience.

This protection of life, this celebration of life, is one reason why St. Paul tells us that Godly actions lead to a blessed life. He tells us, “Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men” and “rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Romans 12:17, 19).

Let us celebrate life by giving good at all times, not repaying evil for evil. Let us do good and pursue it. Also, we must not seek revenge for wrongs to us, but rather know that God will avenge the just in His time and His place. This is difficult, but it is what we are enjoined to do.

Engaging in actions like these will enhance the value and quality of our life and of those around us. We can make life better. The key to improving the world is to first improve oneself, using the limitless Grace of God. When we tie ourselves to the infinite power of God, seeking only his Grace and Will for our lives, we will be better people. Not for our own sakes, or by our own power will this improvement be accomplished, but the mighty working of God in us will assure it. Then, one by one, society will be a better place, a place where life is celebrated, not scorned, and a place where the Creator of life is held in high esteem above all things.

This is the hope of all those who truly love life. This is the promise and potential of infinity through God.

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