Family Values

Romans 8:12-17

Georgetown Presbyterian Church

June 11, 2006

Rev. Stephen H. Wilkins

A woman wrote to Reader’s Digest, telling about an experience that she had when her family took a young girl from India to church with them. The young girl’s parents were traveling on business, and they left her in the care of their American friends. The little Hindu girl decided on her own to go with the family to church one Sunday; it was the eleven-year-old’s first exposure to a Christian worship service. After the service, they went out to lunch. The little girl had some questions. She wondered, "I don’t understand why the West Coast isn’t included, too." Her Christian friends were puzzled and asked, "What do you mean?" The little girl responded, "You know. I kept hearing the people say, "In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the whole East Coast."

I’m glad to know that either way we look at it, whether it’s the Holy Ghost, or the whole East Coast, we’re still there in the mix!

Today is Trinity Sunday on our liturgical calendar. Trinity Sunday is unique in that it is one Sunday during the liturgical year when we observe a doctrine rather than an event. On Trinity Sunday we recognize the unfathomable mystery of God’s being as Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In a sense, Trinity Sunday synthesizes all that we have celebrated during the other Christian festivals and seasons up to this point: Christmas and Epiphany celebrating God’s incarnation and dwelling among us in Jesus Christ; Easter celebrating Christ’s death and resurrection for us; Pentecost, celebrating the Holy Spirit as our sanctifier, guide, and teacher. And so as we begin the season we refer to as "Ordinary Time," it is fitting that we do so recognizing the manifold ways that God works in us and among us in our day-to-day discipleship.

Because you see, the triune God is the basis for all we are and do as Christians. Through baptism we enter into the family of this triune God, and it is as members of this new family that we say what we believe and live out our discipleship. We are born into a new family.

A sixth grade class was given the assignment of writing an essay on the theme of "Birth." So one of the boys went home, and he asked his father how he had been born. The father, taken aback by the question, and not wanting to enter into a discussion of the birds and the bees, said, "The stork brought you, and you were left on the doorstep."

The boy continued his research, and so he asked his mother if she knew how she’d been born. Being in the middle of something, the mother similarly deflected the question, "I was found at the bottom of the garden. The fairies brought me."

Still not satisfied with the answers he was getting, the boy went to his grandmother and asked if she knew how she had been born, to which she replied, "I was picked from a gooseberry bush."

With no further information, the boy wrote his essay. When the teacher asked him to read it in front of the class, he stood up and began, "There has not been a natural childbirth in our family for three generations. . ."

Our entry into the family of the triune God is not by natural birth. Jesus speaks of it directly to Nicodemus, when he refers to being born again. Paul speaks of it indirectly to the Romans, when he uses the language of adoption. There is a new family name that we receive when we embrace Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior: Christian. This is one of the things we recognize at the sacrament of baptism. When we baptize, whether it be an infant or an adult, we’re not supposed to use the last name of the person being baptized. We don’t use their last name, because we’re not baptizing them into their biological family; we’re baptizing them into their spiritual family, their Christian family.

We have this family, not defined by mother and father and siblings, but defined by our relationship with God, revealed to us in Jesus Christ, through the working of the Holy Spirit. And as is the case with any family, being a part of the family means that there are expectations in the ways that we live up to the family name.

Family names carry with them expectations of behavior, expectations of conformity to certain ways of living. Certainly we see this dynamic play itself out in public for high-profile families. When one of the heirs to the throne in England is caught in some mischief, people are outraged over their behavior, because they have brought shame to their royal name. When a member of the Kennedy bloodline does something scandalous, the scandal is multiplied simply because of the family name. When the Bush twins were caught drinking margaritas in Austin several years ago, the scandal wasn’t so much about underage drinking, but that the President’s daughters were doing the drinking.

Family names are loaded with different sets of values and expectations of behavior. As people who bear the name "Christian", we are called into a new way of living, with a new set of rules. Paul says that the Spirit of God witnesses "with our spirit that we are children of God. . ." And what a great cause for celebration that is! You and I are children of God, we’re heirs to the kingdom, we’re royalty! Our Father’s house has many mansions, mansions that have your name written on them, and my name, too. We’re part of a family where love and forgiveness are emblazoned on the coat of arms. You and I are children of God, and that is incredible good news!

But carrying the name of child of God also means that we have responsibility. We have a new set of rules, a new set of values that define our behavior. If you are going to carry the name Christian, you have to realize that every thing you say or do will reflect on the family name.

The other day at the Men’s Breakfast, there was a lot of discussion on the fact that many times it doesn’t look like Christians are any different from the rest of the world. The devotion that morning, and the discussion that followed, dealt with the fact that in our world there is a woeful reluctance to label sin as sin. There is so much trash on TV, and one of the reasons is that much of the behavior you see on TV and in the movies has gradually become acceptable. What used to be a scandal is no longer a scandal, and it’s not because we’re more enlightened, but because we’re more tolerant of things about which we ought not to tolerate.

But sin is not a fluid concept, constantly in a state of being redefined. What God has called sin is always sin. The trouble comes when those of us who call ourselves children of God are willing to look the other way, or even decide that it’s okay to change the rules. Jesus was all about love and forgiveness and acceptance. And Jesus was quick to condemn those who weren’t about love and forgiveness and acceptance. But Jesus also calls us into a new way of life, and it’s a way of life that does not compromise the "family" values.

All that being said, being a child of God goes way beyond knowing the rules. It means opening ourselves up and inviting the Spirit of God to invade us, to take possession of our lives, and to lead us. It means being willing to surrender our old selves so that we can live into the new self that God has given to us in Jesus Christ.

Tony Campolo tells the story of a friend of his, Al Whitaker, who was the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. He was a millionaire many times over, immensely successful in his industry, and not after the model of some of those we see today who have broken laws to gain their success. One morning at breakfast, Whitaker’s wife looked across the table and said, "Al, is this what you want to do the rest of your life? I mean, you’re primarily helping rich people get richer. It’s a good thing, I guess, but is this what you want to do?"

That night at supper, Al Whitaker shared some news with his wife. He said, "That question you asked me this morning was so troubling, you should know that when I left the office today I handed in my resignation." Whitaker then went on to start an organization called Opportunity International, an organization that prepares people to go to developing nations, places like the slums of Manila or the barrios of Bogota or the slums of Haiti. They go to those developing nations and help the people start small businesses and cottage industries. In the first ten years of that ministry, Opportunity International created 2.5 million jobs in developing nations, meaningful jobs that provided a living wage for those families and individuals that owned the businesses they started.

What would possess a man to do what Al Whitaker did? Maybe he changed because he allowed the Holy Spirit to guide him. Maybe he heard and heeded the call to live into the new way of life that being a child of God entails.

Now, you don’t have to be an Al Whitaker to live into the family name of Christian. You don’t have to be a high-powered corporate executive in order to demonstrate the values of Christ in your life.

Tom Long taught preaching at Princeton Seminary. One Sunday he went to a pot-luck fellowship supper at a nearby Presbyterian church. It was a church that prided itself on being an academic, intellectual church. That Sunday night, he sat down at a table with an older man who was sitting alone. Long introduced himself and asked the man if he had been around the church for a long time.

"Oh yes," the man said. "In fact I was here before this became such a scholarly church. I’m probably the only non-intellectual left. I haven’t understood a sermon in over 25 years."

"Then why do you keep coming," Long asked?

"Because every Monday night a group of us get in the church van and drive over to the youth correctional center. Sometimes we play basketball, or play games. Usually we share a Bible story. But mostly we just get to know these kids and listen to them. I started going because Christians are supposed to do those kinds of things.

But now I could never stop. Sharing the love of God at that youth center has changed my life."

"I started going because Christians are supposed to do those kinds of things. . ." As a child of God, do you determine what you will do based on the idea that it is something that Christians are supposed to do?

My friends. . . My brothers and sisters in Christ, we are family. We belong to God, and we belong to one another. What a joy it is to be part of a family that is defined by eternal love, and grace, and forgiveness. But it also means that every thing we say or do reflects on our family name.

What does the family name look like in your life?