"Real Saints"
Encouraging others in the faith
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Text: Philippians 4:10-23
There is a term that I think is over-used in our era and in many ways, because of its over-use, it has lost its meaning and its power. You hear this phrase all the time: role model. It seems in almost every facet of life everyone requires a role model, aspires to be a role model or markets themselves as a role model. If you look hard enough, you will find someone who will be a role model for you!
For example, I read in a British tabloid not long ago that in the area of beauty and aging gracefully, the role model for us all should be Cindy Crawford. Well, I gave up on beauty 10 years ago, so she is not my role model, but she is a role model, and this was a headline in a British newspaper.
I hear that the number one role model, according to most polls in North America - probably polls that she has commissioned - is Oprah Winfrey. Everyone seems to turn to Oprah for guidance on what to read, what to wear and how to treat people. Oprah Winfrey, the great role model of the earliest part of the third millennium.
Even in politics, it was fascinating that while I was listening to a radio broadcast on NPR, the National Public Radio in the United States, on February 2nd, the discussion was about Barack Obama and how he is considered by many people, particularly people of colour and minorities, to be not just a president, but a role model. There was a fascinating discussion about it.
But, it is in the area of sports that it gets to the point of being ridiculous. In almost every sport there is a role model who steps forward to be our guide, who we can look up to and bow down before, and some of them really like it. For example, I a quote in Golf Digest from none other than the greatest authority, who is considered the greatest sporting role model in North America, Tiger Woods:
It is an honour to be a role model to one person or maybe to more than one. If you are given a chance to be a role model, I think you should always take it, because you can influence a person's life in a positive light, and that is what I want to do.
Is that what being a professional golfer is all about? I thought it was about putting a ball in a little hole, but that is just me!
Isn't it amazing how artists, media personalities and sports personalities have taken on this mantle of role model? A friend of mine once said that modern celebrities who are looked upon with great praise in our society are very much like the saints and martyrs of the medieval period, or even the period leading up to the 20th century, for the saints and the martyrs for generations were really the role models. They were people of exceptional faith, people who had done great things for God, people who had served their fellow human beings, those who were aspiring and who were inspiring, and people who wanted to serve God.
I remember, as a boy, my mother and father were always lifting up as an example as a role model the great Albert Schweitzer, a medical missionary in Africa who also played the organ brilliantly. Albert Schweitzer was my role model as a young boy. But, all of those people were people who had a spiritual component to their life. They weren't just great at what they did; they were great for who they were.
Now, I want to be fair. Not all people who are held up as role models in our era are devoid of spirituality and faith. In fact, I was reading a book not long ago entitled, The Faith of Barack Obama. After his father died, the Congregational Church became a major part in the formation of his life. There are many other people, from Nelson Mandela onward, who have provided role models for us in the sense of doing good and standing for freedom and truth and so on. But for the most part, today's role models inspire us to be more successful, powerful, beautiful or wealthy, but not necessarily more faithful, holy or sacrificially loving.
Here we are, basking in the glow of Easter. We have played the great trumpet sound. We have welcomed the “new dawn,” the “new day” and the “new life” of Jesus Christ. We are basking in the glow of all that has happened to us by virtue of the resurrection. So, I want us to ask ourselves this question: How can we live that new life in Christ? What example should we be of that “new life” in the world? Most especially, how can we, within our families and as a church, be role models for what is right, noble, true, just and holy?
Today's text is an obscure passage from the Book of Philippians. This is a book of joy, celebrating a church that was full of love and giving, a church that had helped the Apostle Paul in time of need, and had supported the people in Macedonia and Thessalonica when they were in need. At the end of this wonderful epistle of love and joy, Paul has a few final greetings in which he brings the love of all the people the Philippians have helped back to them. There is one line in this passage that speaks volumes: They are to receive greetings from “the saints in Caesar's household.” Now, who did Paul mean by “the saints of Caesar's household”? Some have speculated that this is a reference to the Domus Augustus, that this is the household of whoever the emperor was at the time, probably Nero, and that some Christians had infiltrated the home of Nero and his household in some way. Others have suggested, as they did in the time of John Calvin, that it is a reference to the followers of Seneca, the great Roman and Latin thinker, and maybe they were “the saints of Caesar's household.”
However, most scholars suggest that this is a general reference to Christians working within the Roman imperial government. They could be slaves, servants, soldiers, civil servants or even ordinary people. They could be working in any country throughout the Roman Empire, but they are saints by virtue of their faith, and they are part of Caesar's household because they are working within the Roman Empire and the Roman family.
Paul is saying that these people send their greetings to the Philippians. But in that, there is much to note. First, if there are Christians throughout the Empire, then clearly they have infiltrated in a quiet way to many levels of government. Josephus tells us that if you were found to be a Christian, Nero would actually burn you and make you a torch for his garden parties. That is how cruel it was! Not only being thrown to the lions, but actually being burnt at the stake for fun! If you were a Christian, it was a dangerous confession to make within the Roman Empire, and Paul knew that. That is why he uses coded language: “the saints of Caesar's household.” Secondly, Paul's statement tells us that the Christian faith had permeated the Roman world. In a very short period of time, there were Christians in a great many places, and furthermore, those Christians in other places had developed a bond of fellowship with those in Philippi to whom “the saints of Caesar's household” send their greetings.
The “saints” are those whose souls are committed to Christ. The primary affection of their hearts is to Christ. The dynamic taking place in the Early Church is that, wherever Christians might be in the Roman Empire, there is a family of faith developing. Notice that Paul says these “saints of Caesar's household” bring their greetings and offer their love to the Philippians. These saints within the Roman Empire are encouragers - encouragers of others to live the faith. Most scholars tell us now that in that early Christian family, in that early Christian Church, bonds were built across the churches of Asia Minor and throughout the Middle East that were very, very strong. Even in the midst of persecution, they could not be broken.
I want to ask this question today: “How do we emulate the saints of Caesar's household? What is it that we learn from them that makes us vibrant Christians in the world in which we live?” Well, I think we are to be encouragers. In particular, we are to be encouragers of those who have a soul for God. Where is the most pervasive and powerful influence to in a sense infiltrate the world, but in the home? And, who has one of the greatest roles, if not the greatest role, but mothers?
John Quincy Adams once said, “If your actions inspire others to learn more or to grow more or to become more, then you are a leader.” It seems to me that the ones who inspire, by their actions, by their example, by their word, in the home, are mothers. They are leaders. I noted this last week, when I was reading about Susan Boyle. How many of you have been reading the story of this woman who is winning the great performance of Britain's Got Talent? This woman, who is not exactly beautiful, goes on stage and she is laughed at and sneered at. You can see it on YouTube in the panning of the audience as they laugh at this somewhat unseemly woman getting ready to sing. Then she opens her mouth and it is like a sound from heaven - maybe not the greatest musical ability of all time, but she touched hearts - and the sound she made was glorious!
In an interview with the Manchester Guardian, Susan Boyle said that the greatest influence for her that made her able to stand up and sing was her mother, who died at the age of 91. She had been cared for through all her life by her daughter, Susan. Two years ago, before Susan's television performance, her mother passed away. Susan said, “My mother's encouragement of me to get up and sing in church gave me the strength to go on.” Even when others were laughing at her, she thought of her mother and dedicated the song to her.
There it is - the “saint in Caesar's household.” There is the encouragement, love and support, and she learned it in a church. How many of the great singers throughout history have learned to sing because of the church? Is that not where so many of the greats, from Ella Fitzgerald down, have learned to sing? But it is often mothers who are the great encouragers.
Isn't that the case throughout church history? Was it not Hilda who kept the great monastery in Whitby going when it was going to be destroyed and handed over to pagans? She formed the family of faith and was the mother in the faith to so many. She was an example that allowed them to stand for the faith, even in the midst of a declining place and time. Was it not Susannah Wesley who continued to fervently preach and teach and bring up her family in the faith, even though she was sometimes laughed at and put down by her husband, Samuel?
Just recently, I was reading about Abraham Lincoln and the influence that his mother had on his life. Abraham Lincoln's mother, a very famous woman called Nancy Hanks - of the family from which the actor Tom Hanks descends - was the great influence on Abraham Lincoln's life, even though she died when he was nine years old. At a very tough time, when things were going wrong and Lincoln was facing the most difficult challenges of his life, when giving an account of the strength that enabled him to go on, he said the following, and I quote from his law partner, William Herndon: “God bless my mother. All that I am, or ever hope to be, I owe to her.” On his mother's knee, Abraham Lincoln learned the Bible and the Christian faith and found his courage. Amazing!
Don't try to tell me that there are greater influences on people's lives. I think mothers can provide an amazing form of encouragement. I know it is not always easy; I know that often it is a thankless job. I read of a 15-year-old boy who ran home from school one day. He ran upstairs and found his mother in bed. He asked, “Mother, are you ill?”
His mother replied, “I am terribly ill. I am really, really sick.”
The young boy, out of great compassion for his mother, who he loved very much, said, “Don't you worry, mother. I will make sure that we will have dinner - I will carry you downstairs to the stove.”
It is often a thankless job, is it not? But, even though it is thankless, and even though all mothers are not perfect, and even though many homes are broken, still, the influence can be great for God. Mothers can be “saints in Caesar's household.”
There are some households that do not have mothers. There are places where their influence is not possible. However, there is another source of influence, and that is the church. The church is at its strongest when it is a family of God. The church is at its greatest when it understands that its role is to help, raise and nurture the next generation in the faith. After all, the points of access for young people in the faith are diminishing all the time, whether it is through restrictions on school curriculum, the way that Christian leaders and churches are often demeaned in the media, or simply because people are not exposed any more to the biblical story even in the world of culture.
It seems to me that the church needs to take on an even greater role. One of the things that concerns me the most in our society today is the separation between faith and morality. When people talk about being moral, holding up the common good and what is right, they do so without reference to faith, the scriptures or Christ. Since society is not doing it for us, more and more, the church needs to be a sign, a presence.
That is why I am so thrilled when I see young people perform in Footloose, sing in Sing Out! or take part in our worship services. It is encouraging to see, and it is needed. But, this doesn't always mean that the church has to be making a loud noise. Sometimes, the church influences is in a much quieter way.
We all know that the world is going through the problem of this awful pandemic of influenza, which is not touching that many lives yet in Canada, but it is still a great concern. I was looking up the word “influenza” and where it comes from. The term influenza di freddo was coined in the 1700s in Latin and Italian, and it means, “the influence of the cold.” The influence of the cold is quiet and unseen, and it can touch and change lives and have a devastating effect.
That is what influence is like; that is exactly how it works. Real influence is not always about making a lot of noise; it is about the quiet, thoughtful, gentle, faithful way of influencing others with the faith. The early Christian community had to do it quietly for fear of persecution. They had to do it under the radar for fear of death. But we can do it publicly. More importantly, we need to do it quietly. The church needs to be an example. Not that we are Christ - by no means! We are not Palladians in this church. But we still bear witness, and that witness is vital. In many ways, we are a household of faith, and a household exercises its influence in quiet and gentle ways.
No one put that more succinctly than a non-Christian writer, Khalil Gibran. In his work, The Prophet, he wrote the following about mothers and about families and about influence. I think it sums up what we Christians should be:
You may give your love, but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may house your children's bodies, but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you, for life goes not backward, nor tarries with yesterday. But, you are the books from which your children, as living arrows, are sent forth.
So the church is the book, the book of “the saints of Caesar's household,” and is based on the book of the word of God. Amen.