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Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Philippians 3
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.


Like all inventors, Terry and I just want to make the world a better place.

That’s why we invented Scalloped Potato Shepherd’s Pie. Yes, that’s right. A layer of ground beef, onions and peas, lightly seasoned, covered with a layer of scalloped potatoes. You’re not going to hear another word I say this morning, because all you can now think about is Scalloped Potato Shepherd’s Pie.

Most will know that Central provides a community meal each Tuesday, often serving 80 or so people, with volunteer cooks, servers, cleaners and the like, all pitching in to help. The basic ingredient each week is good old-fashioned ground beef, procured 300 pounds at a time from a nice shop on Dundas West.

The challenge, of course, is taking the basic ingredient and creating something unique each week. In effect, we have created our own reality-based television show minus the cameras and the lights. I’m not saying that cooking the Tuesday night meal is some sort of competition, but you should taste our Scalloped Potato Shepherd’s Pie.

For the intellectual property lawyers in the crowd, you are no doubt worried for Terry and me, worried that our Scalloped Potato Shepherd’s Pie will appear on next season’s Recipe to Riches or Master Chef Canada, and we won’t receive the acclaim that comes with a recipe like Scalloped Potato Shepherd’s Pie. Well, don’t worry: after this I’m going to print this sermon and mail it to myself, proving that we advanced humanity once and for all.

You might argue that we are simply a product of our time. In a recent poll of 16-year-olds in the UK revealed that 54% named “become a celebrity” as their number one career choice. I assume that includes celebrity chefs. In another survey, this one with children five to ten years of age, the number one career choice was “to be rich” followed by “to be famous” and then “police officer.”

In yet another survey, kids were asked to be more specific, with the top five careers listed as sports star, pop star, movie star, astronaut or lawyer. I think you see the overall theme. When they quizzed the parents of these kids, asking them what they wanted to be when they were younger, the result was a rather mundane top five list: teacher, banker, doctor, scientist or vet. It seems that helping others is just so 1975.

I would be fun and fascinating to get a group of psychologists and social scientists in to explain this recent desire to be rich and famous, but all we really need is a copy of TV Guide. With children watching countless hour of so-called reality-based television, the desire to see themselves on television becomes stronger, and the culture that comes with it more compelling. So a word of advice for parents or grandparents: tune the television to TVO or PBS and throw the remote in the garbage.

Yet, if we were going to develop a program called “Judah’s Best Pharisee” or “Who’s the Smartest Israelite?” we would certainly begin with Paul. Mirroring that great Canadian philosopher Eric Lindros (who said “it ain’t braggin’ if it’s true”) Paul gives us his c.v.:

Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

Think of Paul as the original “most interesting man in the world,” a man among men, and someone who was pretty proud of his ability to torment the followers of Jesus. He was said to be in the crowd when the first Christian martyr died, added greater weight to his role as clever adversary of Christ.

And then, the Road to Damascus:

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him.

Actually, the New International Bible we use is being polite here. The King James gives the more accurate translation, saying “I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” And I’m guessing that using the word ‘dung’ is the King James Version being polite too, so I leave to you to create your own colourful version of this verse.

“I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung (or whatever), that I may win Christ.”

For Paul, or rather pre-Paul fellow named Saul, it was a specific kind of zeal that ended when an encounter with the Risen Christ threw him off his high horse. But it would be disingenuous to say this is simply about a Pharisee who changed his ways and stopped persecuting Christians. This is about a person who strove for religious excellence, only to discover that the whole idea of religious excellence is little more than dung.

But it’s a lesson we refuse to learn. Throughout the church we are challenged to articulate the best mission, to have the best programs, to be the friendliest and the most effectively at welcoming, to have the best position on the great issues of our day, and to be led by the best consultants and bureaucrats.

100 years ago we were not better, when we are encouraged to drink, dance, and swear the least, pursue Christian perfection (sanctification), model holiness for the whole community, and avoid any imperfect examples of religion in our community including Roman Catholics, Anglicans and Baptists.

And we do this to ourselves. We are not the first generation of grown-ups who insist on telling children that “you are special” and “you can be the best.” These troublesome messages have been delivered in varied forms from the beginning of time. And the emergence of celebrity culture is just the latest manifestation of the twin messages of “you are special” and “you can be the best.” A generation ago these messages were used to reinforce divisions of class and race and 100 years before that it was about nations and religions.

But Paul said “I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.”

Being the best is incompatible with dying and rising with Christ, because our religion is about surrendering excellence in favour of brokenness. It is about setting aside our own sense of righteousness in favour of the righteousness of God.

Paul concludes by saying “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Our high calling is to be special to God alone, because that’s what truly matters. Our high calling is to be best at dying and rising with Christ, turning weakness into strength, and turning sacrifice in the salvation.

May God save this and every generation, first from ourselves—and always for the sake of Jesus the Christ, Amen.

posted by michael jacob kooiman @ 1:10 PM