Everyone say with me the key verse, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
Getting ready is the biggest part of taking a trip. It takes almost as long to get ready to leave home as it does to take the trip itself. Around our house, when we’re getting ready to go away, we have boxes and suitcases and plastic bags all over the floor. It takes lots of energy and it soaks up oodles of time just to get ready to leave home, even for a little while.
Now the most important thing to do in getting ready to travel is to pack your bags. You have to figure out what to put in your travel bags. What will you need while you are gone? I always count out exactly what I need. If I’m going to be gone five days, I put five of everything in my bag ... five pairs of socks, five shirts, five, not four, not six, but exactly five. Don’t you dare ask me to change clothes during any of those five days
My wife, however … well, I’d better not talk about that.
The trouble is, you can’t take everything you might like to take; the TV set just will not fit in a suitcase. And although your dog and your cat and your goldfish might fit in, I don’t think they’d enjoy the ride very much. You can’t pack everything in your travel bag. So what will you take?
There was a man named Paul who was a very good traveler. In fact, the Bible tells us about several trips Paul took; we call these his missionary journeys. Before the last of his trips, Paul wrote a letter to the people in Rome; in this letter he told them that he was coming to see them. He told the Christians in Rome all about himself and tried also to tell them what he would be bringing when he came.
Now I don’t mean Paul talked about his clothes or his books or his other personal belongings. I mean he told them what feelings he was going to bring. What thoughts he would be packing. When you go out into the world, you take certain attitudes and feelings with you.
Give me a minute with the adults; they need a little help to understand. I’m talking about feelings, attitudes, and thoughts that you and I need if we are going to leave the safe, comfortable confines of the church, gathered here for worship, and get out into the world, where people hurt. If ours is to be a serving, compassionate church, caring for hurting humanity, there are certain mindsets we need to cultivate. Certain ways of thinking we need to practice in order to be effective and compassionate in the world.
Let’s find out what to pack in our travel bags.
I
The first thing I find in my travel bag is this nice warm sweater. Fuzzy, bulky, warm as toast sweater. Big enough to get lost in.
Now why in the world am I packing a sweater? It’s summertime, and it’s hot. Nobody needs a sweater or a coat or gloves or any of those things we were wearing last February. Why would I pack a sweater in my travel bag here in the middle of summer? Anybody got a guess?
Because, although I know that it’s warm right here, right now, in this place, I don’t know that about where I’m going. I don’t know that it’s going to be warm out there; I may find myself up in the mountains, where the night breezes are chilly. I may be a long way from home, and the weather will change. So even though in here, right now, it’ s too warm for a sweater, I’m going to take one in order to be ready for different weather.
You see, I’m really saying that when we go out into the world, away from our homes, away from our church, we to need to take love. We need to take love for other people. Many people are unprotected. They have no one to love them. They need us to love them. So once you get out on the playground or in the schoolyard or wherever you meet other people, you need to be packing some love.
Let me have another word for the adults: You know that the world is not as loving, warm, and friendly a place as home is or as the church is. The world can be very cruel and cold, callous and uncaring. If we do not take love into that world, the things we preach will be noisy gongs and clanging cymbals. The world needs love from us; and we must draw on the love of God in order to have the strength to love. It is our responsibility, in fact, it is our privilege, as Christians, to love with depth, warmth, and care those persons who are caught up in pain. Whatever their need, at heart it is a need for love.
Paul says it this way, "Let love be genuine; love one another with mutual affection." Yes, we will need to pack love in our travel bags. You cannot hope to serve anyone’s needs without first loving them. This sweater stands for love; so pack up love.
Ib
But now wait a minute, if I pack the sweater, I wonder, do I need these matches? Why did I put matches in my travel bag? Well, I thought, if I have to make things warm, one way is to burn something. I could light a match and set a fire and burn something. That would make things warm, wouldn’t it? Should I pack these matches in my travel bag? What do you think?
No. Why not? Because it’s dangerous to pack matches. Something bad could happen. Tossing the bag around they might rub together and start burning right there in my bag! Whew! Wouldn’t want that to happen. I guess that would make what they call "hot pants"! No, better not pack the matches.
You see, not only is it good to pack our spiritual bags with love; we also need to make sure we leave home all the destructive stuff. We need to make sure that when we get out there with other people, many of whom will not know Jesus like we do ... we need to make sure that we leave out anything that might hurt them.
I can’ t say it any better than Paul does, "hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good ... live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are." He is saying that we must get rid of what is dangerous and destructive; and must hold on and pack what is good.
Adults, again: that means that if we are to be effective as a church, we’ll have to unpack our superior attitudes. We’ll need to get rid of our top-down way of treating others. Unpack the notion that we Christians are somehow better than others are and deserve to be made comfortable. "Live in harmony with one another". But, "do not be haughty ... do not claim to be wiser than you are"; unpack those superior, destructive attitudes. Unpack those matches that might hurt somebody!
A church which is comprehensive in compassion will pack up love, but leave out its uppity, superior attitudes. What is our memory verse for today? "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. "
II
Well, let’s see what else is in my travel bag. What have we here? A package with bright paper and a ribbon on it. What is this? It’s a gift! It’s a present to be taken to someone.
Now quite often when we travel we go to visit our relatives or our friends. And when we do that, maybe it’s because someone is having a birthday or is graduating from college or is getting married … it’s some special occasion. When you go visit someone who’s having a special time, you take a gift. Why do you do that?
You take a gift because you think it’s really great that they’re going to be married or they’re going to finish school or whatever it is. It’s a way of saying, "I’m excited about you. I care about you. And I want you to give you something you’re going to need. I want to do something that will help you go on with your life." And so, even though that gift takes up valuable space in our travel bags, even though we could sure use that space for our own things, we make room for a gift for someone else.
You know, when I pack, I don’t want to take more than one bag. Everything I take I want to fit in one and only one bag. So I will sit on the bag and squeeze it and push it to get it closed. Sometimes I don’t leave any extra room at all. Only one bag.
My wife, however … well, I’d better not talk about that, either.
Our travel bags shouldn’t be filled up with stuff just for us; they can be filled with gifts that somebody else can use.
Did you know that there a lot of folks out there in the world who will never know that we have the love of Jesus in us unless we give them something, something they can hold in their hands and take home with them. It’s not enough just to say to people, "I hope you have a nice life." We can give them something to use for their lives, a definite, concrete gift.
So Paul the world traveler says to the Christians in Rome, "Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers." Give gifts, real, solid gifts, to people who have real needs. Go out of your way to offer people exactly what they need. "Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers." ’When you pack your travel bags, pack something real for someone else, not just happy thoughts, but something that costs. It might be tutoring for a child; or housing for seniors; or food for the hungry. But it will be tangible, real stuff.
IIb
But now, wait, there’s one more thing in this bag. Do I really need this? What is this smelly stuff?
Great day in the morning, it’s a sack of garbage! However did a sack of garbage get in my travel bag? What’s in this garbage sack? A tomato that got overripe, squish; yesterday’s coffee grounds, phew; some bills I didn’t want to pay; this one is my County tax bill ... didn’t want to pay this, some of that money will go to Mr. Garrett! This is garbage, worthless garbage! Why did this get into my travel bag? Get it out of here!
The trouble is, you know, some folks do pack garbage!? That’s right, some folks travel with garbage all the time. Maybe not a squishy ripe tomato, but they travel with prejudice, and that splatters everybody in sight. Or they travel with anger, and that stinks just like yesterday’s coffee. Or they just travel with garbage feelings about themselves when life is too much, life is overwhelming. Like the bills we didn’t want to pay, the troubles of this world we carry around with us without putting them where they belong. We pack garbage, emotional garbage.
But Paul says, "Unpack that garbage. Flush that trash." Well, to be more exact, what he says is, "Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse ... do not repay anyone evil for evil." We cannot save the world from its hurts if we haven’t gotten rid of our own garbage.
And the most important part of all, "Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ’Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’"
Let me say that another way for us. When you’re packing your bag, don’t pack garbage. Just leave room for God; leave room for God to work the way God wants to work. Leave room for the wrath of God, the justice of God. Leave room for God to take care of things.
The only way to leave room for God to be God is for us to unpack our self-centered garbage. To leave behind our need to be appreciated. To unpack our suspicion that everyone is out to take us for a ride. To give our gifts to others and let God take care of the way those gifts will be used. Leave room for the justice of God.
A church which is comprehensive in compassion will pack its gifts, but will leave out the garbage and leave room for God to do God’s work. What is our memory verse? "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
III
Friends, the vision for our church is that we are to become comprehensive in compassion. We are to serve the needs of every person in our reach, without regard to race, gender, social class, economic circumstance, or any of those things that so easily separate us from one another.
That vision means a church out of which love grows. A church in which we see in everyone, no matter who they are, the image of God, the potential to become a child of God. A church which wants more than anything to help people become Iike Christ, but which also has a passion for getting rid of destructive patterns and malicious evil. A church which packs a love sweater in its travel bag but leaves out the dangerous matches of superior attitudes.
A church which knows the difference: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
And that vision means a church which creates definite, concrete, tangible expressions of its love. A church which is not content just to mouth slogans or lob messages over the fence, but which gives definite, concrete gifts. But also a church
which makes sure that those gifts are not garbage, not polluted with anger or prejudice or our own spiritual immaturity. A church which packs beautiful gifts, lovingly wrapped, for its community, but which simply leaves it up to the Lord to decide how to use those gifts. A church which packs gifts, but leaves out the garbage and leaves room for God to do what God wants to do.
A church which truly heard and believes: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Repeat it with me:
"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
Your bags are now packed. Bon voyage!
