Some of us love to take the simple and make it complex. Some of us thrive on taking perfectly obvious matters and making them as obscure as possible. My neighbor’s car has on it a bumper sticker that says, “Eschew obfuscation”. After about a half-hour with the dictionary, I found out that means, “Keep it simple, stupid.” Some of us love to take what is clear and make it unclear. Like the pastor who was in trouble with his church folks, because they said that he was invisible during the week and inscrutable on Sunday. We would rather make everything complicated and hard to understand.
That is what makes work for lawyers, of course. A lawyer is a person you hire to write ten pages to say that you want to leave all your belongings to your children. But that’s too simple. The lawyer wants to say more than “leave”. For $300 you can have, “give, devise, and bequeath”. “Belongings”? That’s not enough. The lawyer wants to specify “clothing, jewelry, automobiles, household furniture and furnishings, recreational equipment, and personal effects used by me or about my person or home.” Wow, I didn’t know I had that much stuff! That’s what we call legalese. Lots of words to cover something that appears to be quite simple.
Once I found myself in a dispute with a neighbor over a petty property matter. When we lived in Lexington, Kentucky, my next-door neighbor got upset because I didn’t know exactly where the property line was, and he claimed I was mowing a foot or two of his lawn every week. Believe me, I would have been only too happy to mowed less lawn, but instead of just telling me to stop, he had his lawyer write me something about “cease and desist”. All right, already! How we love to make simple things difficult and clear things unclear. That’s called legalese. Legalese is language that spells everything out in excruciating detail. Legalese is language that defines every little circumstance in order to keep something from happening.
So, if I confront you with a long legal document and ask you to sign it, what are you likely to say? Some of us will say, “I need to take it home and study it.” That’s good. That’ll keep you from getting caught in a mess. But I dare say most of us will respond, “Can we just cut through the legalese and get to the point? What does it really say? What does it mean?” We want to cut through the legalese and get to the core of the matter.
But now if I confront you with the expectations of the Christian faith, what are you likely to say? Some of us will say, “I need to think about that.” That’s good. Nothing wrong with that. Some will say, “I want to pray about that.” Of course that’s right. But many of us will respond with legalese and will do our best to make complex what is simple and to render into obscurity what is clear. Many of us will look for ways to dodge out of all that is involved. We will resort to legalese. We will describe all the reasons why we really don’t have to do this or that. We will get bound up in ifs and ands and buts. And we will miss one great shining truth – that following Christ is more about grace and gift than it is about rules and regulations, that following Christ is more about responding in love and living in gratitude than it is about obligation. But we will resort to legalese. We will look for ways not to do what God wants us to do.
The full armor of God provides us something, which cuts through the legalese and get to the heart of things. When God provides for us, He provides not only truth and righteousness and faith and peace and salvation – the things we’ve looked at over these past five weeks. When God provides for us, He also provides something to cut through the obscurity and the confusion, and get to the heart of life. He provides what Paul calls “the sword of the Spirit, the word of God”. You not only need belt and breastplate, shoes and shield and helmet. You also need this sword, this weapon, this “word of God”. What Paul introduces, the writer of Hebrews picks up on and explains. Listen to what Hebrews tells us happens God’s word is used:
Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.
I
First, notice with me that the word of God is described as “living and active”. It’s vigorous and positive. The word of God is more than history, more than deference to the past, and more than just the quiet contemplation of ideas. The word of God, rightly used, is living and active. It is an offensive weapon. Not just a defensive weapon but an offensive weapon.
Now I don’t know that I’ve preached them this way, but it might be possible for you to have thought of all the other items in the full armor of God as defensive weapons. You might have thought of truth as nothing more than defense against people lying about you. You might have thought of faith as confidence that your troubles would come to an end. You might even have experienced the message about shoes that proclaim the gospel of peace as a message about peace in your own heart. That would not have been the best hearing of the message, but you might have heard that. You may have heard everything I’ve presented in five messages as defensive, as about protecting yourself from negative things.
But this time we must face the truth, that the Christian is to act offensively! We are to take the battle to the enemy. We do not just react to what hits us; we are to start the war against the forces of evil. We are to do a lot more than keep ourselves protected. We are to get out there and take new ground for Christ. We are not Hamlets, lamely wondering “whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them” No, that is settled for us. We are to take arms against the sea of troubles. We are to be on the offense. We are to take new ground for Christ. The word of God, the sword of the Spirit, is an offensive weapon, living and active, that cuts through all our excuses and our inertia and gets us moving forward.
But, sadly, often our response is legalese. Hedging. Making the simple complex. Finding reasons not to go on the offense. “Well, people don’t like it if you confront them about their salvation.” “Everybody has the right to his own opinion, you know.” “Oh, I’m just not comfortable talking religion to anybody.” “There’s a church on every corner if they want a church.” What is that? That’s legalese. That’s hedging. That’s finding reasons not to be active for the Kingdom. But it fails to reckon with the word of God, living and active, cutting through the legalese.
You see, this is not just any book. This book is different from all other books. The Bible is not just dusty history or lofty literature. This book is a living, active presence. This book cuts through our complacency. If we are equipped with the word of God, it will cut through all of our excuses, our rationalizations, our legalese, and it will carry us out of our sleepiness into the world. It will carry us beyond our excuses for doing nothing new.
My friend Walter Fauntroy, former congressman and long-time pastor, asked his church to commit to meeting the needs of the people in one square block around New Bethel Baptist Church. He asked them to get to know these people – just one square block – to find out what their employment situation was, to discover what their children were doing in school, to determine what they needed. Oh, says Pastor Fauntroy, the cry came up: “Pastor, we can’t do that. What about privacy? What if they’re doing something illegal and we find out about it? What if their needs are too great for us to take on?” What if, what if, what if? And Pastor Fauntroy says that all that defensiveness, all that negativism, threatened to destroy the whole project. It was almost dead – until from somewhere he found holy boldness, and stood up and read,
’Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ’Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’
The word of God cut through all of their excuses, and today New Bethel is caring for that block and is asking other churches to care for their blocks, so that none of God’s children might be overlooked. The word of God is “living and active”. It is an offensive weapon. It takes us into the streets. It cuts away all of our excuses and our legalese. It hacks to pieces our preference for a passive religion. The word of God is living and active.
II
But not only is the sword of the Spirit, this word of God, an offensive weapon, to be used to conquer new ground for the Kingdom. It is also a two-edged sword. It cuts forward into the world, but it also cuts backward into us. It is a surgeon’s scalpel, exposing us. It lays open our motives. It lays bare our hypocrisies:
…the word of God is … sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
It has been well said that when you read the Bible, the Bible reads you. This word of God is able to make us face ourselves as we really are. Most of us try to write our own Bibles. We take the stuff we like and leave behind what we don’t like. We quote the things that make us feel good and forget about the material that challenges us. Somebody has called this “cafeteria Christianity” – picking and choosing what is attractive and leaving behind what is inconvenient. But God’s word understands us and cuts through our façades to expose us as we really are. God’s word sees our thoughts and reads our intentions.
Let me give you a few examples. Look at spirituality. Look at what we do to express our spiritual commitment. If you want somebody to think of you as a spiritual person, what do you do? Busy stuff. Out front activity. Acting the part. Got to be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral. Busy as the proverbial bee. But I am persuaded that we stay busy because we are afraid to be silent and listen to our own hearts. We are doing, doing, doing, because if we sat down to think, we might find out how hollow and empty we really are. We make spirituality immensely complex. But the Bible reads that. The Bible exposes that. The word of God cuts through to the bottom line and says:
"Be still, and know that I am God!
Be still. You don’t need to do, do, do. First just be before God, and He will tell you what to do. Be still and know. That cuts through the legalese. That cuts through our restlessness. Be still and know.
Or take the fundamental business of salvation. We spoke last week about the critical importance of salvation. Salvation is a basic stance before God, it’s who you are as a forgiven sinner before God. Our problem is that we keep on thinking we can earn salvation. We keep on trying to be good enough for salvation. We tell ourselves that if we just don’t mess up, we’ll be in. But the word of God rings in our ears, like great cathedral bells:
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God -- not the result of works, so that no one may boast.
That exposes our frantic goodness. We are trying to figure out how to be good enough. But we can’t be. We’ll never be good enough. But receiving the grace of God – that’s what salvation is about! Just in simple faith to trust Him, just to take Him at His word – that’s the core of it. God’s word cuts through the legalese through which we try to define our goodness, and insists that it is grace alone that saves.
Or take this thing of sharing our faith. I guess most of us will agree, up here in the intellect, that it’s important to share our faith, important to have a witness for Christ. But when it comes time actually to go and visit someone; when the task at hand is simply to sit down and present the Gospel – what happens? We find ways to argue that the timing wasn’t right, the mood was wrong, the setting was not conducive. We complain that we are no theologians and wouldn’t want to lead somebody astray. We will vote for evangelism activities for somebody else to carry out, but convince ourselves that we don’t have to share a witness, we don’t have to offer the Gospel to someone. That’s not our job. We convince ourselves that we don’t have to do it.
But the word of God cuts through our legalese and informs us in no uncertain terms:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them … and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.
Do you see? Simple. Straightforward. God’s word cuts through, our excuses, our pretenses, and makes it clear what the truth is. The word of God pierces our excuses and cuts open our thoughts and our hearts. It reveals what God wants to do. It reveals grace and love and forgiveness. It reveals, not legalese that gives us an excuse, but straightforward command that gives us marching orders. It is clear.
III
And in the end, God’s word will call us to accountability. When all is said and done, God’s word will call us to be accountable to Him and to one another. In every army, each soldier is accountable to his commander and to his fellow soldiers.
And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.
Accountability. As we come to the end of this series of messages on “Preparing To Do Battle”, I hope that we have heightened our sense of accountability to God. We do not get a free ride in this world. To whom much is given, of him is much required. And if we are given many gifts, if we are equipped with the full armor of God, then we are accountable for its use, both to God and to God’s people.
I have had reason in the last few weeks to do a great deal of thinking about the future of our church. Many factors – financial, personal, spiritual – have come together to call me to think about our future. And one theme keeps coming back, over and over again – accountability. We need to learn to be responsible to God for all we have been given. We need to focus on being responsible to one another.
God has placed us in a community with many needs and with many possibilities. God has given to this church people with wonderful skills and exceptional gifts. If we do not value these gifts and use them to reach out to this community, we will have blown away our accountability to God and to one another.
I’ve been thinking about my own life. I have tried, prayerfully, to see where I am and what I am doing with my resources. As a result, I have determined, under God, and because of His word, that whatever energy, time, and gifts are given to me, I will lead you more intently into knowing God’s word. I will work to create in this community a family life ministry. I will develop with you a new style worship service. I will ask you to make solid decisions about our properties. And I will urge on us full-scale Christian stewardship. I have thought and prayed and consulted about these things, and I can do nothing less. Anything less would not be accountable to God. I intend to ask you to be accountable to one another. That’s what church is. Accountability. That’s what God’s word calls us to: accountability. And that’s how God’s word cuts through all of the legalese and the what-ifs we are going to face in the next few years. God’s word calls us, quite clearly, to trust and obey, for there’s no other way. Accountability.
I wish you could have overheard my conversations this week with two of the young men in our church. They illustrate what I am trying to say about accountability and God’s word.
One young man talked with me about his career. He’s tried a couple of courses of study, but found they didn’t give him what he needed. He’s invested some money and spent some time and felt a lot of disappointment, because he discovered that there wasn’t much that was real in the training he was getting. So this young man got focused on the priorities of his life. He found out that he could no longer spend time on uselessness. He found out that he could no longer waste his energies on schools that didn’t teach and instructors that didn’t instruct. He got moving. He turned in a new direction. He found another school to attend. He got a job to support himself. And he is on his way to a useful place in the Kingdom. He reminded me that we don’t have time for foolishness and indecision. God’s word calls us to be accountable for our time and our energy.
Another young man. We have among someone who has seen more suffering and more death in his short lifetime than I hope the rest of us will see, put together. One of our members has seen friends and neighbors massacred, rebel soldiers pulling people from their homes to kill them or burn the homes. He has watched as they put his own father up against a wall and prepared to shoot. But because this brother of ours was spared; because on one occasion every house in the village was burned except for his family’s house; because that soldier at the last instant changed his mind and did not shoot the father .. because of all of this, our brother sees that his life has been spared for a purpose. He knows that God has given him life in order to bear his witness. He does not intend to sit idly by and rejoice that he got out. He is not satisfied to know that he escaped the ravages of evil. Our brother knows that he must be on mission for the God who saved him. He is accountable to God for his very life.
That’s where I want to go. That’s the kind of church I want to be in. One which knows the grace of God and is on mission, with no ifs or ands or buts. One which hears the word of God, as no uncertain sound, and marches. One, which trusts God fully, believes God implicitly, and cuts through all of its stuff, cuts through all of its legalese, cuts through all of its hemming and hawing, and asks only one question, “Lord, what will you have me to do?” One which trusts and obeys.
