“The Evolution of Man” by Rev. A.LaMar Torrence, Pastor of the Cross of Life Lutheran Church,
John 15:1-17, Psalm 23, and John 10:11
In the mid-19th century Charles Robert Darwin rocked the world with his controversial theories regarding the evolution of humanity. Darwin questioned the current belief of divine creation of each species. After years of studying and correlating the voluminous notes he had made as naturalist he presented his evidence for the descent of all life from a common ancestral origin. He concluded that humanity evolved from a lower form of primate, the ape. And it was our struggle for survival that pushed our genetic coding to become these complex and intellectual beings. Well, my purpose this morning is not to argue for or against that notion. But it is my purpose to point out the similarities to the spiritual evolution that God is stirring in our lives. God is taking his people through a spiritual evolution. As the sheep of his flock, the people of his church, he is taking us from faith to faith and glory to glory; from being sheep to being branches to becoming his friends. We are steady and ever evolving. We are becoming more like him. And I don’t know about you but I am decreasing so that he may increase. I am in him, so that he can be in me. I am evolving. It does not yet appear what I shall be, but I know that when Jesus appears, I shall be like him for I shall see him as he is.
And the more I go through life, the more I become like him. The More that life throws at me, the more he shapes me into his likeness. His mind shall become my mind. His thoughts shall become my thoughts. His will shall be my will. Everyday this old nature, this earthly vessel is becoming a new creation, the old is passing away and the new is becoming a reality. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not all that I should be but I am more than what I was. I have not yet apprehended all that it is to be Christ like; but I have a greater knowledge of his nature. I can discern right from wrong; divinity from devil ness; sanctity from the satanic. I have greater sense of who Christ is and what I am not. The more I follow Christ. The more I learn who God really is and what I’m really not. And that’s good news. It’s good for me to know his reality and my identity. Because I don’t know about you, but I live in a world where I am always misunderstood and mis-labeled. I live in a socio-political environment that has a tendency to stereotype me based on misperceptions. I am misunderstood. Because I’m black, I’m often labeled as lazy, angry, undereducated, and lower class. Because I am a male, I often misunderstood as an oversexed, arrogant, macho, chauvinistic pig. Because I am single, I often misread as a skirt chasing, womanizing bachelor or an impotent closeted homosexual. Because I am educated and somewhat corporately established, I am often mistaken as a bourgeoisie ‘wanna-be’ socialite. Because of the misperceptions of others, I am often stereotyped because of who people think I am. So it’s good for my soul to know a God who knows the real me. It’s comforting to my mind that the ‘All-knowing’ knows the real me. Tell somebody, “he knows the real me.” He knows what I am not and what I really am. I don’t have to impress him because he knows the real me. I don’t have to live up to his expectations because he really knows me. I don’t have to seek his approval or affirmation, because he knew all I have ever done before. He chose me. I didn’t choose him but he says, ‘I chose you’. He appointed me. I didn’t appoint myself. He knows the real me. I am acceptable without exceptions in his sight. What he saw is what he got- the real me: my faults and my failures; the monkey on my back and the skeletons buried in my closet. He knows the real me: my desires and my demons; my passions and my pain; my struggles and my successes. God knows the real me.
Thus the challenge before me is to get to know him. I am invited to get to know him a little better. My God wants me to know him. Not what I heard about him but the real him. Not the god preached from various prominent pulpits but the real him. Not the god indoctrinated in the local church but the real him. He wants me to abide in him so that I can get to know him a little better. But to abide with him and in him is a process. I’m not just immediately connected to him. I must learn of him and how to get closer to him. It’s a process. It’s a spiritual evolution. It is a divine process where my relationship goes from membership to discipleship to friendship.
Look at what Jesus is telling me. He says that he is the Great Shepherd, and I am a part of his flock. I am a lamb within the sheepfold. He expresses his ownership of me, and my need for membership in his kingdom. As my shepherd and my owner he takes divine responsibility for my every need. When I need rest, he will make opportunity for me to lie down. When I need refreshment, he will lead me to the resources that will restore my soul. When I need discipline and direction, he will lead me down the right path and encourage me to make the right decisions. He is my shepherd and I am his little lamb. We have a reciprocal relationship. He cares for me and give back to him. I give him my wool, my abundance and produce so that he can continue to tend to the rest of the flock. I give him my trust and my obedience so that he can concentrate on protecting me from the wolves and other predators. I find comfort and safety with him as he watches over me and the other sheep. I mingle with the other sheep because there is safety in numbers and when I can’t see the shepherd, I can see the other sheep and still know that he is somewhere around. When Jesus calls me his sheep he speaks about my membership in his church. Ask someone, “Are you a sheep?”
But then he calls me from being a sheep to becoming a branch. He calls me from membership to discipleship. He changes our relationship from one of owner and property, master and servant to one of identical natures. He is the vine and I am the branch. My species has changed. My spiritual composition has now evolved. I have nature similar to his own. What flows in him, now flows in me. The peace He is, is now the peace I have. The joy He is, is now the joy I have. The love He is, is now the love that inhabits my heart. I have a direct connection with the divine. And that is what discipleship is. It is a divine connection with the father above. And God is calling us, his sheep, his membership to evolve into branches and become disciples. He wants us to be willing to follow him as the knowledgeable teacher and be taught that which he does not know. Disciples are people who have committed themselves to living totally under the leadership of Christ in every aspect of life. Disciples are not just church members. Church membership and Christian discipleship are two different things. You see members view the church as nothing more than a building where by they go to pay spiritual homage on Sundays. It’s a place where they go to get what they can get. They want good uplifting music; sermons that entertain and beautiful décor that makes them feel that they have been on holy ground. Members want a convenient parking park, a comfortable pew to sit in, and pretty bulletin to hold. And when church is over, members want to be able to say “pastor, you really blessed me today!” You see, church members are only concerned about the ascetics of worship. Members only serve Christ on Sundays, but disciples work and worship Christ every day. Members are only concern for welfare of the building and running nice entertaining programs. But disciples are concerned about the welfare of the community and ministering to the needs of the people. Members will go to work in a snowstorm and pending hurricane; but stay in bed on Sunday because it is too cold or rainy. But a disciple will get to worship in rain, sleet, or snow. Members will go to work for eight hours with a cold or flu but claim to be too sick to come out to God’s house of healing. But a disciple knows that if they can get to Jesus, if they can get to the balm in Gilead –everything will be alright. Members are number counters – counting how many people show up on Sundays, counting how many bills they have to pay before giving God his ten percent, counting how long church service is and how long the preacher’s preaching. Members are counters but disciples don’t count. Disciples just trust and obey. If they are just two or three in church- they still show up because they know Christ will there. They walk by faith – give by faith- and live by faith. And what society needs, what we need is more disciples and less members; more branches and less sheep. God is calling us to move from membership to discipleship. He wants us to evolve into another form of life. Tell somebody, “Come on up to a higher form of life.” Get connected. Become branch, a disciple.
But discipleship is not the higher level in this spiritual evolution. Jesus called me from being a sheep to a being a branch to now become his friend. I’ve gone from membership to discipleship to friendship. My spiritually character as matured and evolved where I now walk with him and talk with him, and tell him that I am his own. I am his friend. The closer I walk with God, the closer I get to God. We move from a third-person dialogue to a first person conversation. It’s no longer about ‘He and I’ but it is about ‘you and me.’ I began as a sheep needing his authority, his guidance, and restoration but I end with his comfort, his preparation, and his habitation-I am his friend. That means that he shares with me the mysteries of his kingdom. I can see what he sees. I can know what he knows. There is no speculation. There are no assumptions. There is no figuring or guessing. I am his friend. He keeps no secrets from me and since he is omniscient, I can keep none from him. He is my friend. Thus, as his friend I have a sense of affiliation. I know to whom I belong. As a friend, I have a sense of satisfaction. He supplies my needs and satisfies my wants. As a friend, I have a sense of obligation. I want to do right. I want to live right I want to love right. As a friend, I have a sense of restoration. I can count of him to refresh me and renew me. As a friend, I have a sense of justification. I may have done wrong in the past but as I move down his path, I am being made right. Others may scandalize my name. Others may criticize my actions. Others may scrutinize my circumstance. But only God can judge my eternal destination. As a friend, I have a sense of determination. Even though my paths may take me through some sadness and sorrows, some toils and troubles, some chaos, crisis, and conflict I can face them without fear because he is with me. I can trust him to guide my steps alone the path. As a friend, I have a sense of habitation. I have shelter and some place to stay. If I am not lying in green pastures, or walking beside still waters, then I’m dining at his table in his house for eternity. In fact every thing that I have gone through, I am going through, and will go through is preparing me for my final destination. That is to abide at his table of sustenance, his table of delight, his table of just reward. He is preparing me for the table and the table is being prepared for me. As a sheep I could not sit at the table. As a branch on the vine, I could only decorate the table, but as his friend, I can enjoy what’s on the table. As a sheep I had so many issues in me that he had to take me through the path of evolution to prepare me, train me, and ready me for what was on the table. I had to learn some divine kingdom etiquette. I needed to know when to stand and when to sit; when to speak and when to hold my peace; when to ask for more, and when to be satisfied with what I have. I needed to know what utensils to use and how the handle the instruments of divine dining. He has been preparing me for my place at the table. And that’s good news, which tells me that I shall not always be poor but I shall be prosperous. I shall not always live with suffering but I shall be successful. I shall not always live in desperation but I shall be delivered. I shall not always be depressed but I shall have delight.
God is calling us to evolve. He is calling the lost home to his sheepfold. Some of us have to evolve from a sinner into a sheep. Others who have been in sheepfold a while, he is calling to become branches- to get connected, get more intimated. And yet, others he is calling them to become his friends. So the question for you this morning, is where do you find yourself in his spiritual evolution? Are you a sheep, a branch, or a friend? Amen.
