Preparing the Way: Do Good

Isaiah 1:16-17; 3 John 11

Preparing the Way:  Three Simple Practices

  Do Good

Rev. Monte Marshall

Before I begin this morning’s sermon, I would like to say a word about two events that I became aware of this past Friday.  First of all, we were notified of the death of a former, long-time staff member here at Travis Park, and a friend of mine, Randle Butler.  He died on Wednesday of last week.  He was a loving man and a committed servant of Jesus Christ.  I know that you join me in giving thanks for Randle’s life and ministry, and in praying for his family in their grief.

Second, news was released on Friday that our bishop, Jim Dorff, is resigning voluntarily as our episcopal leader, and surrendering his ministerial credentials, effective January, 2016.  In a written statement, Bishop Dorff said:  “It is so difficult to admit and share, but I must inform you that I did not uphold the sacred vows I made to God at my wedding, at my consecration as bishop, and at my ordination as elder. I crossed what were the clear expectations of relational boundaries.

“For this transgression, I am profoundly sorry. I offer my sincerest apologies to all concerned. My actions have caused pain to many, including my family, the person involved, each of you, members of the annual conference, and the greater church. I am so, so sorry.”[1]

I have sent Bishop Dorff a personal note extending my love and prayers to him, to his wife, Barbara, to his family, and to all those involved in this extraordinarily painful occurrence.  I also took the liberty of expressing to him the continuing love of this congregation.  I then told him that I thanked God for all the good he had accomplished in his long ministry, and would accomplish in the future, but obviously from a different vantage point.

Let us pray.  PRAYER.

So it’s the second Sunday of Advent and we’re preparing the way for fresh encounters with the coming Christ by focusing on three simple practices that are rooted in scripture, and that have been part of our United Methodist heritage from the very beginning, thanks to our founder, John Wesley.  The three practices are:  Do no harm.  Do good.  Stay in love with God.  Today’s focus is “do good.”

Back in the 1970s, a noted conservative Christian author and lecturer named Charles Colson gave a magazine interview in which he described the reactions to a sermon he delivered in one particular church.  Colson said, “It was a very conservative church.  About 4,000 people in the sanctuary.  Sunday night.  Great excitement.”

Colson reported that “At one point I said I believe in the literal truth of the scripture and its absolute authority over my life.  There were choruses of ‘amens;’ the walls were shaking with them.  Then I read Matthew 25 where Christ says that this is how we will be judged, the goats and the sheep, and I said that’s why we should be caring for the sick and the poor and the hungry and the naked and the imprisoned—and there’s just a cold silence.  There’s a guy sitting next to [my assistant,] Mike, whose been taking notes all through my sermon.  He leans over to Mike and he says, ‘Colson sounds like a do-gooder.’”[2]

Now isn’t that interesting:  Rousing “amens” for the authority of scripture, but cold silence for a biblical call to care for the sick, the poor, the hungry, the naked and the imprisoned?  And isn’t it interesting how a consistent and fundamental scriptural exhortation to “do good” is transformed by Colson’s note-taking critic into a phrase of mockery and ridicule:  “Colson sounds like a do-gooder?”

Well, we United Methodist followers of Jesus are not supposed to mind being mocked and ridiculed as “do-gooders.”  After all, as I’ve already noted, doing good is one of the three simple practices that are at the heart of how we United Methodists are to live in the world.  In fact, it’s often said—but not,  apparently, by John Wesley—that we United Methodists are to do all the good we can, by all the means we can, in all the ways we can, in all the places we can, at all the times we can, to all the people we can, as long as ever we can.[3]  So speaking personally as a United Methodist follower of Jesus Christ, I admit it:  I am an unapologetic, died-in-the-wool, enthusiastic “do-gooder.”  And I hope that you are too!  And let me be clear about my motives:  I’m a do-gooder in response to all the good that God has done for me and for us all.  I’m a do-gooder because I want to cooperate with the work of God’s Spirit within me—and when that happens, I do good. 

By the way, in this morning’s scripture reading from 3 John, did you hear what the text said about doing good?  It’s pretty amazing.  Let me read it again:  “Beloved, do not imitate what is evil but imitate what is good.  Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.”

Well, unless I’m missing something, it sounds to me as if the text calls us to be “do-gooders.”  “[I]mitate what is good,” the text says.  “Whoever does good is from God,” the text says.  It almost sounds as if God is a “do-gooder!

And this is not just some New Testament idea.  The whole concept of doing good has deep roots in the history of God’s people.  For example, in this morning’s text from Isaiah, dating to the 8^th century BCE, the prophet urges the people of Israel:  “Wash!  Clean yourselves!  Get your injustice out of my sight!  Cease to do evil and learn to do good!  Search for justice and help the oppressed!  Protect those who are orphaned and plead the case of those who are widowed!”

In his commentary on this text, Old Testament scholar, Dr. John Holbert, uses contemporary images to describe both ancient Israel’s cultural condition, and our own.  He writes:  “All on the surface seems fine, grand and glorious in fact.  The economy is getting stronger; we can stay in our air-conditioned houses; oil is plentiful; the malls are full of eager buyers.  People are purchasing houses again; the cranes of building again dot the skyline of our cities.  Surely, it is okay.  But the prophet peers below the surface of things, peeks under the skirts of things, looks at the bulging bellies of things, and finds dangerous corruption, painful indifference, blinded eyes.”[4]

But there’s more to the problem.  The verses immediately preceding this morning’s text make it clear that there’s a huge disconnect between Israel’s worship and doing good.  Dr. Holbert describes the problem as “comfortable worshippers” who “would rather enjoy a fine psalm, sung by a fine choir, ensconced in the beauty of the temple, and smell the pleasing odor of their sacrifices than open their eyes to the injustices that surround them.  Their worship has gotten in the way of what YHWH has called them to be and do.  For Isaiah…worship that does not lead to justice [or learning to do good] in the community is just not worship of YHWH at all!”[5]  So according to the prophet, we should all take a bath, clean up, flush evil and injustice down the drain, and become do-gooders for justice!  

So that’s the biblical witness.  But there’s even better news.  The biblical witness is actually being lived out among us, day in and day out, by countless do-gooders who simply want to put their faith into practice.  The story of one such do-gooder came to my attention last week when Mark Stoelje, the Executive Director of the Clubhouse, wrote a piece in memory of a remarkable man named Bill Knod on the tenth anniversary of his death.  Bill died on December 5, 2005.  Mark writes: 

 “When I first started with the Clubhouse 13 years ago, one of the people on the board that hired me was a man named Bill Knod.  He was the very first Clubhouse member, a faithful member of Travis Park Church, and one of the most Christ-like people I’ve ever met.

“Bill had an intellectual disability, a physical disability, AND schizophrenia. He had been hospitalized several times in the 1960’s, when mental health ‘treatment’ could be pretty horrific. Bill had undergone electroconvulsive therapy, had experienced extended periods of psychiatric institutionalization, and his marriage and his relationship with his only daughter were permanently severed due to the severity of his illness.

“In addition to his disabilities, Bill lived in poverty. He was unable to work, lived in subsidized housing and survived on about $800 a month in social security disability benefits. Bill subsidized this income as an artist who created intricate and beautiful origami pieces. I watched him work on these pieces during three weeks we had together in Salt Lake City at a Clubhouse training. Bill shared with me that he sold them every year at Travis Park Methodist Church at Christmastime. I was shocked when he told me he sold them for two dollars each (each piece took him at least an hour to complete). I knew Bill could ask quite a bit more for these beautiful works of art, and that he should, since he clearly needed the money. One day I said, ‘Bill, these pieces are amazing, and I think you could get a lot more than two dollars apiece for them.’  Bill always had this amazing personal Zen that surrounded him, and after a long pause, he said, ‘maybe so, but this way even somebody that doesn’t have a lot of money can still have something pretty.’”

“What a profound and beautiful lesson,” Mark concludes.  “Money didn’t matter to Bill. What mattered to him was sharing his gifts with other people.”[6]  It sounds to me as if Bill Knod was a do-gooder—and thank God that he was!

So how is it with us?  How will we prepare for a fresh encounter with the coming Christ by becoming a do-gooder?  I give you the silence to ponder your response.  SILENCE

Dear friends, do good!  Thanks be to God.  Amen.