20230609 Clean your room¶
Welcome¶
Good morning, my name is Clifton Bartholomew, and I am a local preacher here at UMC.
It is always so good to share with you all. Welcome again to any visitors and to all our online guests as well.
I always like to say before I preach that I am a teacher by training and so I am very used to being interrupted. If anyone is brave enough to raise their hand and ask a question or give an input, it is warmly welcomed.
Introduction¶
Jab 1 - The Dunning-Kruger effect¶
In the weeks prior to starting, I was in love with the idea of teaching. I had just come out of the software development world where the company I had worked for had chewed me up and spat me out, now I was headed into a field that would be fill with meaning. And man, oh man, was the education world lucky that I was coming. I knew everything that was wrong with education. My lessons werent going to be boring where we just did these rote problems, I wasn't going to give kids tons of homework, I was going to make maths the most exciting thing these kids had ever done.
And then I started the job... and kids didn't sit still and it turned out that learning requires repetition and that homework was important to get extra time on math problems and that math was still boring no matter how many ribbons I tied around it. Teaching is hard....
What we actually find is that the more we know, the more we know that we don't know.
Jab 2 - Facebook experts¶
One of the most fascinating things about the covid lockdowns were the sheer number of Epidemiology experts that just came out of the cracks. Everyone who had watched a video on Facebook now had an opinion on how the government should be handling the epidemic. I am sure that we have all come into contact with Facebook experts in our lives? Maybe we have even become one at some point.
Armed with a bit of knowledge we feel like we know the answers.
Jab 3 - There is too much overconfident incompetence¶
Now we can laugh about these two examples, but I think that this kind of overconfident incompetence is what is hurting our world. We are a world of Facebook experts and whatsapp group keyboard warriors who are ready to judge and point out all the problems and what their brilliant solutions are but they are not willing to do the hard work of self-reflection, of understanding the problem, of understanding their own role in that they are contributing to the darkness of the world.
Because we all contribute. And this is the dangerous part, we drastically overestimate our own self-righteousness. "Not me", we say, "I am not that bad, at least I am not like the catholics... or those people who litter, or like the corrupt people in the governement, I would never be like that".
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone".
There is a darkness that exists within us all and we need to be willing to accept it and understand it, reflect on it. Otherwise we are living with an inflated sense of self, not aware of the harm we are perpetuating in the world. In order to do the most good in the world, we need to first understand the bad that we are each capable of if the circumstances were right.
In order to change the world, we need to clean our rooms.
Right Hook - Paul digs deep¶
In the Romans passage that we read today we see this great line from Paul "15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me."
This is self-reflection to the next level. He has an unbelievable awareness about what is happening within him and the inner workings of what it means to be human. Paul calls this darkness within him "sin". I hope that we can take a new look at sin, at what it is, what it does and maybe grow a little in our understanding of who we are as human beings.
Explanation¶
Teaching Point 1 - Sin is in us¶
The first lesson that we can learn from the reading is that sin is a part of us.
Now I found this difficult to palate when I was younger, I felt like how it was spoken about was that we as humans have this stain, this inherent evil. It made me reject wanting to call myself a sinner. Its like admitting to being an addict. It feels dirty.
But the word sin is not important here. This is the word we have given this observation as Christians. But it is also called evil, darkness, the dark side of the soul, the black wolf, the shadow self.
It does not mean we are inherently evil, it does not mean that we are inherently bad, it means that we are human and that within us we have two halves - dark and light.
Another important point to make is that we do not necessarily have to think about sin as specific misdeeds or wrong doings, although this is important at times, to think about the specific actions that we are doing in our lives. But this morning I want to speak of sin as the general pervasive power bending all things toward destruction and death.
We need to acknowledge that we have a dark side and none of us have escaped this negative side of human nature.
Teaching Point 2 - Sin is subtle¶
The second lesson that we can learn from the reading is that sin is subtle.
No matter how hard we try, sin gets into everything. It is like glitter, though not as sparkly. You can never quite get rid of it.
In his book Feasting on the Word, Author Ted Smith speaks of the pervasiveness of sin in Paul's life:
Paul, a devout Jew, followed the law that was meant to bring about righteousness. Sin got in there.
This is a danger: We think we are a lot better than we are. And this is why we need to reflect. If we were asked: "Would you have become a guard in one of the concentration camps at Auswitz?". Our instinctual answer is "NO!!!! Hell no". Yet, I remember in the KZN riots, standing on the bridge at Tiffany's at 3am in the morning next to men with large guns wanting to protect ourselves from the stampede of the poor. Looking back, it feels like if that continued over a few months/years, how normal people can easily slide into deep sin.
We often think we are a lot more in control of ourselves than we actually are. But if you think just how much control we have over our bodies, it is close to nothing. We are unaware of most of reality. Sin being one of those things.
Teaching Point 3 - Sin is serious¶
The last thing that we can learn, not from this part of Romans but in the previous chapter Romans 6.23 says that the wages of sin are death.
One of the biggest problems, is the lack of humility and an abundance of hubris. Unreflective people with a little bit of power can do a lot of damage. We all are contributing to the net effect of sin in the world and we need to see how.
We look at Putin, or Trump. We read in History books of the insecure people in power who reeked havoc in the world. And closer to home, I have witnessed powerfully wealthy families in the schools that I have taught at who as a family are HUGELY narcissistic. The world must bow to them and they know everything we are doing wrong and how we should fix it.
Application¶
Sin is in us, sin is subtle and sin is serious. There are three things that I feel we can take away with us from looking at this.
Action 1 - Acknowledge¶
I hope that we can see that calling ourselves sinners is not a task that racks guilt onto our shoulders but is rather a call to self reflection. - I dont say I am a sinner because I did these 7 things last week, although we are able to do this sometimes. - I say I am a sinner because I am human. Human nature is not perfect. - I say I am a sinner to keep my ego in check. - I say I am a sinner to remember that it is by grace that I am even alive. - I say I am a sinner to remind myself that I am one and the same as everyone else.
Action 2 - Reflect¶
Christianity points inward. The most attractive thing for me in Christianity is the call to humility. We are one and the same. There is neither jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, we all belong to the body. Here are a few pills for us to swallow: - Luke 18.9-14 - where Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee who went to a temple to pray and the Pharisee essentially says: "Thank God I am not like that tax collector." - John 8.1-7 - where Jesus says "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone". - Matthew 7.3-5 - where Jesus says "Do not take the speck out of your brothers eye without taking the log out of yours". - Luke 18.9-14 - where Jesus tells of the parable of the two who go to the temple and the Pharisee says: Thank God I am not like that tax collector.
All reveal this idea of not judging others without doing the work on yourself. Jordan Peterson has this as one of his rules in 12 Rules for Life, set your house in order before you criticize the world.
To change the world, clean your room.
Action 2 - Train¶
Find a spiritual program.
How can we break free from sin? From death? - You cant. - I like to think of sin as the impossible weeds of the soul and having a spiritual practice is like taking a weed eater to the weeds. This never gets rid of the roots, we can never get rid of the roots, we can only cut back recent growth. - 28 "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." - We can only surrender and it is God who changes us.
The 12 steps.
One Liner¶
To change the world, clean your room