Proclaimed on August 15, 2004

After the service one Sunday morning a man approached his priest with a question, “Tell me, Father, are there any golf courses in heaven? I gotta know.” After a moment of quiet reflection the priest responded, “I’ll say a special prayer and ask God.”

The following week the man approached the priest again with the same question. This time the priest answered, “There’s good news and there is bad news.” The man responded, “Give me the good news first.” Concurring the priest said, “The good news is that yes, there are golf courses in heaven. Beautiful courses where the sun always shines, the grass is always green, and you never have to wait for a tee off.” “Marvelous,” said the man, “What’s the bad news?” The priest answered, “You tee off Tuesday at 8:00!”

Believe it or not, this is what our lessons are about. Jeremiah shares that the words of the Lord are like fire or a hammer that breaks a rock. Jesus states that he came to cast fire on the earth and how he wished it were already kindled. Indeed, Jesus went on to share that he would bring division. Can you see the words on our Church marquee for these Scriptures: “Good news--Families divided,” or, “Division--the Christian Ideal.” The question is, “Is this good news, or, . . . is it bad news?”

Let me sum it up. The goods news is that the Lord loves us more than we can ever realize. God only wants the very best for us. The bad news is that oftentimes we do not accept what the Lord has for us. Why? Because it appears to be too intolerant. It comes across as being too exclusive. Sometimes the Lord seems to be too dogmatic and even rigid.

This is certainly the debate that rages in the Church today, especially in the Anglican Communion. Today those things that were once considered settled are now open to doubt and intense discussion. The new secretary-general of the Anglican Communion, Canon Kenneth Kearon, recently acknowledged these divisions when he stated in a BBC interview, “Churches are essentially about community and building community. And community is not only about positive things, but they also sometimes have their tensions.”

Here is another question, “Is the Church really about community?” David Virtue, publisher of Virtuosity, takes issue with this identity. He believes that the Church is more like a family. For instance, take a gated community. The people live in it because they can afford a certain lifestyle. They get along because they are genial, sophisticated, and have very little to do with one another. A family, on the other hand, is messy. It is messy because we have to relate to people closely that we do not always like or agree with. In a community, because we have little to do with one another, we can do just about whatever we want. But in a family, whose goal is to teach values and make “good” people, responsibilities are expected of us and we are disciplined when we do not live up to the family’s values. Unlike a community, we cannot just withdraw when we don’t like it. In a family a son or daughter remains a son or daughter whether they conform or not.

The Scriptures do not teach that the Church is a “community.” Rather, the Church is patterned after a “family” in which God is the “father” and we are God’s “adopted children.” Therefore, as the writer of the Book of Hebrews states, “The Lord disciplines the ones whom he loves” and the one who refuses discipline cannot be a child of God.

But in today’s culture, discipline is not very popular. The late J. Edgar Hoover of FBI fame once spoke at a Parent-Teacher’s Association. He said in terms of parenting, “After studying literally hundreds of thousands of cases, I’ve been forced to come to the conclusion that family discipline is rather the exception than the rule today. Boys and girls don’t become bad overnight. They get away with little things because their parents are too careless or too soft to punish them. Presently the little offenses become big offenses and the discipline they get is the harsh discipline of the penitentiary.” Stated in the context of the Scriptures, “A parent who refuses to discipline a child is saying to that child, ‘You’re not worth the trouble to love!’”

Discipline is difficult because it is painful. Obviously it is painful to the one who receives it! But it likewise painful to the one who dispenses it. There is great truth that many of us heard from our parents in the words they said while punishing us, “This is going to hurt me more than it will hurt you.” Of course, our natural response is, “Yea, right!” But let us take a closer look at how we are disciplined by God.

In a particular family there was a child named Sean who complained about going to bed. Every night the ritual was the same, “Sean, it’s time to go to bed.” And the response, “But, Da-a-a-a-ad, it’s too early! Why do I have to go to bed when I’m not tired?” (Yawn) “Well, not very tired anyway?” Sean’s parents continued to deal with him quietly and gently, but insistently. Finally his father decided something had to be done. “Son, your mother and I love you. We send you to bed for your health and energy. It’s good for you to get the right amount of sleep. If I hear one more complaint about going to your nice room and soft bed, then you will go and sleep in the attic!”

The next night it was the same story; the same routine of grumbling and complaining when bedtime came. Sean’s parents looked at each other, then looked at their son, and made him get his blankets and go to bed on the cold attic floor. After the disciplined child went up, Sean’s mother tried to knit, but dropped more stitches than what she made. Sean’s father read the paper for ten minutes before he discovered that it was upside down. Finally, with a deep sigh, Sean’s father got his own blankets, went up to the attic and slept that night beside his son. The question is, “Who suffered the most from the ordeal of that night?”

Yes, the good news is that that God believes that we are worth the trouble to love! The good news is that we can expect to be disciplined. And what might the bad news be? Who is going to suffer the most? We who need to be disciplined? Or our God who only wants our best? Our God who will not compromise nor stop until we get the best?

The answer is just more good news! Just look at Jesus on the Cross! Like Sean’s father going to bed with him in the attic, . . . God not only shares in our suffering, but even goes so far as to take our own well deserved punishment upon himself. Therefore, any discipline we receive is far less than what we deserve and what God has already taken upon himself on our behalf. When you stop to think about it, ultimately with God there is simply no bad news!