Note: You can watch this teaching on CrossWalk’s YouTube channel.
I sinned. One way of defining sin is “the culpable disturbance of shalom.” I was deserving of blame – my part, anyway – of not honoring, seeking, cultivating, fostering, thinking, being, acting, feeling, extending, perpetuating, or spreading deep peace, wellbeing, wholeness, or restoration. I sinned.
My sin had to do with my attitude and behavior (as it always does). My sinful behavior was related to my speech. No, I wasn’t dropping F-bombs and using the Lord’s name in vain as often as possible. My sin had to do with the carelessness and crassness of my language toward people that were no like me. Not my race. Not my gender. Not my cultural background. Not my sexual orientation. Slang words were used to speak of others who fell into those categories. Most who knew me back then, by the way, would not likely remember me as standing out for my slurs. In fact, most would probably think I was generally polite. Yet I remember the destructive words and phrases which disintegrated shalom and its potential. What does this mean? It means I was normal, and normal was sinful, responsible for disturbing shalom.
Frederick William Faber, a hymn writer and theologian (he wrote the familiar hymn, Faith of our Fathers) offered this insight on kindness: “A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves.” This reminds me of the early Jewish story of the twin brothers Esau and Jacob. They competed before they left the womb. Their dad, Isaac, played favorites. Their mom, Rebekah, did too. There was a major grievance between the two that led to their relationship’s dissolution for decades. When they both matured after many years of life’s crucible, they chose shalom.
The Apostle Paul, who wrote two thirds of the New Testament “books” was no stranger to being offended or being an offender. He had something to say while he sat under house arrest in Rome awaiting his eventual death. His words are instruction and invitation:
God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.
And so I insist—and God backs me up on this—that there be no going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd. They've refused for so long to deal with God that they've lost touch not only with God but with reality itself. They can't think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion.
But that's no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It's rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.
What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ's body we're all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.
Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don't use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don't stay angry. Don't go to bed angry. Don't give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.
Did you used to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can't work.
Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.
Don't grieve God. Don't break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don't take such a gift for granted.
Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. – Ephesians 4:15-5:2 (MSG)
He wrote a letter to another nearby community at the same time where he wrote similar words:
So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.
Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.
And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That's a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It's because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn't long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it's all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.
Don't lie to one another. You're done with that old life. It's like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you've stripped off and put in the fire. Now you're dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.
Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way...
Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out. – Colossians 3:1-17, 4:6 (MSG)
The above is worthy of our time. Perhaps we can start our day with these for a week and see what a difference it makes in helping us not sin but bring more shalom into our lives and world.
Nearly two years ago I was invited to be a part of an initiative from First Five Napa County, an organization that seeks to protect and improve the lives of our youngest community members, knowing the first five years of our lives predict a lot about how our remaining years might unfold. We learned a lot about ourselves, our community, our capacity, and about how we might bring about more shalom for more people in Napa County. The second cohort recently completed their training, and I was made aware from a couple of their members of a project that we can all be part of if we choose. The project is called “Napa Strong Enough”. The gist is that we promote shalom for all people in Napa with a yard sign, and that we pledge to shape our lives and speech accordingly. As you can easily see, focus is given to those in our community who are often easily targeted as “others” with language and behavior that restricts them from experiencing the shalom we are called to foster.
Simply putting a yard sign in front of our homes and businesses is a really important action, but so is pledging to live into its goal.
I invite you to consider this invitation not simply from First 5 Napa Network, but from the heart of God. This is who We are. We choose this because we believe everyone is made in the image of God – there are no “others” – there is only “us”. We choose to take this pledge because it is completely in line with being more rooted in shalom, promoting shalom, extending shalom for ourselves and the whole world. We do this because it is, I believe, in line with “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Will you post a sign? Will you take the pledge? CrossWalk has a limited supply of them for $10 each. You can make a donation online and swing by and pick one up or email us and we’ll deliver a sign to you.
May you choose to recognize your sin and choose to stop. May you recognize ways to do the opposite of getting in the way of the Kingdom of God. May you choose to join God in creating a world where shalom becomes more and more the source of life and the standard with which we measure our attitude, behavior, and policy. May it be so.