November 21, 2003 We hope you enjoy  Sample Sermon Number 2 from the Sunday Sermons CD-ROM Collection Dear fellow preacher: We are delighted to offer free sample sermons selected from the Sunday Sermons CD-ROM Collection Classic Edition. Click here to order the full version (1,147 full-text sermons).

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A Seamless Robe
Don't be a carbon copy!

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself"
Mark 12:31

There is a wonderful "New Yorker" magazine cartoon which depicts a woman, scowling, as she says:

One day Arnie, my husband, pointed out to me that every word I said sounded exactly like my mother. So he sent me into analysis and I worked on it for a year. But when I thought I sounded better, Arnie, my husband, pointed out to me that every word I said sounded exactly like my father. He sent me back into analysis and I worked on it for a year. But when I thought I sounded better, Arnie (he's my husband) pointed out that every word I said sounded like my analyst. So he had me change analysts and I worked on it for a year. Now it is over six months and every word I say sounds like my husband. He thinks I'm cured!

The poet E. E. Cummings once said that in a world that is doing its best day and night to make you into everybody else, trying to be nobody but yourself means to fight the hardest battle that any human being can fight -- and the battle never ends. Psychiatrists tell us that the refusal to be oneself is a commonplace problem and a major cause of inferiority complexes, feelings of insecurity, personal frustrations and even anti-social behavior. In the words of one prominent practitioner, "The greatest tragedy in life is that while we were born originals, we die carbon copies." It seems that while God works to bring out our uniqueness, we work to be like everybody else.

One reason for the immense popularity of the "Peanuts" comic strips is that so many of us can readily identify with poor Charlie Brown's lack of self-esteem. In one "Peanuts" episode, we find Lucy leaning back in her booth marked, "Psychiatric Help, 5ð." She is saying to her "patient,"

All right, Charlie Brown, let's put it another way. Each of us has a grocery cart and the world is our supermarket. The world is filled with wonderful things. Push your cart down the aisles, Charlie Brown! Push it right up to the check-out counter! Poor Charlie Brown, as usual, uses the occasion to put himself down: "Which one?" he asks. "I think have five items or less!"

God did not create us to be like Charlie Brown, or anyone else. Rather, God wants us to appreciate the immense value of our own unique personhood. We are not born with this sense of our true worth as a one-of-a-kind masterpiece of God's creation. It must be acquired. It is an essential element in the process of spiritual growth -- an ongoing learning experience. "I have learned," wrote the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians.

"I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased and I know how to abound. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:11-13). When Paul put pen to paper and wrote those words, he was a poor, oppressed, persecuted, malnourished prisoner. Although the entire letter is contained in less than three pages of the New Testament, nevertheless Paul uses the word "joy" sixteen times. No Charlie Brown was Paul. Even in the worst situations, Paul was a supremely joy-filled, "together" person. In language that is clear, direct and unmistakable, he confidently tells us the reason why: "We rejoice," he says, "in our hope of sharing the glory of God ... and hope does not disappoint us; because God's love has been poured into our hearts ..." (Phil. 5:2-5). Paul was in on the secret that, from the moment he came into being, God's love for him was special; that in God's eyes he, Paul, was special. This may seem unfair of God -- until we get in on the secret that you and everyone else (no exceptions) are special in God's eyes.

You are the only you God chooses to bring into His human family. Your particular human potential is uniquely beautiful in God's eyes. God, in His infinite wisdom, considered it worth His while to give you life. Knowing this, how can you not appreciate your immense worthwhileness?

Paul says it all in one short sentence: "I can do all things in Him who strengthens me." Clearly, Paul held himself in high esteem. Clearly, he was totally aware of the Source of his self-esteem. Paul knew that the power he possessed to be his own person, to do his own thing and rejoice in it, came from within. He had learned how to reach down to the core of his being and immerse his spirit in the never-ending flow of Divine love poured into his heart.

We are not meant to be aimless wanderers in our journey through life, but to follow directions. If we're looking "out there" somewhere for our life's fulfillment, we're looking in the wrong direction. Some of us are looking for other persons to build up our ego. Some of us are looking for "things" to rejoice in. What we fail to realize is that we cannot be ourself, we cannot appreciate our own true worth, we cannot win the battle for genuine self-esteem unless we are willing to risk the deep inward journey into the flow of God's love. Only then can we stand tall with Paul and say with supreme confidence, "I can do all things in Him who strengthens me ... I have learned, in every state I am, to be content." Only then can we "rejoice in our hope of sharing the Glory of God."

In today's Gospel Lesson, one of the Scribes asks Jesus, "Which commandment is first of all?" Jesus answers, "... you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these" (Mk. 12:28-31). The Scribe agrees wholeheartedly, saying, "You are right, teacher ... to love Him with all the heart and all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." And when Jesus saw that the Scribe had answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God" (Mk. 12:32-34).

Notice, Jesus does not separate the two great commandments, He combines them. He is saying, in effect, as He says in other ways many times, "You can't do one without the other." God pours His love into your heart, commands you to love Him in return, calls you into union with Himself, affirms your individual, special, unique worthwhileness, and thus, urges you to hold yourself in high esteem. At the same time He commands you to love your neighbor: to affirm your neighbor's individual, special, unique worthwhileness, and thus, to hold your neighbor in high esteem. "Love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus is telling you that God's love is not subject to limitation, ever. Either you accept it as universal or you deny it. You cannot see yourself as an object of God's love, and, therefore, love yourself in this sense, if you do not simultaneously love your neighbor for the same reason.

There is the story of a man who said he was looking for a one-armed lawyer. "A one-armed lawyer?" asked his friend. "How come?" The man replied, "I'm looking for an attorney who won't keep saying, 'On the one hand, and on the other hand.'" With apologies for the imagery, permit me to say that the great commandment of love was drafted in the style of a one-armed lawyer. It does not imply that on the one hand we can love God and on the other hand we can love ourselves and on the other hand we can love our neighbor. Love of God and self and neighbor are inseparable. The great commandment of love is a seamless robe. If you have chosen to wear it, you can rejoice in the hope of sharing in the Glory of God; you are not far from the Kingdom of God.

 

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