“The Ripple Effect”

Philippians 3:17-4:1

March 4^th, and 7^th, 2004

Saint Paul United Methodist Church

Rev. John Fleming

It has been a while since I have done it. On one of my Fridays off, I think that I will go in search of a small lake and some smooth stones. Well, I guess that I should now tell you what this thing is that I have not done in a while. When I was a lot younger than I am now, I used to like to go to Muse Park, a city owned park not far from the house of my growing up years. North Parkway, a major road in Jackson, split the park in half. There was a walkway that was elevated above the road, so that you could get from one side of the park to the other. On one side of the street were the softball and baseball fields that I ended up playing games on, many years later. On the other side of the street were a couple of tennis courts tucked away down the winding road, nature trails clearly marked that were great even for the youngest of explorers. To the right, as you entered that side of the park, taking up most of the acreage was Muse Lake. The City of Jackson claimed that there were enough fish in the lake for every child to catch at least one a day. They also claimed that they restocked the lake from time to time. But I do not think that I ever saw anyone catch a fish in my years of being in the park. Motor boats were not allowed on the lake. It was too small and so if you wanted to fish, then you had to do it off of one of the two piers that could be found on either side of the lake.

When the fish would not bite, I often found myself climbing off of the pier to the bank that was there and down there with the mud, if you looked carefully, you could easily find smooth stones. There were two games that I liked to play with those stones. In the first one, I would put the smooth stone in my throwing hand. I would position it just right and then I would throw it sidearm, trying my best to keep it as low as I could so that it would skip across the water and hit the water in several different places on it’s way to the bottom of the lake. If my aim was good, then it might skip as many as four or five times as it went across Muse Lake. Each time I threw it, I tried to out skip the rock that had just come before it. You have played that game before, haven’t you? Then there was the second game. This one, too, involved the throwing of a rock, but this time, a bigger rock. And this time, instead of positioning my arm to the side, I would put the rock behind my right ear. With all my might, I would throw the rock as far as I could. I tried my best to follow the path of the stone and watch it hit the water. And when it did, I watched as the ripples made their way toward the shore line. Like the first game, I tried my best to outdo myself each time, trying to throw the rock farther than I had the time before. I loved to watch the ripples make their way to the shoreline. One of these Fridays, I am going to find a lake and some smooth stones and play those games again.

If you would let the preacher in me say this, this morning, our lives are a lot like, or at least should be like those stones, hitting the water with a loud kerplunk and rippling out and touching those around us. There is a great scene in the movie, It’s A Wonderful Life. I know that it is way past the Christmas season, but I still want to paint this scene for you using words. You will remember that one of the movie’s main characters, George Bailey, is at the end of his rope and considers ending his life. With an insurance policy in one of his jacket’s pockets, George says that he is worth more dead than alive. With his guardian angel, Clarence Goodbody, listening in, George wishes that he had never been born. If you have seen the movie, then you know that George is granted the wish and for the rest of the movie, has the chance to see what his life would have been like if he had not been born. In the middle of trying to figure all that out, Clarence, the angel, says these words to George, “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around, he leaves an awfully big hole, doesn’t he?” You see, that is the ripple effect.

The apostle, Paul, writing to what a lot of people have considered his favorite church, the one in Philippi, certainly knew about the power of touching people’s lives. He tried to do that in every church that he had founded and the ones that he assumed pastoral leadership for. He tried to do that in Galatia, and Corinth, and Thessolonica, and Rome and Colossae. But he especially wanted to touch the lives of the people in the church in Philippi. From prison he writes these words that many have considered to be one of his upbeat letters. Some have even called this letter of his, an epistle of joy, because within it’s pages, four chapters long, the word joy appears five different times. I do not think that I could be so upbeat from a prison cell.

But, when we arrive at our lesson for this morning, the last thing on the apostle’s mind is joy. The first thing on his mind is concern. Listen to a line or two again of our lesson. Paul writes, “For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them and now I tell you even with tears.” I like how Eugene Peterson’s version of this passage reads. Listen to his words, “All they want is easy street. They hate Christ’s cross. But easy street is a dead end street. Those who live there make their bellies their gods; belches are their praise; all they can think of is their appetites.”

I want to tell you this, I think that I am a pretty good listener. I try to pay attention when people tell me things. Though on more than one occasion, Susie has said to me, “You haven’t heard a word that I have said, have you?” That is another sermon! So I try to listen. I try to pay attention. But when someone tells me something with tears that form in their eyes and then drop down their cheeks, I really pay attention. In my life, a few times, I have had people tell me important things, not about them, but about something that they hope for me, with tears streaming down their cheeks. When that happens, it is important and you must not miss it. I think that that is what Paul is doing here. He tells them of his tears because they are apart from one another. So what is this important thing? Well, Paul says that there are some people in Philippi, and maybe they are even in the church who are what he calls enemies of the cross. I do not mind telling you that I searched high and low in books and commentaries trying to find out who these enemies were. There were some guesses, of course. One commentator suggested that these enemies of the cross might have been people in Philippi who said that the cross was not important. He used a word to describe it and the word was crosslessness. As if to say that the cross never had to happen. Another commentator said that these enemies held on to all the rules and regulations of the old religion, and holding on to Christ, too. So the freedom from rules really did not matter. On the other end of the scale was the idea that because the cross happened we can do anything that we want to do. Bad behavior is acceptable, because forgiveness belongs to us. So what is the answer? Who are these enemies of the cross? The answer is I do not know! What I do is that they can be characterized with an end that is destruction, gods that are inward desires, and shame as their glory. How does Paul put this? He says that their minds are set on earthly things.

So what is the apostle’s advice? With the tears streaming down his cheeks, there in his prison cell, what does he want us to do? What he wants us to do, he says two different ways. First, he says, “Join in imitating me.” I am glad that I did not have to write those words. I have to be careful, we have to be careful, in the way that we live our lives. I have learned this especially with a nearly three year old who watches every move that I make and listens to every word that I say. I do not mind telling you that these words of Paul sound arrogant. Imitate me, says Paul. Well, if I were writing the words to you, I think that I would write, “Do as I say. Don’t do as I do!” I think Paul has this in mind, to follow him as long as his example is the example of Christ. Paul says to join in imitating him, but then he says to observe those who live according to the example that you have in us. Not just me, says Paul, but all the people surrounding them, people who had passed through Philippi, like young Timothy. Follow their lead, says Paul, and listen to those who are leading the way. We are called to a higher standard of living.

Then Paul says a word that I have learned to pay attention to. Whenever Paul writes the word, therefore, I have learned to pay attention to what comes next. Whatever is next is always crucial and important. What follows the therefore is praise for them and the counsel to stand firm.

Well, what should we do with these words this morning? Could I ask you to go home considering this question? Who are the people who have thrown the rocks into the lakes and whose ripples affect you still? Here is what I think. I think that the danger for us is not people inside our neighborhood here or even in our church who we might call enemies of the cross. I think that the danger is inside of us to not live lives that please God. I have told you before that I grew up in the church. If you have listened to my sermons, you have heard me say that there have not been significant times when I was absent from the church. Oh, there might have been a Sunday or two or three in college, when I missed church. But by and large, I have never left the walls of any church. I am probably not going anywhere and the chances of me doing something

not so good are not great. I think that I know why. I think that it is because of those people in my life, whose ripples and examples hit me over and over again.

Because I am the preacher and have a microphone, I would like to share about the people whose ripples affect me. This past Tuesday would have been my aunt’s eighty fifth birthday. As most of you know, she died in September. It would have also been my grandfather’s one hundred and twelfth birthday. Both of these people, my grandfather and his daughter, were great examples to me. I cannot remember a single time that either or them quoted a bible story to me. I cannot remember a time that we prayed together, though I am sure that that often happened. What I remember is their example. I remember that they lived good lives and when they died, the people that they knew, spoke highly of them. How does Paul put this, “...observe those who live according to the example you have in us.” George Bailey’s angel, Clarence, was right. “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around, he leaves an awfully big hole, doesn’t he?” Tonight, would you remember the people whose very memory of them makes you stand and do right. And one other thing. Would you be those people for others? Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, me beloved. Let us pray.

(Special thanks to Frank Capra and his movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. It is the kind of movie that can be watched anything, not just at Christmas. Special thanks to Julia Lee Moore and Louis Henderson Moore, whose example leads me still).