WAY OF SALVATION: THE BIBLE AND THE TWELVE STEPS (Part 2 of 6)
(An exerpt from yesterday's sermon)
Gospel text for the day: Matthew 4:1-11
I spent a lot of time in church as a child, and years of observation taught me that church people sorted out into a couple of groups. One group was the “wanna be” people – they wanted things to go better for them; they wanted to be good, except they didn’t seem to be exerting much effort of their own to help things work out. The other group was the “try again” people . . . These folks chose over and over to put their effort into trying to do the right thing even when things kept going wrong.
After a while, a pattern was readily apparent. The people who had the most amazing stories about how Jesus had helped them weren’t the most perfect people, they were the people who were the try again people, the “one day at a time” people.
“One day at a time” is a mantra among the folks who are members of Alcoholics Anonymous. It means they’re living in the moment, not getting ahead of themselves. Not rushing ahead of their God. It means they’re showing up for the God they trust is going to show up for them. Even when things aren’t going well. Even when they don’t understand.
This "Way of Salvation: The Bible and the Twelve Steps" sermon series was born out of a deep longing that I had for all of us to really meet God in Lent. So I asked myself: where do I see people meeting God on a regular basis? Where do I see people’s lives really being changed? Every morning of the week, I look out my window into the church parking lot, which is full by 7:00 a.m. every day. Why? Because something is happening here that it changing people’s lives, it’s called Alcoholics Anonymous.
For some of you, the Lenten discipline you’ve chosen – praying or fasting or giving – is enough to connect you with God, it’s enough to take you the next step forward in your relationship with God. But some of you are really in a difficult spot and need a full-life overhaul. If you’re one of those folks, I want to suggest that HERE, in the Twelve Steps of AA is a faith that works.
In the years since the founding of AA, many different kinds of groups have tested the effectiveness of the Twelve Steps. Not just alcoholics and addicts, but also people with all sorts of “hurts, habits and hang-ups.” And there isn’t a one of us who doesn’t have at least a few of those!
Concern has been raised in some Christian circles that AA and the Twelve Steps might not be “Christian,” after all, they mention a “Higher Power,”, but not “GOD” in specific. In order to find out if they’re fit for us, I think we should test them against the teachings in the Bible.
The founders of AA, Bill W. and his companions, actually hit bottom in such a way that they didn’t build the Twelve Steps of AA from Scripture. Many of them were too alienated from the church for that. What they did was build the Twelve Steps of AA from their experience of what it took to get sober. And then, no surprise, folks took a look at the Steps and realized they fit right in with what the Bible teaches.
How do we see this in the steps we're considering today? [In Steps 3 and 4: 3) We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. 4) We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.]
Fundamentally, I think the questions behind these next two steps is “what truths are we willing to see?” and “what are we willing to do about those truths?” So in the first two steps we “saw” our weakness and God’s strength. But this is where the rubber meets the road: are we willing to trust God?
In today’s Gospel lesson, this is precisely the question that Jesus himself faces when he is tempted by Satan in the wilderness. Jesus has just been baptized and has started his ministry by being driven out into the wilderness by the Spirit to prepare for what lies ahead through fasting and prayer. After 40 days, Jesus is in the paradoxical position of being extremely spiritually strong, but extremely physically weak. And this is the time that Satan chooses to pounce.
It would be easier for Jesus - and for us - if Satan dangled temptations for bad things in front of us, but no! Satan tempted Jesus - and tempts us - with things he knows we long for, things we feel we need. Satan's tricky; his real temptation isn't even the things themselves, it's that he tries to get us to reach for things in the wrong way. Each time, Satan’s invitation to Jesus was to forget trusting in God and instead reach out for things on his own strength.
Each and every time, Jesus stayed strong and rebuffed Satan. How did he do it? Well, notice what he did: each and every time, he flung the very words of Scripture in Satan’s face. Jesus was victorious because he held onto what he knew to be true - about his God and about himself.
In AA, steps 3 and 4 are the pivotal point, the point where belief has to turn to action. And the most important action is willingness to see who God is and who we are. The "fearless moral inventory" isn't done to make us feel small; it's done to make us honest, to bring us nose to nose with our God, the One who raises us up.
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