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The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost August 28, 2016

This Weekend's Readings (click each reading to view the passage)

Proverbs 25:6-7; Psalm 112; Hebrews 13:1-8,15-16; Luke 14:1,7-14

Pr. Steve's Sermon: Instinct

Children's Sermon: Blessing of Backpacks

Sermon Notes from Pastor Steve...

Instinct. It comes standard with your dog! And so as I've worked on training Blake, the trainers have often told me and other dog owners that certain things that we don't understand, or even drive us a little crazy, are just normal for dogs. It's just in their instinct.

But, the trainers tell us, we can train our dogs to do certain things even if it's against their basic instincts. And one of the first things Blake and I worked on was squirrels! Squirrels are Blake's mortal enemy. He sees one and he goes nuts! He chases them all over the yard, and he's even managed to catch 3 of them so far. In fact, they're the only thing he barks at...!

Blake is not alone in being a dog who thinks squirrels are the enemy! Most dogs do, and it's not because all dog mothers tell their offspring to chase squirrels. It's just instinct.

But since my neighborhood is full of squirrels, every time I took Blake for a walk he'd nearly dislocate my shoulder by chasing after every squirrel he saw crossing the sidewalk. And so, with the trainers, we worked on the concept that we DON'T chase squirrels when we're on a leash.

And as I've worked with Blake on this for nearly 2 years now, Blake's become remarkably good at ignoring squirrels when we're out walking. A squirrel can literally scamper across the sidewalk 5 feet in front of us, and Blake barely pays any attention to him. You'd almost think the instinct was gone if you just saw Blake out for a walk.

But it's not. And that was made clear to me when we were leaving the church the other day. As I opened the door for Blake to walk out (and he was on the leash), suddenly a squirrel popped out of the bush, and Blake instantly tried to take off after it. In that split second, he forgot he was on the leash, and the instinct took over again.

And of course, that's why I keep Blake on a leash outside. Even though training can suppress the instinct, the instinct never really goes away. And you're never quite sure when it's going to manifest itself.

If you've ever had a dog, you know this, too. And all of us understand that animals of all kinds just do things by instinct. And for good or bad, there's no getting rid of the basic instincts in animals.

But we usually DON'T like to think this is the case with people. Sure, we may admit that people also have certain instincts, but we master them. We can use our superior intellect and our moral compass to suppress and even eliminate any instinct we have that's immoral, embarrassing or just gets in our way.

And honestly, some of our instincts are good. Our instincts can help us appreciate a good opportunity when we see one. They can alert us to danger. And a healthy dose of "self-preservation" instinct has helped humans survive as a species.

But even though we may train ourselves to keep our less respectable instincts in check, those instincts remain, even when we don't want to admit it.

And so I've always found it helpful that one of the best operative definitions of "sin" describes "sin" as essentially an instinct. In the 5^th century, St. Augustine described "sin" as the condition of "being turned in on yourself." Augustine didn't list a bunch of bad words or deeds. He essentially just said that "sin" should be understood as the basic human instinct to think about yourself instead of God or other people.

It's that instinct which Jesus is confronting in today's Gospel reading - it's the instinct to exalt yourself; it's the instinct to wonder "what's in it for me"; it's the instinct to grab a spot at the table without even considering who else might want or need to be there.

And the difference between people who always seem self-centered and people who always seem to think of others instead of themselves is NOT that some people have a "self-centered" instinct and some don't. The difference is merely a matter of training! The instinct is always there, and never really goes away.

That's why you'll notice that Jesus doesn't tell his hearers, "be glad that you don't have any self-centered instinct like these guys!" And he also doesn't tell them that they can rid themselves of the instinct. Instead, essentially what Jesus is doing is giving people some training advice.

Jesus is telling us that the innate instinct to be turned in on oneself is always within us. So if we're going to keep it in check, and pull ourselves out of ourselves, we need to train ourselves to:

Use our own sense of self-interest as a "leash"; it's interesting that Jesus' first illustration of taking a higher spot at the table reminds people that they may be "disgraced" by being asked to take a lower place - it's essentially using "self interest" against itself in order to get people to think about others...

Consider how our own self-interest plays into our decision making, instead of just pretending that we're of course being the kind and altruistic folks we yearn to be ... (like the old song from "Man of La Mancha" - "I'm Only Thinking of Him"!)

Actively do things that go against your self-interest - share your food and money with people who can't repay you; give somebody else your seat; do some things you'd just rather not do...

In the end, the instinct of sin stays with all of us. And that's why the cure for this instinct isn't denial or even good training. It's only forgiveness.

Forgiveness is the assurance that God loves us in spite of our instincts. Forgiveness is the promise that God's claim on us as his children is what defines us in God's eyes, not our instincts. And forgiveness is the radical claim that Jesus' obedience and sacrifice for us is more significant than all of the times we haven't kept our instinct in check.

And it's because we can be secure in that forgiveness that we can give up on the denial that the instinct of sin exists in each of us. And because we don't have to spend time and energy pretending and making ourselves look good, we instead have time to work on training!

And Jesus calls us to work on training not in order to get or keep God's love and forgiveness. Instead, Jesus calls us to work on training so that our words and deeds more fully reflect God's love. Jesus calls us to work on training so that we develop more of an instinct to think and care for others instead of just ourselves. And Jesus calls us to work on training so that we ourselves can be transformed more and more into the kind of people God made us to be.

Amen.