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One of my favorite characters in one of my favorite shows, Parks and Recreation, is Ron Swanson. Ron is one of those characters with broad interests rehanging from woodworking to jazz who can be a curmudgeon one instant to warm and loyal the next. In one episode, Ron finds out about all the different ways his computer and phone are tracking him and building a profile on him. Ron decides to erase all traces of himself online and “get off the grid”.
The problem is that Ron is not alone. He is married with a wife and kids. As he gets ready to buy a van to complete his journey off the grid, his wife, Diane, finds him and chastises him. Turns out, one of their daughters needed to be picked up and no one could get in touch with him. Diane reminds Ron, very strongly, of his responsibilities as “a husband and father.” After Ron explains what he’s been trying to do, she says, “Well you don’t have to be entirely on the grid, but you have to be on our grid.” Ron rightfully concedes, and afterwards Ron gets a yesteryear model flip phone that only his wife and daughters have the number to.
Because Ron is connected to others, he can’t simply go off and do whatever he wants. He’s called by his family to do certain things. He’s called on to take on the responsibilities they need him to do.
The same is true for us. As Christians, we are not called to just do whatever we want. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to behave in a certain way even. Paul lays out the fruits of the Spirit to the Galatians: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness (or generosity), faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
Paul also calls the Galatians to avoid the “works of the flesh”. It is interesting to note how many of these have to do with living in community, works such as “enmities, strife, jealousy anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy”. The Galatians were dealing with conflict in Paul’s writing to them, mainly the conflict of following Paul’s message of Grace or the message of others to follow the Law. The greater point is that we are all called to be together in community. In this call, Paul points the Galatians to the very Command we read this morning at the start of the service, as we do every Sunday: “love your neighbor as yourself.”
How we behave matters. How we behave towards one another matters as well. We are not called to live in a vacuum. We are not given the luxury of acting as we want. We are called to live in the way God would have us.
God often calls on us to take on specific tasks in service to our Lord. We see this in Luke with the three potential disciples. The first and last make the bold statement that they will follow after Jesus, in much the same way that Elisha follows after Elijah no matter what in 2 Kings, which Elisha does do. Jesus, however, let these potential followers know what that means. It means wandering around, often with no place to call home. It means not looking back at the life we had before, but seeking ahead after the Kingdom of God.
Jesus even calls one of these potential disciples Himself, but when He does so, the response is conditional. He asks that Jesus first allow him to bury his father. There is much debate on this phrase, whether the man’s father is already dead, or whether the man wants time before following Jesus. The point is that he is not immediately ready to do what the Lord has asked. That is what Jesus is trying to show him.
As Christians, we are not called to live our lives just as we want. We are called to live our lives as God would have us live them. That means learning to live in community with others, even when we don’t like or agree with everyone. That means when God calls, we listen, even if our entire life gets uprooted. We do not live unto ourselves. We live unto the Lord.
It can be a hard thing to realize this truth, that our lives are to be lived to God and God alone. Yet every Sunday we hear reasons why we should. Our Psalm things morning, even, speaks to the wonders of the Lord and to God’s redemptive works not just for us through Jesus Christ but also in the past with the people of Israel.
This year for the Season after Pentecost, our Old Testament, the Tanakh, readings will focus on the Prophets. These are those who spoke out for God, even at risk to their life and even when no one would listen to them. I ask that you pay close attention to their words, for God still speaks through them. You may not always like what you hear. You may not always want to listen. Yet the words we hear from Sunday to Sunday tell us where God is calling us to be.
God doesn’t simply allow us to live as we want. God has a pattern of living laid out in Scripture like our reading from Galatians today. God calls us to greater service in the Name of the Lord, even when it means putting our old life behind. It can be hard to put our past life aside, yet as we see constantly in our lives and in Scripture, doing so gains us a life that is so much better. It gains us a Resurrected Life, a life worth living not as we want, but as God wants.