Living Well
or
The Good Life
a sermon by Rev. Michael Gladish
Dawson Creek, BC, September 23rd, 2007
"So the Lord (Jehovah) said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And his desire is for you, but you rule over him'" (Genesis 4:6-7).
Everyone wants to live well. Everyone wants to have "a good life" and be happy. Most of us, if we think much about God, want to live in a way that is acceptable to Him. The trouble is that we are often deceived or not very careful in our thinking about what is acceptable, and the understanding of what brings true happiness is elusive, as is that happiness itself.
Today we are going to be considering the third of the three most fundamental concepts in the church -- or really, in any religion. The first, two weeks ago, was about knowing God; the second, last week, was about understanding the Bible. Both of these sermons are available in printed form and on our website if anyone would like to review them. Today our topic is the good life, or how to respond appropriately to the teachings that God has given us.
And so we begin at the beginning -- or near it, with the story of Cain and Abel. At first it seems a cruel story, Cain's anger being a response to some unfair treatment by the Lord. Cain brings an offering to the Lord and it is rejected! Why?! We aren't told at first, and so this negative response seems unprovoked. No wonder Cain is angry! But further down we see the reason: "If you do well, will you not be accepted?" The clear message is that he had not done well, and that that was why he was not accepted.
But now it is important to notice an error in the standard translations of this passage. Usually we read, "...sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." This sounds right, and even leads to thoughts of confirming New Testament passages, like the place where Jesus tells Peter "Satan has desired you, that he may sift you as wheat" (Luke 22:31). But in fact the passage is not really a reference to sin, but to Cain's brother, Abel, and what it says is "HIS desire is for you, and (yet) you rule over HIM."
And so here we begin to get at the spiritual truth of the story. For what we have in the spiritual sense is the classic division, or separation, of the will and the understanding, or charity and faith. Abel represents charity or good will, and the life that flows from that. Cain, on the other hand, represents faith as an intellectual response to the Lord, a most important feature of our spiritual lives, to be sure, but totally unacceptable apart from the life of charity (AC 361-365).
And, we read, Abel's desire is for Cain as a brother, but Cain wants to rule over Abel. So we have faith as an intellectual acknowledgment overwhelming charity, even rising up and killing it, making it seem irrelevant in spiritual life since, as the preachers say, we are saved by grace through faith alone in the blood sacrifice of Christ. Nonsense. We are not saved by faith alone, any more than Cain was accepted for his pitiful offering, or blessed for killing his brother. No, in fact, he was cursed, though he was also preserved by Jehovah for the sake of whatever use he could provide as a means of restoring charity to its rightful place.
But now, what is charity, and how can we restore it to its proper place in our lives, not apart from faith but as its brother, working together with it in a way that is acceptable to the Lord?
Clearly, in this scenario, charity has to make sense; it has to be reasonable and prudent. It can't just give without thought of the consequences or the implications. Indeed, as the Writings say and common sense confirms, charity has to be exercised with some discernment, judgment and discrimination, lest we inadvertently facilitate an evil or unfortunate way of life. In a nutshell, "doing good to the evil is doing evil to the good" because it supports and encourages a person's ability to continue in that evil (hurtful) life (NJHD 85 & 106).
But what about our own lives? The essential question we are asking today is how we can experience "the good life" for ourselves?
Normally, in common speech, "the good life" refers to the enjoyment of all the natural pleasures that the world offers: -- good health, wealth, the freedom to do what you want rather than what other people want you to do, and so on. It generally implies a lot of leisure time, relaxation, sports, amusements or entertainments, fine dining, good wine or spirits, travel to exotic places, staying in luxury resorts, and so on. Generally it is very hard for us not to be jealous of "the rich and famous" who are privileged for whatever reason to enjoy all these things. If only we had such freedom, we think, we would be seriously happy, and of course we would be generous, too, sharing our good fortune with many!
But is it really so? Curiously the book, Conjugial Love (or Married Love as it is now called) begins with a long series of vignettes about the experiences of people who died and went to the other world thinking heaven would be just this sort of life: -- feasting continually or lazing about having other people answer to their every beck and call, or perhaps doing nothing more than enjoying the sensual delights of paradise. In all, six different false ideas of what heaven might be like are exposed, one after the other until a certain angel is reported to define heavenly joy very simply as "the delight of doing something that is of use to oneself and to others" (CL 5:3). Then he also says "...the delight in being useful derives its essence from love and its expression from wisdom." Indeed, "The delight in being useful, springing from love through wisdom, is the life and soul of all heavenly joys."
Of course this is completely opposite to our natural idea of "the good life." And yet the beauty of it is that when you think about it, not only can you see it plainly taught in the Scriptures, it makes perfect sense. After all, the Lord didn't say "Blessed are the idlers and pleasure seekers, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," He said "Blessed are the poor in spirit... Blessed are the meek... Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness," and so on. These are the ones who can receive the Lord's gift of real happiness because ironically, by subordinating their own needs and wishes to those of other people, they open themselves up the most fully to His love and wisdom. Remember, He also said, "Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt 16:25-26).
The issue here is what really satisfies a person? And the plain truth is that almost every delight we experience in life depends on our relationships with others. In a perverted sense we may get some pleasure out of dominating or controlling others, or using them, or comparing them unfavorably with ourselves, but such pleasures always pale and in the meantime they must be defended constantly from the negative reactions they provoke, and so they create an atmosphere of endless competition rather than the peaceful co-operation of a more generous life.
On the other hand, we almost always feel good when we can be of use to others, for then we feel that our life has meaning and value, and is appreciated. And in the positive, co-operative atmosphere this evokes ALL parties can relax and enjoy one another's contributions.
Remember the Golden Rule: "Whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matt. 7:12). Or again, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself" (Matt. 22:39). Note, this does NOT mean to "love yourself first and then you will be able to love others!" It means to love your neighbour at your own expense, cheerfully and not grudgingly or with any thought of reward, because you value HIM or HER as much as you value your own life. If everybody did this no one would ever be in need and everyone would enjoy a happy life.
But of course most don't. In fact hardly any of us does! So we all have to be careful how we practice charity, lest it backfire and do more harm than good. In short we can't just give without thought for the consequences, or we ourselves may go bankrupt and become dependent on others, unable to continue to provide for anyone.
And speaking of harm, most Christian churches today teach that because of the enormous battery of accumulated evils in our hereditary nature there is nothing we can do that will really contribute to our own salvation, that is, to our own eternal happiness. In fact, they say, if we make any effort at all we simply make things worse because it all flows from a selfish desire to get ahead. Instead, as mentioned earlier, they say that all we can do is accept the atoning sacrifice of our Lord, acknowledging that HE did all our work FOR us, and that we are saved by His grace. But if that is so, why did the Lord persistently, in almost every chapter of the Gospels, command His disciples -- as the means of their salvation -- to do the works of charity?
It seems that we cannot emphasize this enough: "the good life" is not a life of ease but a life of service – doing good – including the delight and satisfaction that we get from it.
And so we are left with just one question: -- how do we know what is good?
Our natural inclination is to think that anything that favours what we love is good. But obviously if we love something that is hurtful to ourselves or others, it can’t be good to support that. It can't be good to support a drug habit, for example, just because the person feels good while he's high. It can't be good to support an adulterous relationship, even if it seems to be making the couple happy. And it can't be good to lead people away from the Lord, His Word or the church.
But what do you DO when a friend or family member wants to do something you understand to be wrong? One thing you can do is just "mind your own business." But then we are reminded of Cain's contemptuous answer when the Lord questioned him about Abel: "Am I my brother's keeper?" The clear implication is "yes," and that we can't just stand by unaffected and let bad things happen. Of course in that case Cain was the perpetrator, which makes it a different story literally, but in the internal sense it is relevant, since it is about the relationship between faith and charity, and it is charity that goes missing when we decide to take no action in response to something hurtful or evil.
What is hurtful to one, however, may not be hurtful to another, so again, the question is, how do we know when to act, or what to do? We can't just impose OUR standards on other people, can we? And there's no way we're going to poke around in other people's affairs unless we have some personal connection or some legal or ethical reason to get involved.
This is where the teachings of the New Church are so vital. For here we are clearly shown that charity must be done with discernment, or discrimination (in a good sense). We must evaluate every situation with our best judgment based on considerations of individual freedom, rationality and impact on the community. We must look to the greater good in a whole hierarchy of goods in which self is at the bottom, then one's family, then the community, then the nation, then the church, and finally the kingdom of heaven itself. But none of this holds together unless we see the Lord in His own love and wisdom at the top of the pyramid. HE is the source of all good and so HE, the Writings say, is the neighbour in the highest sense, and for whom the greatest respect of all must be paid. In short, if the Lord defines a thing as good or evil, then we must act accordingly to support the good and at the very least withhold support from the evil in a descending (cascading?) series of priorities.
In short, if it hurts the heavenly kingdom it is very, very serious. If it hurts the church, then it is very serious. If it hurts the nation, then it is serious. If it hurts the community it's a problem. If it hurts children in a family then it may be urgent. But if it hurts only the individual then it may be that this person's freedom to do evil must be respected -- but still not condoned! It is important, where we have a personal relationship with someone doing something harmful, to be clear that we cannot and will not support that behaviour, for if we do support it we may be contributing to the harm that person does to himself.
And it goes without saying that we need to do our own work to receive the Lord's love and wisdom, which as a first step requires that we shun evils and falsities in our personal lives.
So in the end it ALL comes back to the Lord, who communicates with us through His Word, and this means we have to read and understand it to know what He is telling us. Nothing else is more important. Nothing else should be a higher priority in our lives. For in no other way can we appreciate what is really good -- long term, forever good -- leading to a truly, inwardly satisfying and happy life in this world and the next. And in no other way can we promote the real welfare and happiness of others in our families, our communities, our nation, and our church.
Amen.
Lessons: Genesis 4:1-15
Children's talk on Eden - and the first murder
Matthew 18:10-20
New Jerusalem & Its Heavenly Doctrine #85-88
