Simul justus et peccator That's the Latin phrase Martin Luther used to describe the state of the human soul:  simultaneously justified and sinful. And while I'm less Lutheran than I am Wesleyan, nevertheless, I wanted the people of Good Shepherd to catch at least a sense of the ambiguity and dilemma of that phrase. So I never used it, of course -- it's hard enough to get people to understand Jesus in English without introducing Luther in Latin -- but I attempted to get people to understand our precarious their situation is without Jesus and yet how embraced they are in Jesus. So Value Of A Soul launched with "Precious," a sermon with this bottom line:   The value of your soul doesn't depend on what you deserve, but on what God declares.   --------------------------------------------   I’ve got a price tag here with me.  This particular one comes from Mattress Firm & indicates the price of a mattress is $999.  Of course.  Nice!  But the interesting thing about price tags is this:  they only work if the buyer agrees to the price that the seller has written on it.  If Mattress Firm had said the house cost, say, $50,999, then they’d hold on to it forever because no matter what they say, it’s a $999 mattress  It’s only truly worth what you actually pay.  Like you can put a price tag on your house – and does anyone else out there stop & pull info sheets out of For Sale houses just to see the price? (AV, me?) – of $1M but that doesn’t mean it is worth that at all.  It’s actually worth only what someone truly pays.  Price tags are all around us, on object large and small, visible or invisible (yeah! You pay for invisible computer security!), enduring and temporary.               I tell you that because we’re entering a season where we are talking about the Value Of A Soul.  The price tag on that part of us that will transcend our earthly existence (not really our earthly body, however), the real US that most of us in Xnty believe will last forever.  And we’re combining that emphasis on VOS with a giving project for all you who call GS home because we want your giving to be connected not to the preservation of an institution but to the salvation of souls.  That’s all.  It’s all going to culminate on Nov. 20 with a short film that you will want to invite all of your friends – body & soul – to come to with you.               Because as we think about the value of souls – yours, mine, and otherwise – I think we move pretty quickly to the realm of worth and merit and earning.  Like how often have you heard – or said – someone described as “worthless”?  Maybe even as a “worthless piece of  …. dirt!”  Sometimes you even hear of someone getting the death penalty for some particular heinous crime and you’re like, “Good.  Worthless sot got what he deserved.”  Criminals kill each other and you react, “well, that’s two less worthless ppl to worry about.”  For some of you, you even apply that language to you.  You have a history of shameful, hidden behaviors that make you feel, yes, worthless.  More peculiarly, for some of you the cloud of depression hovers over you regardless of circumstances in your life, and that prompts you to place of deep despair & even thoughts of self-harm.  The value of YOUR soul, the price tag on YOU, feels consignment store cheap because ultimately you don’t DESERVE IT.               And so to launch into the answers to all this, I want to look at a letter written by Peter, the same Peter who as a young man didn’t deserve much good from the early church because he was guilty of Foot In Mouth Disease.  But as he writes I Peter, he’s got some perspective and some wisdom and I also think he has learned to harness his impulse to speak without thinking.  Look at what he says in 1:17:   ¹⁷ Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. OK, we’re all going to be judged by the same standard, NOT on a curve, NOT on birthright or ethnicity, NOT even on income level.  All judged impartially and fairly.  AND, according to this verse, if Jesus has us / owns us then our remaining time on earth we are foreigners, strangers, aliens . . . oddballs.               So then Peter digs deeper into the subject in 1:18-19:   For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.    There are a couple of unbelievably important AND almost contradictory things here (but I think the Gospel of Jesus is in that contradiction!).  First look at “you were redeemed.”  What does that mean?  It means people then and people now need redemption.  And that idea of redemption has at its root the slave auction block (AV), whether in ancient times or even what you’d seen on the streets of Charleston.  That means, literally, that every person is OWNED by something.  The devil?  An enemy?  The world?  All possible, but most likely Peter is thinking of plain old sin.  It’s like I often tell you all about Alcoholics Anonymous, which acknowledges up front, at the beginning, “we admitted we were powerless over alcohol.”  Well, alcohol or not, all of us are powerless over something, usually ourselves, and in that sense, sins has us in shackles.               It’s all Peter’s way of saying that in your natural state, your soul, the everlasting YOU, is in enemy territory, DESERVES NOTHING, and so God has a decision to make.  Do I give them what they deserve and leave them alone or do I intervene?  So don’t skip over the word “redeemed” there; the fact that it is in use means that you, me, and all of us really are in a desperate place.  On the slave block, owned by a malicious force called sin, and for a whole lot of us the prime indication of the hold sin has on us is the way we deny that it does.               But after that chain-filled, yucky, auction block news, look at 1:19 again:    ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.   Not with perishable but with precious blood.  In other words, price tag stuff could have never bought you out of enemy territory.  Because price tag stuff by definition applies only to stuff that is temporary!  Only the ultimate price – blood, precious Jesus blood, blood that’s never had a single sin or blot through its veins – could free you from the trap that is you and your sin.  Nothing temporary could have done it, none of what the world calls valuable could have done it, only blood.  Eternal blood.  Nothing but the blood blood.  God’s decision when he could have abandoned.  God’s declaration when he could have remained silent.               And then it hits you:  The value of your soul doesn’t depend on what you deserve but on what God declares.  That’s it.  That’s all.  You’re so messed you need the cross and so loved that’s what you God.  You’re so desperate you deserve to be abandoned and so valued you got embraced.  The contradiction is the thing!  So messed up you need redemption, so loved redemption’s what you got.  To have at all an accurate picture of your standing before God you need to see both with crystal clarity: deserve nothing.  Get everything.  The value of your soul doesn’t depend on what you deserve but on what God declares.               Yes!  It’s what he decided, not what you’ve done.  It’s what he said, not how you sinned.  It’s his miracle, not your mess.  We act as if we are worthless and God comes along and with a trail of blood says “no, no, no . . . Priceless.”  The value of your soul doesn’t depend on what you deserve but on what God declares.               It’s so much like Clint Eastwood.  How can a sermon NOT be about Clint Eastwood?!?!  Check it out:  AV deserve’s got nothing to do with it.  Yep, deserves got nothing to do with the value of your soul.  Or it’s even like Dennis the Menace who in one cartoon gets an unexpected gift of cookies from Ms. Wilson.  And his friend  Joey asks him, “what did we do to deserve Mrs. Wilson’s cookies?”  Dennis, wisely, answers: “Mrs. Wilson gives us cookies not because we’re nice but because she is.”  Deserve’s, again, got nothing to do with it!  The value of your soul doesn’t depend on what you deserve but on what God declares.               It all makes me think of that time not too long ago when Julie and I were eating out at one of Steele Creek’s finer dining establishments (can we get a shout out for Rivergate?!).  Anyway, after dinner and riveting conversation, it was time for the bill.  And the server told us, “it’s been taken care of.  By those folks over there.”  And guess what?  Those folks over there didn’t even go to GS! They go to another church!  I had done nothing to deserve it except to “be.”  And they picked up the tab.  And so has God.  On my soul.  The soul that deserved to stay in bondage to sin, the soul that deserves to reap the consequences of all that it has done.  But God says, “I’m picking up the tab” and then he pays in his blood.               You’ve noticed, I hope, the contrast Peter draws between perishable & imperishable.  Look at v. 23 & v. 25: ²³ For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. the grass withers and the flowers fall, ²⁵     but the word of the Lord endures forever.”^[b]     The contrast between what is temporary and what is eternal is woven through this whole passage.  Guess what?  This just underscores why gospel and church is NOT about self-improvement.  It’s not 7 Steps To A Better You!  Because all that stuff is temporary!  A better you still won’t last.  A redeemed you will.  That’s why instead of steps to a better you, we want to give you STEP to a delivered you!  It’s not about self-improvement; it’s about self-denial!  Dead to the slavery of sin so you can be alive to the sweetness of the Savior. The value of your soul doesn’t depend on what you deserve but on what God declares.               Here’s why all this matters.  It’s true of your soul.  Every single person here who has considered suicide, who is wrapped up in self-harm, or even who is caught up in self-destructive behavior . . . what you have treated as worthless God has declared to be priceless.  Every one of you.  And the flip side, each of you who is pretty confident in your own goodness, who figures you’ll go to heaven when you die because you’ve been better than most . . . oh you are fooling yourself!  Master of self-deception!  You need to be redeemed: to acknowledge how sin & lies have trapped you and then embrace how the blood frees you.  This is all true of your soul.               But here’s the even bigger deal, at least from the standpoint of this series: it’s true of souls around you.  They’re not worthless.  Just as you have infinite value not because of what you’ve done but because of what God has declared, so does everyone you meet.  But they don’t know it!  Walking around clueless!  Either defeated by life or arrogant about eternity!  Everyone you meet is someone for whom the precious blood of Christ was poured out.  The VOS is all about getting that news from inside these walls to beyond them.  To those who figure they’re worthless or think that without help they’re worthwhile.  Nope on both counts.  The value of your soul doesn’t depend on what you deserve but on what God declares.    The worth comes from the declaration, a declaration signed in precious blood.               All this is why on November 13 you’re going have an opportunity to let us know your giving in 2017 – giving that’s based not on the needs of an institution but on the value of a soul – and it’s why on Nov. 20 we’re going to show the VOS short film to which you will want to invite every blasted soul you know.              Because . . . remember this?  (Price tag.)  The thing that is only worth what the buyer says it is?             Huh.  God declared your value as INFINITE.             Because the price he paid was ULTIMATE.

How much is a soul worth? Yours?  Mine?  The one belonging to the person you don’t know and likely will never meet? What is the ultimate value of that part of us that endures, literally, forever? Those are some of the heavy questions we’ll address during The Value Of A Soul.  And this is one of those sermon series that will become more than a series of sermons. You’ll have a chance to serve.  To give.  And ultimately to share.  We don’t want you simply to hear these sermons; we want you to be the sermon. October 23:             Precious October 30:             Priceless November 6:           Stop Hunger Now Radical Impact Project November 13:        In The Long Run November 20:        The Value Of A Soul (short film Sunday) November 27:        Value Added   Here's the video promo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cne4__PvSi8    

Last week, Devin Tharp, who is our Pastor Of Student & Family Ministries, asked what I thought was a most interesting question:  "when you were 17, what would you have been like to have in youth group?" I immediately thought two things:

1. What an interesting question.
2. That's a blog post if I've ever heard one.

So, here goes. And as I answer Devin's question, I had to remind myself that I was never in a church youth group.  I began attending church regularly later than many -- when I was 17 -- and even then the idea of coming back to church on a Sunday night for a Youth / Student meeting never really occurred to me.  In addition, I spent a lot of time in those days either practicing tennis or travelling to or from tournaments. So what would it have been like for Devin to be my minister when I was a teenager?  For one, I would have looked like this: I would much more likely have been in a corner of the room with one or two good friends than in the center of the crowd surrounded by acquaintances. My one or two friends and I would have been talking about the girls in the room, wondering if we had become popular enough or cool enough to begin conversation with them. My choice of friends would have been HIGHLY influenced by their choice of music.  Fans of Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, and the Eagles:  yep.  Bee Gees or Journey or, ahem, Phil Collins:  no thanks. Devin would have found that even at 17 I had a healthy respect for authority and a desire to please authority figures. Even though I respected authority and longed for its approval, Devin would have needed to find a way to navigate my sarcasm.  What I intended to be witty, he might have interpreted as mean.  This is still a struggle even though I am a shade over 17 now. He would have found that my mood alternated between euphoric and somber.  Euphoric if I'd had a good win in tennis and my face was clear; somber (at best) if I'd lost a match and then found my face with some new pimples. Devin would have noticed that from the beginning I was serious about Jesus, read Scripture every night, and had some strong opinions about matters of faith. He would have learned that even as a teenager there was no situation in life I couldn't relate back to a rock lyric. Finally, I don't think it would have occurred to him, "that guy is going to grow up to be a pastor one day."  Tennis player, maybe.  Tennis teacher, possibly.  Rock critic, likely.  Pastor . . . far fetched. But God.

One time several years ago, I was at the local YMCA and while doing my little workout eavesdropped on a couple of guys doing their big workout. And one said to the other, "If you work on the stuff no one sees, you really help what everyone sees." In other words, if you want big chest or arms (which people see), then get to work strengthening your back and legs and abs (which people rarely see). It's counter-intuitive, paradoxical, nonsensical . . . and eerily accurate.  Through the years, I've noticed that people who take it seriously spend a lot of time on the "non-glory" muscle groups while the pretenders drop in on occasion, work on chest and arms, and then exit stage left. If you work on the stuff no one sees, you really help what everyone sees. How true that is of faith, Scripture, Spirit, and what we call a living relationship with Jesus Christ. If you spend time in Scripture and prayer while away and alone , if you give anonymously rather than publicly, if you fast regularly, if you serve without posting it on Facebook, then and only then will people see the fruit of your spiritual habits. If you have any desire to be known as Christian or faithful or simply one who loves Jesus well, it's not a light you turn on when you open the front door of your home. It is instead a process, begun in solitude, maturing in silence, and faithful in study . . . none of which are visible, and all of which move you to maturity. It's true at the gym, it's true in life, it's true in faith:  if you work on the stuff no one sees, you really help what everyone sees.

We all have deadlines, but then again, we all have distractions, too. So what are some ways in the digital age to increase productivity, in ministry and otherwise? Here are five that are helping me: 1.Screen off, music on.  I realized on Monday night that I got more done in 90 minutes at home while sitting in the dining room listening to Bob Dylan's Oh Mercy than I had in about four hours at my office.  Why?  No screen.  No emails, no Facebook, no Twitter, no . . . talbotdavis.com.  Just pen, paper, bible, and Ring Them Bells.  2.Least favorite thing first.  Get the tough, life-draining stuff out of the way early in the day.  That way, the rest of it can be more life-giving. 3.Plan the day ahead the night before.  If you wait until you get to your work station to plan your day, you're already behind.  Reserve five or ten minutes at day's end to plot your tasks for the next day.  Incidentally, this is why I write almost all my daily blog posts the night before they publish. 4.For your non-work related reading, read non-work related stuff.  It will help you work MORE.  I've told many of you before that I very rarely read books on ministry and preaching.  And yet the novels and the histories that I do read end up shaping my series and messages as much as anything else except the bible.  Just recently, Ann Patchett's Commonwealth and Jonathan Safran Foer's Here I Am have given me about a year's worth of sermon nuggets . . . and they were terrific reads along the way. 5.Small Doses Of Your Device.  You can look busy while on your mobile device.  But more often it is a distraction disguised as productivity.  Remember: people survived pretty well before 2007 and the release of the iPhone.  Somehow. 6.Don't enter Facebook political arguments.  Especially if you are a United Methodist preacher.  Please, dear God, especially if you are a UM preacher.  Better yet, don't even read the lengthy argument strings already posted.  They may tempt you to chime in and the world (and the church) doesn't need another opinion.