Are You a Genius or a Follower?

Whenever I have the opportunity to listen to a brilliant and an articulate person, I often have mixed feelings. On the one hand I’m in awe, I’m inspired, I’m invigorated, I’m challenged, I’m moved. On the other, I’m humbled in comparison to those who have the great ability of a great mind and being able to put across great ideas. I felt similarly excited and humbled in June when I went to hear one of the great apologists and one of the great writers in Christianity at the moment, Professor Alister McGrath, give a presentation in North York. He was presenting on his most recent work on the writer C.S. Lewis, and to great critical acclaim. In The Economist, in The Times, even in Time magazine, McGrath’s work on C.S. Lewis is considered one of the most ground-breaking and fascinating things ever written about that great intellect and great Christian mind. And he, in his great lecture that day, went through his research and the reasons why he thought C.S. Lewis was so important. He talked about his own insights of things he’d been able to see and to do and how it had impressed him but then there was this moment….

He had finished giving his lecture and he was given an opportunity to answer questions. It was then that the greatness of Alister McGrath came to the fore. Students asked him a myriad of questions and in response to one of them he said something that resonated with me and that I don’t think I will ever forget. He said, “What the world needs now and what the church needs now are more C.S. Lewis’s.” Maybe not people who will write another Narnia, maybe not be able to capture exactly the brilliance with language or imagery that C.S. Lewis has done, but that what we need is people who have gifts and abilities and strengths and use them to convey to the world in an imaginative and a creative way the essence of the Christian faith. He said I appeal to all of you, no matter how gifted you may be or indeed what paucity of gifts you might have, to use whatever you have for the sake of bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to the world that we live in, just as Lewis did in his day and age.”

I left invigorated, but I also left somewhat depressed as well. Because I realize that not everyone has great natural gifts and abilities, or that the gifts and abilities that we have are in different ways and different usages. The ability to write and to communicate and to speak or to create art, other things that often get the most attention, but it is often the more simple things, what might appear to be the mundane things that get lost and are not seen as important, but in the Kingdom are of greatest value. That is why I’ve always liked what the philosopher Søren Kierkegaard said when he made a distinction between two groups of people: the genius and the apostle. He says “Not all of us are geniuses, but all of us are called to be apostles.” Then he makes a distinction. He says “A genius is someone who has inherent gifts and abilities: gifts that are given by nature, gifts that make them strong and capable. But an apostle has gifts that are imbued and given by God for the sake of the ministry of the church and for the good of society.” He said the genius always has to come up with something new, to create a new idea, to observe something new, whereas the apostle is reciting a story and a truth that was revealed over the centuries. He said the genius’ ideas might become popular wisdom, that they might be adopted by people because of the genius behind them; whereas the apostle is often seen as saying something foolish, because he talks about a crucified Christ and the power of forgiveness. He said the genius often works in a solitary way, in their own mind, in their own intellect, whereas the apostle works with a community of faith and with a gathered people. He said that there’s a difference between the genius and the apostle and not all of us can be geniuses but all of us can be apostles. Not everyone is going to have all the great gifts in the world, but they should not feel that because they do not possess these, within the Kingdom they are irrelevant, for they are not.

That’s exactly what Paul was saying to young Timothy in today’s passage. Paul is writing near the end of his life, probably near the end of the 60’s, A.D. 67, 68 A.D. He’s becoming an older man now, and he’s writing to young Timothy who has been his follower, who has been his supporter, his co-worker, he calls him. But he knows that Timothy is a young man and entering into a world where he needs encouragement and support. He’s unsure of what he should do and he feels that he is standing on sort of shaky ground. So Paul talks to Timothy. He writes to Timothy from prison, actually, when Timothy was in Ephesus, and he says, “I want you to preach the word, I want you to stand firm in what you believe, I want you to share the good news and be an evangelist. I want you to pour out everything that you have heard from me and handed unto others. It’s important, Timothy, that you do this.” The Book of Timothy is filled with warm, caring advice to a young man. Not to be a genius, but to be an apostle. Not to necessarily have all the great gifts of oratory or intellect that even Paul had, but to be faithful to what you believe.

This message to Timothy I think resonates today. It is something that each and every one of us needs to think about seriously because maybe not all of us are geniuses, although I’m not prepared to acknowledge that there aren’t some real clever people in this church right now. But I do think we’re all apostles and because we’re all apostles we should listen to Paul. Paul says look, I want you to share the good news, and I want to you share it he says in good times and in bad times. As Christians we’re not sure whether now is a good time or a bad time. When we look at the state of the world and we look at the state of the church. I think if you were to ask most of us whether we think it’s a good time or a bad time, I think quite a lot of us would say it’s a bad time. I think those, for example, who are suffering persecution for their faith definitely think this is a bad time.

I received an unprecedented email this week from a Member of Parliament, and I never get emails from members of parliament like this. It was from a Christian Member of Parliament, and he was appealing for prayer. In his note that he’d sent out to an undisclosed list; I don’t even know why I was on it, probably because I’m a minister, he wrote the following: “We as Canadians are concerned by reports of Christians from the Village of Ma’loula, near Damascus, being forced to convert to Islam by Syrian rebels allegedly linked by Al Qaeda fighters. Threats of violence used to forcibly convert individuals to another faith are completely unacceptable. Canada stands by the Syrian people who deserve the freedom to practice their respective faiths without being persecuted. This freedom is essential, (and listen to his language) so that all Syrians regardless of religion can contribute to Syria’s future without fear of intimidation and violence.” Now this is serious, if I get an email like this but it’s happening. It’s happening to people of faith in Egypt.

Just on Thursday, I was fortunate to spend an hour alone with the Archbishop of Cairo, who’s visiting Toronto. He’s the prelate of the Anglican Church that goes from Syria in the north ‘round through Israel and Palestine and Sinai to Egypt itself. Sitting down and talking to him, and listening to the issues that he faces as a small Christian minority within a Christian community that itself is in a minority, was an eye-opening thing. Regularly he sits down with the Chief Imam of Cairo or with the bishops of the Coptic church or with Baptist pastors and they talk about their nation and how in that nation they can live with one another. He says as a Christian, my job is to bring Christ into any situation in which I find myself. If people are being persecuted, then no matter which religion is being persecuted, I as Christian must stand with those who suffer. He says it is a difficult task and yet there was a profound sense of joy in Maneer, a profound sense of joy in peace in the midst of all this.

That’s what Paul wanted Timothy to have. I think it’s a hard time and a bad time to be a Christian. When you read an article in The Globe and Mail talking about how those who have decided they have no faith want to somehow set up a gathering on Sundays for people of good will to meet, with no reference to God at all and how wonderful this new secularism is, I don’t have the heart to tell him that is actually not secular. The moment you gather together as a group of people to celebrate and to espouse a common cause, hello, you’re religious! You’re religious, just without God but you’re religious. So I just think, “Look, that is a misunderstanding.” If God and if the person of Jesus and the love and the warmth and the acceptance, and the grace and the peace and the forgiveness and the power that is in Him, is seen as somehow being separate from doing anything good or creative, then there’s a communication problem, and we as Christians have got to get right about it. You need to get right about telling people about it.

I think it’s a hard time to be a person of faith in Quebec. I’m delighted at the response to the charter and how negative it has been. I’m thrilled with those of all kinds of religious stripes who’ve stood up and said, “No.” There is, you see, my friends, a difference between having a totally secular society and having a pluralistic society. A totally secular society is freedom from all things relating to God. A pluralistic society is one that understands that we can live with one another within a state and within a place, together, and appreciate and respect those differences. The very things that Canada stated about the situation in Syria with the persecution of Christians is exactly what our nation stands for, but when one part of our nation decides to want, to all intents and purposes, drive out people for whom some of these images are in fact an integral part of the faith, then we’re saying two different things. I know it’s limited. I know it’s only in one part of the country, but believe you me, my friends, that must not get beyond what it is now. It’s hateful. I love what Pastor Niemoller, the great German Christian, who opposed Hitler, once said, and I think it is a telling word for our day. He said, “First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.”

I think Christians should be concerned. When those things that are central to peoples’ faith are pushed to the side, I think for the sake of minorities everywhere in the world, of every ethnic stripe, this is an important message. I say that as a Christian. Is this a bad time to proclaim the word of God? Or is it a good time? I actually think it’s a good time, and I’ll tell you why. I think it’s a good time because we have in this great land the freedom to be able to say “This is the day that the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.” This is good time, because we have means of being able to communicate, not only to one another but with the whole world, with the love of Christ and the good news that we share. This is a good time because we are free to worship, no one is standing in our doorway. There is no tyranny on St. Clair Avenue that prevents us from walking into this church. But let us not take these freedoms for granted. To the next generation, to those who are bringing up young children, do not think that these things are just automatically going to be there. They need conviction, they need commitment, they need your participation. No matter your gifts, no matter your abilities, make sure you preserve these things because very quickly, as we’ve seen in so many lands, they can be gone. This is a good time. This is a good time because we know that we can stand with each other and we can uphold the faith of Christ without fear or favour. Make sure we do it.

Paul says there is also an urgency to this task. He says there’s a sense of urgency and patience to young Timothy. He wants him to be urgent because he knows that he is going and he’s leaving everything behind to young Timothy. He knows the gospel has been passed on to the next generation and whenever we baptize a young child, I always think about parents making a commitment because what you’re doing is passing on the faith to the next generation, and you want it to be real. You need to take it seriously, just as you want your child’s future to be taken seriously.

Paul’s doing that with Timothy: there’s an urgency. For Paul, Jesus Christ might return in his time and age. He’s not sure, so there’s a sense of urgency. There is a growing persecution from Rome. There’s this powerful drumbeat of oppression on the horizon for Christians. Paul himself is in prison in Rome when he writes this. He knows difficult times are coming. There’s an urgency. But here is also, he says, a need for patience. As Christians we sometimes are all running around, looking for the next big thing to somehow encapsulate the whole faith, a new book that we can turn to, a new writer who’s going to tell us all what we need to have and to know. We want geniuses, don’t we? We want books like The Secret, or a few years ago, The Prayer of Jabez. Or we want superstar preachers with their slick presentations to entertain us and tell us what our itching ears already know and want to hear, rather than the truth. We do that because we’re impatient. We want it solved now. We look at the decline of the church in the west and we panic. But oh, how foolish we are to do that. How foolish, because history itself is long and in the history of the church there have been ebbs and flows and good times and bad times. It’s not for us to determine whether it’s a good time or a bad time. It’s if we have the patience to simply proclaim and live what we believe. We need to be patient.

Paul gives a sense also to young Timothy of the content of the faith, and the content of discipleship. He says, “I want you to exhort one another.” In other words, I want you to teach one another, because there will be those who come along with false teachings who will lead people astray and you need to teach them the truth. Exhort one another.

That is one of the things that I’m delighted about, that David is bringing back the Alpha Program here. If any of you honestly this morning are sitting there thinking, “I’m not sure that I really understand this Christian message. I would like to know the real basics of what I believe then sign up for Alpha for a few weeks and you will get it.” It’s marvelous, because we need to exhort and encourage and teach one another. We need to encourage one another. It’s so easy for us to find fault in another, and you don’t have to be a genius to realize that everyone around you is incomplete and imperfect. We can all see the errors that everyone makes. Everyone does it. But to be an encourager, that is different; encouraged to do the good.

The church I think has to be a place of encouragement. It has to be a place where we lift one another up and embrace one another in a world with its violence and divisions and criticisms and self-righteousness. Doesn’t a little encouragement go a long way to lift up and help those who are weak? Paul says that.

Last week I was invited to spend the day at Acadia Divinity College with the staff and the faculty and the students. I spent the whole day talking. I don’t know if I encouraged them or depressed the lights out of them. You’d have to ask them that but all I know is I was there for one reason. The principal says “Andrew, come and encourage us, just encourage us!”
I said “Do I have to have any content to what I say?”
He says, “Usually you don’t; just come and encourage everybody.” I was brilliant at doing and saying nothing! He just wanted encouragement at the beginning of the term. He knows that we need that. We need to be lifted up and often we get gloomy and we get down and we think we’re not perfect, and the sky is falling. What a denial of God that is. No, we are encouragers, and we’re encouragers in the faith and we’re to support one another. Paul saw that young Timothy needed support but he knew young Timothy had to give support.

A couple of weeks ago we performed the funeral in this church for a well-known psychologist, Barbara Killinger, who’d written a brilliant book entitled Integrity. I’d read the book some years ago and I talked to her about it, and in her funeral I mentioned it but in the last paragraph, where after she’s talked about all the psychological issues relating to integrity, she just tells the story of Jean Vanier: Jean Vanier, who’d been brought up in a very privileged society. His father was Governor-General. At a young age, 13, he’d gone to a military school. He’d been taught to be rational and reasonable. He’d been taught to be coldly dispassionate and brilliant and strong until the point where one day, he came face-to-face with Jesus Christ. When he did, he decided to write his Doctoral Thesis in 1964, which was a critique of Aristotle: Aristotle the Rationalist, Aristotle the Genius, Aristotle the Brilliant Mind. In this, he concluded that there’s one thing that is needed that transcends even the power of the genius, and that is compassion. Having found it in Christ, Jean Vanier, with all the brilliance of all the greatness of his intellect and upbringing, decided to spend the rest of his life, not with geniuses, but with the mentally and the physically challenged; to live in community with them; to share the good news with them; to receive the good news from them because for Vanier, what is needed is not just geniuses, but apostles. And all of us can be apostles.  Amen.