Deuteronomy 30: 15-20
1 Corinthians 3: 1-9
Imagine, if you will, that you work for a company whose president found it necessary to travel out of the country to spend a long time overseas. So he says to you and the other trusted employees, "Look, I'm going to leave. And while I'm gone, I want you to pay close attention to the business. You manage things while I'm away. I will write you regularly. When I do, I will instruct you in what you should do from now until I return from this trip." Everyone agrees.
He leaves and stays gone for a couple of years. During that time he writes often, communicating his desires and concerns. Finally he returns. He walks up to the front door of the company and immediately discovers everything is in a mess--weeds flourishing in the flower beds, windows broken across the front of the building, the girl at the front desk is sleeping, loud music is coming from several offices, and two or three people are messing around in the back room. Instead of making a profit, the business has suffered a great loss. Without hesitation he calls everyone together and with a frown asks, "What happened? Didn't you get my letters?"
You say, "Oh, yeah, sure. We got all your letters. We've even bound them in a book. And some of us have memorized them. In fact, we have 'letter study' every Sunday. You know, those were really great letters." I think the president would then ask, "But what did you do about my instructions?" And, no doubt the employees would respond, "Do? Well, nothing. But we read every one!"
There’s not much point in studying the Bible and going to church every Sunday if we aren’t going to do what God has instructed us to do. I can only imagine at how God shakes his head at us when we show up on Sundays wearing our Sunday best, but our hearts are filled with sinfulness. The Lord wants us to take an active part in our relationship with Him and to do that we must be more than church-goers. We must be church-doers.
In their own way, those people in that company were obedient to their boss. They stayed working at the company and they did read those letters of his, but they never quite understood what it was they were supposed to be doing. What are we working toward? Do we have a goal as Christians? Do we have a purpose here at Trinity church in Centre Hall, Pennsylvania? Does everyone know what the goal is and how we are working to achieve it?
George Harrison once said that, “If you don’t know where you’re going any road will take you there.” As Christians we need to know where we are going. We need to know more about what Jesus Christ is up to in the world and there is one really good way to do that. It requires making the Christian way of life something more than a Sunday activity and instead make it an all week habit. If we are never thinking about God outside of church, how is it even possible to SEE God outside of this building?!
The best way to see God is to start speaking to Him. We all know we are supposed to pray, but did you know that some of the most faithful Christians in all of our history have been men and women who pray continually? Everything that happened in their day was spoken of with God. These men and women are now the pillars of our Christian faith because they knew what Jesus was up to in the world. They knew where they were going because they obeyed the Lord.
Too often we get caught up in the pettiness of life so God become obscured. Just like those early Christians, fighting over who they followed. I follow Paul, well I follow Apollos. And Paul writes back to them that neither Paul or Apollos are important at all. They were merely the instruments God used to bring those early Christians to Jesus Christ. What is important in the story is always “what is Jesus up to?” and then following Him.
That is where the people in the company went wrong. They knew exactly what their employer was up to, exactly what he wanted from them, but they did not follow him. The old adage of while the cat’s away the mice will play is perfect for these people. Honestly, it speaks the truth about all human beings. We do not have any sense of urgency when it comes to following Jesus Christ. Most of us go the whole day without worrying about following Jesus. We’re too busy putting out fires at work, fixing dinner at home, putting the kids to bed and running errands for our spouses to have time to worry about what Jesus is telling us to do.
You see, if we take the time to listen to Jesus he helps us build up defenses. He helps us to change those sinful parts of us into good and Godly parts. Jesus is trying to help us create a life and a world where we can always be happy and content. But we are too busy doing our own thing and traveling our own path to bother giving his way a chance. We say we are obedient and that we want to build a better world, but whenever we get the chance we don’t often take it.
This reminds me of a poem I once read about a man watching a building demolition. It went:
As I watched them tear a building down
A gang of men in a busy town
With a ho-heave-ho, and a lusty yell
They swung a beam and the side wall fell.
I asked the foreman, "Are these men skilled,
And the men that you'd hire if you wanted to build?"
He gave a laugh and said, "No, indeed,
Just common labor is all I need."
"I can easily wreck in a day or two,
What builders have taken years to do."
And I thought to myself, as I went my way
Which of these roles have I tried to play?
Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by rule and square?
Am I shaping my work to a well-made plan
Patiently doing the best I can?
Or am I a wrecker who walks to town
Content with the labor of tearing down?
"O Lord let my life and my labors be
That which will build for eternity!"
The only way we can make our life and labors geared toward eternity is if we pay attention to what God is telling us. We need to open our hearts to the Holy Spirit, we need to keep our eyes peeled for where Jesus is and we need to ask ourselves if we are doing this because of God or because of our self. But even more than knowing what Jesus is up to is actually following where he leads us.
Do we have a goal that we work toward, one with a carefully made plan? Are we patiently trying to do the best that we can or are we the kind of people that will tear down what others have worked so hard to create and never notice the damage we leave in our wake? Paul tells us that we are co-workers in God’s service, we have a place in God’s grand plan, but we have to be willing to do more than read the instruction manual – we have to be willing to follow. We have much to do!
Amen.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
A Secret Wisdom
Psalm 112: 1-10
1 Corinthians 2: 1-16
While studying the bible this week i discovered a secret about God and the commandments he has given us. I was learning of the first people to fill the earth and how quickly they turned wicked and violent. And then there was Noah who was pleasing in God’s eyes. Noah who walked with the Lord, Noah who saw God’s commands as life-giving rather than rules that would cage him in and take away his freedom. Noah understood that when God tells us to do something it is not because he wants to be a tyrant or dictator, but that there is a reason, a good reason behind the command. Noah understood that God was our loving parent and if we follow God’s ways there is freedom and life in the act of following.
So imagine my surprise when I read the Old Testament reading in my devotion the next day and it says in the very first verse, “Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands”. It sounds to me like God is trying to tell us something here. The wonderful thing about the Lord is that when he wants to get through to us, he’s not very subtle. He keeps hammering away at all of us until we get too exhausted to fight anymore. Isn’t that wonderful? God doesn’t give up on us – ever.
The next few verses in Psalm 112 tell us why we should fear the Lord and delight in his ways. It says that our children will be blessed and mighty, that they will know wealth and riches. It says that those who know God, will know even in the darkest of moments that the light (which is Jesus Christ) will be with them. Goodness comes to those who are generous and lend freely, and those who act with honor will be honored themselves. This is an amazing passage!
What is wonderful about the Old Testament is that it sets up many of the rules we are to follow. Not just the Ten Commandments or the laws in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. I’m talking about rules of the heart, rules of the Spirit. I’m talking about the secret Wisdom that comes straight from God’s heart to our own hearts. You see, it is not easy to live your whole life trying to be loving and kind and generous. Matter of fact, it can be downright exhausting to always try to have a smile on your face and kind words on your lips.
This is why so often we fail. We forget that all goodness and power and glory not just GO TO God, but COME FROM God. We try to do it on our own! Silly, silly, silly of us! And we all do it, we learn from an early age that we are to do things on our own. We teach our children to feed themselves, to walk without aid, to tie their shoes and put on clothes without our help. Then we teach them to do chores such as clean their room and mow the lawn. Then we teach them to drive and schools teach them how to think on their own. We teach them how to be completely independent and so when it comes to trying to be spiritually wise, we all try to do it on our own. Because that is what we have learned.
However, we cannot. We need God the Father’s help. We need Jesus Christ. We need the Holy Spirit. If we could be spiritually wise on our own, Adam and Eve never would have eaten the fruit. There is a reason why before beginning the sermon I ask that the Lord open our hearts and minds to His Word. I ask because if I do not ask for the Lord’s help, these words are just words.
They have no power or potency because they would merely be the words of one woman rather than God’s Holy Word that is filled with the power to change lives. And isn’t that what we proclaim? That because God is with us, there is holy power to be found in this sanctuary today. Ready and waiting for us to open our hearts, to free our minds from our human limitations where we think we are so wise – but we need to remember that we are no where near wise.
Without God, without God’s loving guidance, without the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and Jesus’ faithfulness we would be and are nothing. And once we understand this truth, once we wrap our minds around the fact that we need God – we become free. Isn’t that interesting? Everyone always taught us that to be free means to not need anything from anyone. But that is human wisdom, not Godly wisdom.
Freedom means accepting God’s dominion. It means fearing God’s magnificent power, it means respecting God’s wishes for us. Once we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord, once we accept God the Father’s commands and the Holy Spirit’s guidance our life will change forever.
Freedom means letting go of doubt and fear. Freedom means accepting what comes to us as gifts from God and even the painful times in our life are no longer something to be feared. We learn from the pain, we grow and we change during stressful, hurtful times. It does not trivialize our pain, it does not make it less real or less painful. But it DOES makes it more than human anguish – we remember that the one who died for us, shares this agony with us and that we may lean upon His strength to get us through.
There is the freedom. When Carrie Underwood sang the song, “Jesus take the wheel”, this is exactly what we must do. Let Jesus take us where we are supposed to go. Let the Spirit soothe our anguished hearts, and we let ourselves accept that God is not a ruthless dictator who likes to see us squirm, but that God is an anxious parent, worried over His creation. Worried that even though he offers us life, we constantly choose death. Worried that even though he has given us everything he has to give, there are still those who will never accept Him. There are so many people that never really see God, not the way God is. Not like Noah saw God – as one that brings and gives life. Instead, many of us see God as stern and unbending, indifferent to our pain and suffering.
If you really want to make your head spin, consider this analogy for God. God is the wallflower sitting in the corner at the dance. The wallflower that is actually a wonderful, good and kind person, but no one ever sees that. No one ever notices the goodness and grace because they are too busy staring at what is flashy, shiny and appears perfect. God is the forgotten, unnoticed person in this room, the one you never think much about, but if you paid attention you would see that person has a wealth of love to give.
So my challenge to you this week is to find that wallflower. Find the person that goes unnoticed in your life and take the time to say a few words. Take the time to get to know that person you think is funny or strange or weird. It may just be Jesus Christ you have been ignoring. God often uses unexpected people and ways to reach out to us but we have to have eyes that see and ears that hear and hearts that are open to the wisdom of God's Spirit.
Amen.
1 Corinthians 2: 1-16
While studying the bible this week i discovered a secret about God and the commandments he has given us. I was learning of the first people to fill the earth and how quickly they turned wicked and violent. And then there was Noah who was pleasing in God’s eyes. Noah who walked with the Lord, Noah who saw God’s commands as life-giving rather than rules that would cage him in and take away his freedom. Noah understood that when God tells us to do something it is not because he wants to be a tyrant or dictator, but that there is a reason, a good reason behind the command. Noah understood that God was our loving parent and if we follow God’s ways there is freedom and life in the act of following.
So imagine my surprise when I read the Old Testament reading in my devotion the next day and it says in the very first verse, “Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in his commands”. It sounds to me like God is trying to tell us something here. The wonderful thing about the Lord is that when he wants to get through to us, he’s not very subtle. He keeps hammering away at all of us until we get too exhausted to fight anymore. Isn’t that wonderful? God doesn’t give up on us – ever.
The next few verses in Psalm 112 tell us why we should fear the Lord and delight in his ways. It says that our children will be blessed and mighty, that they will know wealth and riches. It says that those who know God, will know even in the darkest of moments that the light (which is Jesus Christ) will be with them. Goodness comes to those who are generous and lend freely, and those who act with honor will be honored themselves. This is an amazing passage!
What is wonderful about the Old Testament is that it sets up many of the rules we are to follow. Not just the Ten Commandments or the laws in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. I’m talking about rules of the heart, rules of the Spirit. I’m talking about the secret Wisdom that comes straight from God’s heart to our own hearts. You see, it is not easy to live your whole life trying to be loving and kind and generous. Matter of fact, it can be downright exhausting to always try to have a smile on your face and kind words on your lips.
This is why so often we fail. We forget that all goodness and power and glory not just GO TO God, but COME FROM God. We try to do it on our own! Silly, silly, silly of us! And we all do it, we learn from an early age that we are to do things on our own. We teach our children to feed themselves, to walk without aid, to tie their shoes and put on clothes without our help. Then we teach them to do chores such as clean their room and mow the lawn. Then we teach them to drive and schools teach them how to think on their own. We teach them how to be completely independent and so when it comes to trying to be spiritually wise, we all try to do it on our own. Because that is what we have learned.
However, we cannot. We need God the Father’s help. We need Jesus Christ. We need the Holy Spirit. If we could be spiritually wise on our own, Adam and Eve never would have eaten the fruit. There is a reason why before beginning the sermon I ask that the Lord open our hearts and minds to His Word. I ask because if I do not ask for the Lord’s help, these words are just words.
They have no power or potency because they would merely be the words of one woman rather than God’s Holy Word that is filled with the power to change lives. And isn’t that what we proclaim? That because God is with us, there is holy power to be found in this sanctuary today. Ready and waiting for us to open our hearts, to free our minds from our human limitations where we think we are so wise – but we need to remember that we are no where near wise.
Without God, without God’s loving guidance, without the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and Jesus’ faithfulness we would be and are nothing. And once we understand this truth, once we wrap our minds around the fact that we need God – we become free. Isn’t that interesting? Everyone always taught us that to be free means to not need anything from anyone. But that is human wisdom, not Godly wisdom.
Freedom means accepting God’s dominion. It means fearing God’s magnificent power, it means respecting God’s wishes for us. Once we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord, once we accept God the Father’s commands and the Holy Spirit’s guidance our life will change forever.
Freedom means letting go of doubt and fear. Freedom means accepting what comes to us as gifts from God and even the painful times in our life are no longer something to be feared. We learn from the pain, we grow and we change during stressful, hurtful times. It does not trivialize our pain, it does not make it less real or less painful. But it DOES makes it more than human anguish – we remember that the one who died for us, shares this agony with us and that we may lean upon His strength to get us through.
There is the freedom. When Carrie Underwood sang the song, “Jesus take the wheel”, this is exactly what we must do. Let Jesus take us where we are supposed to go. Let the Spirit soothe our anguished hearts, and we let ourselves accept that God is not a ruthless dictator who likes to see us squirm, but that God is an anxious parent, worried over His creation. Worried that even though he offers us life, we constantly choose death. Worried that even though he has given us everything he has to give, there are still those who will never accept Him. There are so many people that never really see God, not the way God is. Not like Noah saw God – as one that brings and gives life. Instead, many of us see God as stern and unbending, indifferent to our pain and suffering.
If you really want to make your head spin, consider this analogy for God. God is the wallflower sitting in the corner at the dance. The wallflower that is actually a wonderful, good and kind person, but no one ever sees that. No one ever notices the goodness and grace because they are too busy staring at what is flashy, shiny and appears perfect. God is the forgotten, unnoticed person in this room, the one you never think much about, but if you paid attention you would see that person has a wealth of love to give.
So my challenge to you this week is to find that wallflower. Find the person that goes unnoticed in your life and take the time to say a few words. Take the time to get to know that person you think is funny or strange or weird. It may just be Jesus Christ you have been ignoring. God often uses unexpected people and ways to reach out to us but we have to have eyes that see and ears that hear and hearts that are open to the wisdom of God's Spirit.
Amen.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Walk Humbly
The scriptures for this sermon are:
Micah 6:1-8
Matthew 5: 1-12
Three sons left home, went out on their own and prospered. Getting back together, they discussed the gifts they were able to give their elderly mother.
The first said, “I built a big house for our mother.”
The second said, “I sent her a BMW with a driver.”
The third smiled and said, “I’ve got you both beat. You remember how Mom enjoyed reading the Bible? And you know she can’t see very well. So I sent her a remarkable parrot that recites the entire Bible. It took elders in the church 12 years to teach him. He’s one of a kind. Mama just has to name the chapter and verse, and the parrot recites it.”
Soon thereafter, mom sent out her letters of thanks:
“Milton,” she wrote one son, “The house you built is so huge. I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house.”
“Gerald,” she wrote to another, “I am too old to travel. I stay most of the time at home, so I rarely use the BMW. And the driver is so rude!”
“Dearest Donald,” she wrote to her third son, “You have the good sense to know what your mother likes. The chicken was delicious”.
Outside of my mother’s house there is a tree that has been growing for over fifty years at least. It is massive, the trunk thick and strong and the branches extending to the heavens filled with big, green leaves. However, sometimes I have noticed that after winter has gone and spring begins not all of the branches bud. Sometimes there is a branch here or there that has nothing on it and it becomes dry and frail. The rest of the tree is beautiful but if someone doesn’t prune the dead branches, it will damage the rest of the tree as it dies.
This process isn’t so very different from what we have to do as good Christians. If we want to be healthy and strong we have to constantly reassess our lives and consider what needs to be different about ourselves. Sometimes we fall into bad habits that drag us down and take over our lives. That’s why it is important to pay attention to the advice we are often given in the bible such as verse 8 in Micah 6 where we are told to “Act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God”.
Humility is one of the biggest stumbling blocks in a Christian’s life. Many of us want to be humble and try to be, but it is so much harder than Jesus makes it seem. One of my favorite Steelers player is Troy Polamalu, a Greek Orthodox Christian is considered one of the most humble football players in the NFL. However, about six weeks ago in a game he forced a fumble and when he saw he was about to be tackled, he did a backward pass to try to pick up more yards and the guy he threw it too just managed to catch it. After the game when he was asked about it, he answered, “The play at the end of the game was incredibly arrogant and selfish and foolish of me. I represent something bigger than myself: my faith, my family, and my team. I’ll try to never let that happen again.”
First of all, it takes a lot of guts to admit you are wrong. Second, even someone who tries to be humble and faithful can have moments of pride and selfishness. The lesson Troy learned is one that comes to all of us at some point in our lives. God does not enjoy a prideful person and from personal experience when you ask God to teach you to be more humble – he takes you up on that offer pretty quickly!
But the main reason we should be humble is because we are only here through God’s power and grace. We are told often in the Old Testament and in the New Testament that it is those who suffer who hold God’s favor. It is those people who understand how sinful, arrogant and selfish they are as human beings who receive God’s mercy and grace. Those people inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus tells us, “Blessed are the meek, the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn.” The Lord tells us how to be humble as well, the more we thank God and give him praise, the more aware we become of how little we have done to earn what we enjoy in life.
Humility and a passion for praise are the way we grow in grace. The Bible is full of self-humbling people who bow down before God, and people giving praise to God for their blessings. The healthy heart is one that bows down in humility and rises in praise and adoration. The Psalms strike both these notes again and again. Also, Paul in his letters both articulates humility and breaks into many praises. As the years pass Paul mentions in several letters to churches how he is the last of the apostles, the least of all saints and the foremost of sinners! And as his self-esteem sinks, so his rapture of praise and adoration for the God who so wonderfully saved him rises.
Without a doubt, learning to praise God all the time, for everything that is good is a mark that we are growing in grace. One of my professors who had once been in stage four of prostate cancer often told us how painful both the cancer and the treatment was during that time of his life. He told us that between bouts of agony and fear, in which he had to stuff his mouth with bedclothes to avoid biting his tongue, he would say aloud over and over again: "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth" (Ps. 34:1). He said that the only way he knew of to get through the pain was to find joy in the Lord who is always good and beautiful.
If we want to grow in grace, we are to acknowledge that it is only with the Lord that we are able to do anything. It seems like such a simple thing, but all of us are tempted to take credit for what God has brought about in our lives. But if you want to grow in grace, try to be humble and always remember to praise the Lord for what you have been given.
Amen.
Micah 6:1-8
Matthew 5: 1-12
Three sons left home, went out on their own and prospered. Getting back together, they discussed the gifts they were able to give their elderly mother.
The first said, “I built a big house for our mother.”
The second said, “I sent her a BMW with a driver.”
The third smiled and said, “I’ve got you both beat. You remember how Mom enjoyed reading the Bible? And you know she can’t see very well. So I sent her a remarkable parrot that recites the entire Bible. It took elders in the church 12 years to teach him. He’s one of a kind. Mama just has to name the chapter and verse, and the parrot recites it.”
Soon thereafter, mom sent out her letters of thanks:
“Milton,” she wrote one son, “The house you built is so huge. I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house.”
“Gerald,” she wrote to another, “I am too old to travel. I stay most of the time at home, so I rarely use the BMW. And the driver is so rude!”
“Dearest Donald,” she wrote to her third son, “You have the good sense to know what your mother likes. The chicken was delicious”.
Outside of my mother’s house there is a tree that has been growing for over fifty years at least. It is massive, the trunk thick and strong and the branches extending to the heavens filled with big, green leaves. However, sometimes I have noticed that after winter has gone and spring begins not all of the branches bud. Sometimes there is a branch here or there that has nothing on it and it becomes dry and frail. The rest of the tree is beautiful but if someone doesn’t prune the dead branches, it will damage the rest of the tree as it dies.
This process isn’t so very different from what we have to do as good Christians. If we want to be healthy and strong we have to constantly reassess our lives and consider what needs to be different about ourselves. Sometimes we fall into bad habits that drag us down and take over our lives. That’s why it is important to pay attention to the advice we are often given in the bible such as verse 8 in Micah 6 where we are told to “Act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God”.
Humility is one of the biggest stumbling blocks in a Christian’s life. Many of us want to be humble and try to be, but it is so much harder than Jesus makes it seem. One of my favorite Steelers player is Troy Polamalu, a Greek Orthodox Christian is considered one of the most humble football players in the NFL. However, about six weeks ago in a game he forced a fumble and when he saw he was about to be tackled, he did a backward pass to try to pick up more yards and the guy he threw it too just managed to catch it. After the game when he was asked about it, he answered, “The play at the end of the game was incredibly arrogant and selfish and foolish of me. I represent something bigger than myself: my faith, my family, and my team. I’ll try to never let that happen again.”
First of all, it takes a lot of guts to admit you are wrong. Second, even someone who tries to be humble and faithful can have moments of pride and selfishness. The lesson Troy learned is one that comes to all of us at some point in our lives. God does not enjoy a prideful person and from personal experience when you ask God to teach you to be more humble – he takes you up on that offer pretty quickly!
But the main reason we should be humble is because we are only here through God’s power and grace. We are told often in the Old Testament and in the New Testament that it is those who suffer who hold God’s favor. It is those people who understand how sinful, arrogant and selfish they are as human beings who receive God’s mercy and grace. Those people inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus tells us, “Blessed are the meek, the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn.” The Lord tells us how to be humble as well, the more we thank God and give him praise, the more aware we become of how little we have done to earn what we enjoy in life.
Humility and a passion for praise are the way we grow in grace. The Bible is full of self-humbling people who bow down before God, and people giving praise to God for their blessings. The healthy heart is one that bows down in humility and rises in praise and adoration. The Psalms strike both these notes again and again. Also, Paul in his letters both articulates humility and breaks into many praises. As the years pass Paul mentions in several letters to churches how he is the last of the apostles, the least of all saints and the foremost of sinners! And as his self-esteem sinks, so his rapture of praise and adoration for the God who so wonderfully saved him rises.
Without a doubt, learning to praise God all the time, for everything that is good is a mark that we are growing in grace. One of my professors who had once been in stage four of prostate cancer often told us how painful both the cancer and the treatment was during that time of his life. He told us that between bouts of agony and fear, in which he had to stuff his mouth with bedclothes to avoid biting his tongue, he would say aloud over and over again: "I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth" (Ps. 34:1). He said that the only way he knew of to get through the pain was to find joy in the Lord who is always good and beautiful.
If we want to grow in grace, we are to acknowledge that it is only with the Lord that we are able to do anything. It seems like such a simple thing, but all of us are tempted to take credit for what God has brought about in our lives. But if you want to grow in grace, try to be humble and always remember to praise the Lord for what you have been given.
Amen.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Blessed are Those Who Trust
The Scriptures are Psalm 40, and John 1: 29-42
A man fell off a cliff, but managed to grab a tree limb on the way down. The following conversation happened after he fell:
"Is anyone up there?"
"I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe me?"
"Yes, Lord, I believe. I really believe, but I can't hang on much longer."
"That's all right, if you really believe you have nothing to worry about. I will save you. Just let go of the branch."
A moment of pause, then: "Is anyone else up there?"
How much trust must it have taken for Simon Peter to believe that Andrew truly had found the Messiah? How much trust did Andrew have to believe John when he witnessed that this Jesus was God’s Chosen One? And then there is John, who trusted in the Lord’s promise that the Messiah would come after him.
Is there a way to measure trust? Is there a way to measure faith so that all may know how faithful and trusting these men were? No. There is no measurable way other than to look at them and to see their actions and know that these men were all of God’s Chosen Ones. Chosen because they had room in their hearts for God’s Word. Chosen because they were willing to open their heart and spirit to God so that His Son might become their leader.
And just to prove how trusting these men were, we see throughout the New Testament how often people did not believe in Jesus. How often he was mocked and how much people loved to hate him. There are very few times when someone is not trying to trick Jesus into saying something wrong or when they are not trying to hurt his body. But still these men would follow Jesus right up to the very end because they trusted Him as their Messiah.
A few years ago in Afghanistan, a father, holding his small son by the hand, ran from a building that had been struck by a bomb. In the front yard was a shell hole. Seeking shelter as quickly as possible, the father jumped into the hole and held up his arms for his son to follow. Terrified, yet hearing his father's voice telling him to jump, the boy replied, "I can't see you!"
The father, looking up against the sky tinted red by the burning buildings, called to the silhouette of his son, "But I can see you. Jump!" The boy jumped, because he trusted his father. The Christian faith enables us to face life or meet death, not because we can see, but with the certainty that we are seen; not that we know all the answers, but that we are known.
The title of my sermon today is Blessed are those who trust. Blessed because their faith sets them free. Blessed because when a person stops doubting and fearing, room opens up in their soul for new things to happen. What am I talking about? The Holy Spirit of course! From the time we are children we are told to invite Jesus Christ into our heart. The Sunday school teachers tell us to, our parents and then when we are older the preacher says the same thing. We are all constantly harping on this because when a person invites Jesus into their heart, the Lord actually does say that he will live in us as we live in him.
John 15: 5-8 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
Think about those words. For us to bear fruit, for us to bring glory to God, we must invite Jesus into our hearts and there the Holy Spirit rests within us and that is where the really fun part begins. Because God doesn’t just sit idly by, the Lord doesn’t wait for us to change ourselves, but God helps us to change. It’s not an easy process either because I don’t think God believes in taking shortcuts to anything. When God decides it is time for us to change, he takes the long, hard road.
So that is the scary part of asking the Lord to live in us and for us to live in him. We are constantly urged by the Holy Spirit to open ourselves up to changing our sinful ways for Godly ones. The little voice in the back of our head that is constantly urging us to spend more time with our family, the voice that says the person who wronged you has a side in this argument too. The little voice that whispers maybe it is time to forgive your mother or father for what they did to hurt you. The little voice that says you are not the person you see in the mirror, but that you are the beloved child of God.
And let me tell you something else, if the little voice isn’t saying you’re loved by God then you better not listen to it anymore! The only way God speaks to us is with love. He may be firm and he may become angry with us at times, but he always, always loves us. So if you have a voice that is telling you that you are no good or that you aren’t worth anything, if you have a voice that mocks you – that’s not God. That voice is you, sabotaging yourself.
God truly is like a stern parent who will tell their child they have to be home by midnight and no, they cannot pierce that part of their body. They don’t do it because they are mean or hate their child, they do it so that their child will be safe and protected. God, wants you to be safe and protected. What would be the point of sending His Son to save us if God is going to tell you that you’re worthless? Hasn’t he already proven that you are worth His Son’s LIFE?
Do not listen to the lies that sinfulness will try to feed you. Do not listen to your own cynicism and bitterness. Instead, listen to the voice that urges you to forgive, to reconcile your differences, to be more honest in your communication with family and friends and coworkers. That is the voice of God. God is the voice of the baseball coach that tells his losing team, “You CAN do this. I believe in you!”
It all comes down to trust and what we choose to believe. Are we a people that are willing to jump into God’s arms even though we cannot see him and trust that he will catch us? Or are we a people that when God tells us to let go of the branch because he will save us, instead we ask if anyone else is up there? Only you can decide which group you fall into, but I will leave you with these words from 2Cor 5:7 “For we live by faith, not by sight”.
Amen.
A man fell off a cliff, but managed to grab a tree limb on the way down. The following conversation happened after he fell:
"Is anyone up there?"
"I am here. I am the Lord. Do you believe me?"
"Yes, Lord, I believe. I really believe, but I can't hang on much longer."
"That's all right, if you really believe you have nothing to worry about. I will save you. Just let go of the branch."
A moment of pause, then: "Is anyone else up there?"
How much trust must it have taken for Simon Peter to believe that Andrew truly had found the Messiah? How much trust did Andrew have to believe John when he witnessed that this Jesus was God’s Chosen One? And then there is John, who trusted in the Lord’s promise that the Messiah would come after him.
Is there a way to measure trust? Is there a way to measure faith so that all may know how faithful and trusting these men were? No. There is no measurable way other than to look at them and to see their actions and know that these men were all of God’s Chosen Ones. Chosen because they had room in their hearts for God’s Word. Chosen because they were willing to open their heart and spirit to God so that His Son might become their leader.
And just to prove how trusting these men were, we see throughout the New Testament how often people did not believe in Jesus. How often he was mocked and how much people loved to hate him. There are very few times when someone is not trying to trick Jesus into saying something wrong or when they are not trying to hurt his body. But still these men would follow Jesus right up to the very end because they trusted Him as their Messiah.
A few years ago in Afghanistan, a father, holding his small son by the hand, ran from a building that had been struck by a bomb. In the front yard was a shell hole. Seeking shelter as quickly as possible, the father jumped into the hole and held up his arms for his son to follow. Terrified, yet hearing his father's voice telling him to jump, the boy replied, "I can't see you!"
The father, looking up against the sky tinted red by the burning buildings, called to the silhouette of his son, "But I can see you. Jump!" The boy jumped, because he trusted his father. The Christian faith enables us to face life or meet death, not because we can see, but with the certainty that we are seen; not that we know all the answers, but that we are known.
The title of my sermon today is Blessed are those who trust. Blessed because their faith sets them free. Blessed because when a person stops doubting and fearing, room opens up in their soul for new things to happen. What am I talking about? The Holy Spirit of course! From the time we are children we are told to invite Jesus Christ into our heart. The Sunday school teachers tell us to, our parents and then when we are older the preacher says the same thing. We are all constantly harping on this because when a person invites Jesus into their heart, the Lord actually does say that he will live in us as we live in him.
John 15: 5-8 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
Think about those words. For us to bear fruit, for us to bring glory to God, we must invite Jesus into our hearts and there the Holy Spirit rests within us and that is where the really fun part begins. Because God doesn’t just sit idly by, the Lord doesn’t wait for us to change ourselves, but God helps us to change. It’s not an easy process either because I don’t think God believes in taking shortcuts to anything. When God decides it is time for us to change, he takes the long, hard road.
So that is the scary part of asking the Lord to live in us and for us to live in him. We are constantly urged by the Holy Spirit to open ourselves up to changing our sinful ways for Godly ones. The little voice in the back of our head that is constantly urging us to spend more time with our family, the voice that says the person who wronged you has a side in this argument too. The little voice that whispers maybe it is time to forgive your mother or father for what they did to hurt you. The little voice that says you are not the person you see in the mirror, but that you are the beloved child of God.
And let me tell you something else, if the little voice isn’t saying you’re loved by God then you better not listen to it anymore! The only way God speaks to us is with love. He may be firm and he may become angry with us at times, but he always, always loves us. So if you have a voice that is telling you that you are no good or that you aren’t worth anything, if you have a voice that mocks you – that’s not God. That voice is you, sabotaging yourself.
God truly is like a stern parent who will tell their child they have to be home by midnight and no, they cannot pierce that part of their body. They don’t do it because they are mean or hate their child, they do it so that their child will be safe and protected. God, wants you to be safe and protected. What would be the point of sending His Son to save us if God is going to tell you that you’re worthless? Hasn’t he already proven that you are worth His Son’s LIFE?
Do not listen to the lies that sinfulness will try to feed you. Do not listen to your own cynicism and bitterness. Instead, listen to the voice that urges you to forgive, to reconcile your differences, to be more honest in your communication with family and friends and coworkers. That is the voice of God. God is the voice of the baseball coach that tells his losing team, “You CAN do this. I believe in you!”
It all comes down to trust and what we choose to believe. Are we a people that are willing to jump into God’s arms even though we cannot see him and trust that he will catch us? Or are we a people that when God tells us to let go of the branch because he will save us, instead we ask if anyone else is up there? Only you can decide which group you fall into, but I will leave you with these words from 2Cor 5:7 “For we live by faith, not by sight”.
Amen.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Week 4 of Advent - Do Not Be Afraid!
The passages are Isaiah 7 and Matthew 1: 18-25
The two passages we read today are some of the most amazing words we read in the Bible and not just because it means that Jesus Christ has come to be with us. They are amazing in many other ways as well. If today, someone told you that a virgin gave birth to a child, we would laugh and say, “It’s impossible”. If today, someone came up to you and said that an angel came to me and told me to do this” we would tell them they are hallucinating and need to take it easy for a few days.
This is not a world where miracles are welcomed. This is not a world where people believe in the mystical or intangible. If you poll most people in America today, they will tell you that they have a more spiritual belief rather than a firm religion. But I have come to believe that they do not mean spiritual as you or I would think of. No, I would define most Americans’ idea of spiritual as the ability to vaguely believe in God without letting that belief interrupt their daily lives and desires.
Jesus Christ blows that right out of the water. Jesus is all about interrupting human life. We often call Jesus the Great Peacemaker but he’s more of a trouble maker at times. Jesus came not to bring peace because in Matthew 10:34 Jesus distinctly says, “I do not come to bring peace, but a sword.” But let’s get back to Jesus being the Great Interrupter rather than the Great Peacemaker.
The whole idea of Immanuel, which means God with us, is that God comes into our world. It means that God broke into history to be here with us. When we think of God we have to acknowledge that every word we use to describe God is completely ineffectual. All these words and adjectives and verbs and nouns that we have to explain who God is and what God means and her characteristics are just pale imitational words for what God really is. We can’t grasp God. We can’t hold onto this concept of who God is for very long. It hurts the mind, the idea of God bends all rules and laws of nature and science. And so it hurts our very logical and scientific minds to try to figure out God.
And that is why we NEEDED Jesus Christ. Jesus is God, made flesh. Jesus is God, made understood. Jesus brings light where before there was darkness. He brings understanding of who God is and what God has done for us. Jesus being born, to a lowly carpenter and his virgin wife means that God interrupted human history to help us, to save us from ourselves and to show us who God is.
How amazing! How extraordinary! This is exciting stuff! The baby in the manger is the God who rules the universe. The baby in the manger is the one who takes away all our sins and that baby loves you so much that He will grow up and sacrifice Himself to save you. If that isn’t amazing, then I don’t know what is.
The older I get, the more convinced I am that God uses all of us to make Himself visible to the rest of the world. There is a reason that Jesus’ last words to the disciples before his ascension into Heaven are to go forth into the world and preach the Good News. God wants us to witness to what he is doing in this world. God wants us to help others to see His glory and majesty by sharing the great things he does for us with those around us.
The example I’m about to share with all of you about how God breaks into the world through ordinary people is more than a little controversial. But just as Jesus did not come to bring peace, I’m here to witness to God despite controversy. I’m here to show you where I see Jesus Christ working, and this is where I have seen Him. The news broke late last night that Don’t ask, Don’t tell has been repealed. That means that men and women in the armed forces who happen to be gay will now be able to freely serve without fear of being dismissed.
President Obama had these words to say about it, "It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed." I couldn’t sum it up more perfectly than he does there. (SAY AGAIN) That is God working through human beings. God rights injustice and he doesn’t always do it peacefully, but he does it powerfully. No matter how anyone feels about homosexuality, we need to recognize that there are many gays who have given their lives so that we can sit here today and peacefully worship. That is worth honoring them by letting them give their lives not under false pretenses but instead by accepting them as they are.
Jesus tells us to not judge, but instead we are to love one another. So whether we feel a person’s lifestyle is right or wrong, we are here to love them. After all, when Immanuel came all the Jews thought that he would be this Great King who would ride a white horse and round up all the Romans and cast them from Jerusalem. Instead, Jesus was poor and a carpenter, he rode a donkey and told the people to give to Caesar what was Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s. God does not always give us exactly what we want, but the Lord always gives us what we need.
We needed this law to pass so that injustice could be stamped out. We needed Jesus to come so that we could be saved, so that we could know that God is truly here with us. We needed to know that when we are dirty and tired and sweating, that God knows exactly how we feel because he has been there as well. Jesus got dirty. Jesus got tired and yes, Jesus would even sweat! He was walking in the desert after all and was also human so of course he would sweat.
As human beings we are not always capable of understanding the depths and wonders of our God. But as Christians we are given glimpses into God’s nature through Jesus Christ. We see and understand more about ourselves the more we understand Jesus. God has given us a great gift, the greatest of all gifts! He has given Himself, his Son so that we may know and understand and love.
That is where our peace lays. With God. With Jesus. The one who came not to bring peace, but a sword. The one who cuts out all injustice so that festering wounds may finally heal. The methods are not always pretty because as anyone with an infected cut can tell you, the way a doctor will lance an infection is often painful and gross, but it is always effective. Sometimes we must submit to God lancing our own wounds. It is painful, but change usually is painful even when it is absolutely necessary.
This Christmas I hope that you are able to find peace even if your life is in upheaval. I hope you are able to see where the Lord is working in your life. I pray that God shows you that although the paths you travel down are often long and filled with obstacles, that it is worth it because Jesus is with you each step you take. God has broken into this world, he has interrupted history and time so that he may take this journey with you. I hope that this Christmas as you celebrate with your family, you will also remember to celebrate with Jesus and find peace that God is with us.
Amen.
The two passages we read today are some of the most amazing words we read in the Bible and not just because it means that Jesus Christ has come to be with us. They are amazing in many other ways as well. If today, someone told you that a virgin gave birth to a child, we would laugh and say, “It’s impossible”. If today, someone came up to you and said that an angel came to me and told me to do this” we would tell them they are hallucinating and need to take it easy for a few days.
This is not a world where miracles are welcomed. This is not a world where people believe in the mystical or intangible. If you poll most people in America today, they will tell you that they have a more spiritual belief rather than a firm religion. But I have come to believe that they do not mean spiritual as you or I would think of. No, I would define most Americans’ idea of spiritual as the ability to vaguely believe in God without letting that belief interrupt their daily lives and desires.
Jesus Christ blows that right out of the water. Jesus is all about interrupting human life. We often call Jesus the Great Peacemaker but he’s more of a trouble maker at times. Jesus came not to bring peace because in Matthew 10:34 Jesus distinctly says, “I do not come to bring peace, but a sword.” But let’s get back to Jesus being the Great Interrupter rather than the Great Peacemaker.
The whole idea of Immanuel, which means God with us, is that God comes into our world. It means that God broke into history to be here with us. When we think of God we have to acknowledge that every word we use to describe God is completely ineffectual. All these words and adjectives and verbs and nouns that we have to explain who God is and what God means and her characteristics are just pale imitational words for what God really is. We can’t grasp God. We can’t hold onto this concept of who God is for very long. It hurts the mind, the idea of God bends all rules and laws of nature and science. And so it hurts our very logical and scientific minds to try to figure out God.
And that is why we NEEDED Jesus Christ. Jesus is God, made flesh. Jesus is God, made understood. Jesus brings light where before there was darkness. He brings understanding of who God is and what God has done for us. Jesus being born, to a lowly carpenter and his virgin wife means that God interrupted human history to help us, to save us from ourselves and to show us who God is.
How amazing! How extraordinary! This is exciting stuff! The baby in the manger is the God who rules the universe. The baby in the manger is the one who takes away all our sins and that baby loves you so much that He will grow up and sacrifice Himself to save you. If that isn’t amazing, then I don’t know what is.
The older I get, the more convinced I am that God uses all of us to make Himself visible to the rest of the world. There is a reason that Jesus’ last words to the disciples before his ascension into Heaven are to go forth into the world and preach the Good News. God wants us to witness to what he is doing in this world. God wants us to help others to see His glory and majesty by sharing the great things he does for us with those around us.
The example I’m about to share with all of you about how God breaks into the world through ordinary people is more than a little controversial. But just as Jesus did not come to bring peace, I’m here to witness to God despite controversy. I’m here to show you where I see Jesus Christ working, and this is where I have seen Him. The news broke late last night that Don’t ask, Don’t tell has been repealed. That means that men and women in the armed forces who happen to be gay will now be able to freely serve without fear of being dismissed.
President Obama had these words to say about it, "It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed." I couldn’t sum it up more perfectly than he does there. (SAY AGAIN) That is God working through human beings. God rights injustice and he doesn’t always do it peacefully, but he does it powerfully. No matter how anyone feels about homosexuality, we need to recognize that there are many gays who have given their lives so that we can sit here today and peacefully worship. That is worth honoring them by letting them give their lives not under false pretenses but instead by accepting them as they are.
Jesus tells us to not judge, but instead we are to love one another. So whether we feel a person’s lifestyle is right or wrong, we are here to love them. After all, when Immanuel came all the Jews thought that he would be this Great King who would ride a white horse and round up all the Romans and cast them from Jerusalem. Instead, Jesus was poor and a carpenter, he rode a donkey and told the people to give to Caesar what was Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s. God does not always give us exactly what we want, but the Lord always gives us what we need.
We needed this law to pass so that injustice could be stamped out. We needed Jesus to come so that we could be saved, so that we could know that God is truly here with us. We needed to know that when we are dirty and tired and sweating, that God knows exactly how we feel because he has been there as well. Jesus got dirty. Jesus got tired and yes, Jesus would even sweat! He was walking in the desert after all and was also human so of course he would sweat.
As human beings we are not always capable of understanding the depths and wonders of our God. But as Christians we are given glimpses into God’s nature through Jesus Christ. We see and understand more about ourselves the more we understand Jesus. God has given us a great gift, the greatest of all gifts! He has given Himself, his Son so that we may know and understand and love.
That is where our peace lays. With God. With Jesus. The one who came not to bring peace, but a sword. The one who cuts out all injustice so that festering wounds may finally heal. The methods are not always pretty because as anyone with an infected cut can tell you, the way a doctor will lance an infection is often painful and gross, but it is always effective. Sometimes we must submit to God lancing our own wounds. It is painful, but change usually is painful even when it is absolutely necessary.
This Christmas I hope that you are able to find peace even if your life is in upheaval. I hope you are able to see where the Lord is working in your life. I pray that God shows you that although the paths you travel down are often long and filled with obstacles, that it is worth it because Jesus is with you each step you take. God has broken into this world, he has interrupted history and time so that he may take this journey with you. I hope that this Christmas as you celebrate with your family, you will also remember to celebrate with Jesus and find peace that God is with us.
Amen.
Week 3 of Advent - Joy of the Redeemed
The passages are Isaiah 35 and James 5
When I read in Isaiah 35 about the Highway called the Way of Holiness, it reminded me of a couple songs I’ve heard over the years about highways. One of my favorite bands, AC-DC, sang a song called Highway to Hell. The lyrics go like this:
Living easy, living free
Season ticket on a one-way ride
Asking nothing, leave me be
Taking everything in my stride
Don’t need reason, don’t need rhyme
Aint nothing I'd rather do
Going down, party time
My friends are gonna be there too, yeah
I’m on the highway to hell.
The other song I always enjoyed is called Life is a Highway by Tom Cochrane. Some of the lyrics to this one are:
There’s no load I can’t hold,
Road so rough, this I know,
I’ll be there when the lights come in,
Tell them we’re survivors.
When I was thinking about these two songs and their lyrics I realized that there is a reason Isaiah chose to speak to the people about highways. Highways are a wonderful invention made by humans to get from point A to point B more quickly and with fewer problems. Highways may go around bends or up slight hills but for the most part, we try to make them as straight and smooth as possible to make our travel faster and safer. The lives we lead may be considered a journey and on our journey we have many highways and roads to choose from.
For this reason, we can call ourselves pilgrims, and as we go about our daily lives, we choose different paths for different reasons. Sometimes we choose a path because our best friend or spouse is on that road. Sometimes we choose a path because we know at the end we will have something we desire or need. There are other times when we may choose a path not knowing where it will lead us, but we felt like that was where we supposed to be right now. Sometimes the paths we choose are good for us, things we needed to do to become stronger individuals. But sometimes the path leads us to hardship and pain.
It is when we get to the end of one highway and we are about to choose another that the two songs I mentioned become important. One speaks about life being a real party. Things are easy; the person is living free with nothing to impede him. The other person talks about how sometimes this highway is rough, but he has confidence that there is nothing he can’t do because he’s a survivor.
I have to admit, I’m rather drawn to this idea of life being one big party. Of everything coming easily, with little work or fuss. Wouldn’t it be nice to just wake up every morning without worries or cares? To no longer stress out about paying bills or figure out how to resolve the fight from the night before? To not care what happened yesterday or what is going to happen today? The person in the song doesn’t even care that he’s on a Highway straight to Hell. Matter of fact, he tells everyone to leave him be because he doesn’t care about that. He’s too busy having a good time now.
Don’t we all know someone who doesn’t really care about tomorrow or who they’ve hurt in their life? They live for today and they live for themselves. It can be easy to envy someone who is so free spirited. It can be easy to want to emulate their actions in the hope of making our own messy lives less complicated. However, there is something about this type of life that is not worth envying at all.
The only problem with life being a constant party is that someone always has to clean it up when it’s over. Someone has to take responsibility for what has happened or what is done during that time. If you lead a life without worries or cares, that just means someone else will be picking up the slack for you. Perhaps it is your parents or your siblings or your children. But someone always ends up paying the price. For Christians, it is Jesus Christ.
Verse four in Isaiah 35 says, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” The result of the Lord coming to be with us is then described in the rest of the chapter. It says, “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs”.
What is being described here is a gift only God could give to a people of the desert. These people had known many hardships because at this point in Isaiah the Israelites were captured slaves and indentured servants to the Babylonians. They were poor and without the comforts of home. So to hear that the Lord would come to save them, it meant that their needs would be satisfied. They would have enough water to drink, they would have food to fill their bellies, and those that were in pain and suffering would be healed.
And to insure all of this happened, Isaiah 35 talks about a highway called the Way of Holiness where only the saved will be able to walk. This is a special highway reserved for those who know God. As Christians we know the only way to know God is to know Jesus Christ. We have invited Jesus into our hearts and his Spirit rests within us every day and because of that, we know God. We have been blessed with this great gift just as the Israelites had been blessed.
We are not alone on this journey. Jesus Christ journeys with us. He lights the way like a lamp to our feet. He is always guiding us and helping us around obstacles. Jesus is the Way of Holiness, that highway Isaiah speaks of. He is the one that smoothes out the rough patches where life has created potholes. He is the one that straightens our crooked ways so that we can get back to place we are supposed to be. With God. Our place is with God. Our whole being longs to be with Him.
Isn’t that what we proclaim during Advent? Isn’t this what we look forward to each and every year? For a little child to be born, a child who is so much more. The promise of a Savior who comes to be with His people. God in the flesh. Because as John 1 says, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling place among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”.
Let this advent be a time of joy for each of you as you wait for the coming of your Messiah. As you wait for the One who is full of grace and truth, the One who lights our way as we journey down life’s path. Let us give him glory and honor and praise, for God is with us.
Amen.
When I read in Isaiah 35 about the Highway called the Way of Holiness, it reminded me of a couple songs I’ve heard over the years about highways. One of my favorite bands, AC-DC, sang a song called Highway to Hell. The lyrics go like this:
Season ticket on a one-way ride
Asking nothing, leave me be
Taking everything in my stride
Don’t need reason, don’t need rhyme
Aint nothing I'd rather do
Going down, party time
My friends are gonna be there too, yeah
I’m on the highway to hell.
The other song I always enjoyed is called Life is a Highway by Tom Cochrane. Some of the lyrics to this one are:
Road so rough, this I know,
I’ll be there when the lights come in,
Tell them we’re survivors.
When I was thinking about these two songs and their lyrics I realized that there is a reason Isaiah chose to speak to the people about highways. Highways are a wonderful invention made by humans to get from point A to point B more quickly and with fewer problems. Highways may go around bends or up slight hills but for the most part, we try to make them as straight and smooth as possible to make our travel faster and safer. The lives we lead may be considered a journey and on our journey we have many highways and roads to choose from.
For this reason, we can call ourselves pilgrims, and as we go about our daily lives, we choose different paths for different reasons. Sometimes we choose a path because our best friend or spouse is on that road. Sometimes we choose a path because we know at the end we will have something we desire or need. There are other times when we may choose a path not knowing where it will lead us, but we felt like that was where we supposed to be right now. Sometimes the paths we choose are good for us, things we needed to do to become stronger individuals. But sometimes the path leads us to hardship and pain.
It is when we get to the end of one highway and we are about to choose another that the two songs I mentioned become important. One speaks about life being a real party. Things are easy; the person is living free with nothing to impede him. The other person talks about how sometimes this highway is rough, but he has confidence that there is nothing he can’t do because he’s a survivor.
I have to admit, I’m rather drawn to this idea of life being one big party. Of everything coming easily, with little work or fuss. Wouldn’t it be nice to just wake up every morning without worries or cares? To no longer stress out about paying bills or figure out how to resolve the fight from the night before? To not care what happened yesterday or what is going to happen today? The person in the song doesn’t even care that he’s on a Highway straight to Hell. Matter of fact, he tells everyone to leave him be because he doesn’t care about that. He’s too busy having a good time now.
Don’t we all know someone who doesn’t really care about tomorrow or who they’ve hurt in their life? They live for today and they live for themselves. It can be easy to envy someone who is so free spirited. It can be easy to want to emulate their actions in the hope of making our own messy lives less complicated. However, there is something about this type of life that is not worth envying at all.
The only problem with life being a constant party is that someone always has to clean it up when it’s over. Someone has to take responsibility for what has happened or what is done during that time. If you lead a life without worries or cares, that just means someone else will be picking up the slack for you. Perhaps it is your parents or your siblings or your children. But someone always ends up paying the price. For Christians, it is Jesus Christ.
Verse four in Isaiah 35 says, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” The result of the Lord coming to be with us is then described in the rest of the chapter. It says, “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs”.
What is being described here is a gift only God could give to a people of the desert. These people had known many hardships because at this point in Isaiah the Israelites were captured slaves and indentured servants to the Babylonians. They were poor and without the comforts of home. So to hear that the Lord would come to save them, it meant that their needs would be satisfied. They would have enough water to drink, they would have food to fill their bellies, and those that were in pain and suffering would be healed.
And to insure all of this happened, Isaiah 35 talks about a highway called the Way of Holiness where only the saved will be able to walk. This is a special highway reserved for those who know God. As Christians we know the only way to know God is to know Jesus Christ. We have invited Jesus into our hearts and his Spirit rests within us every day and because of that, we know God. We have been blessed with this great gift just as the Israelites had been blessed.
We are not alone on this journey. Jesus Christ journeys with us. He lights the way like a lamp to our feet. He is always guiding us and helping us around obstacles. Jesus is the Way of Holiness, that highway Isaiah speaks of. He is the one that smoothes out the rough patches where life has created potholes. He is the one that straightens our crooked ways so that we can get back to place we are supposed to be. With God. Our place is with God. Our whole being longs to be with Him.
Isn’t that what we proclaim during Advent? Isn’t this what we look forward to each and every year? For a little child to be born, a child who is so much more. The promise of a Savior who comes to be with His people. God in the flesh. Because as John 1 says, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling place among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”.
Let this advent be a time of joy for each of you as you wait for the coming of your Messiah. As you wait for the One who is full of grace and truth, the One who lights our way as we journey down life’s path. Let us give him glory and honor and praise, for God is with us.
Amen.
Week 2 of Advent - Loving Acceptance
Passages are Isaiah 11 and Romans 15.
I knew a woman a few year ago who had a teenage daughter that had behavioral issues. She was full of anger and bitterness and would refuse to speak to anyone. She had been this way since she was a little girl, but the older she got, the worse her behavior became. She began to act out, had awful fits of temper and would hit and bite and scream at whoever was near her. Her mother didn’t know what to do to help her. Finally, she sent her to visit for a few weeks with her aunt who was a counselor. Before she left, the teenage girl looked at her mom and said, “How could you give me away?”
I am telling you this because during the Advent season we are told to think of all the good things in life. To remember to be hopeful and expectant, to look at one another with love and compassion, to experience joy in the coming Savior and to feel peace on Christmas Eve. But for some people this season is about pain and loneliness and despair. This season reminds them of what has gone wrong in their life. It reminds this mother that for some reason, her child is deeply troubled, but she cannot help her.
The question the teenage girl asked her mom is one I often ask God about His Son, Jesus. How could God give Jesus to us? How could God bear to know the pain His Son would soon experience? Did Jesus ever want to ask, “How could you give me away?”
We live in darkness. Every day we are surrounded by pain whether it is our own or other people’s. We have created things to bring us happiness, but it only works on a superficial basis because the only happiness that lasts is happiness based upon God. There is a reason that pastors are always telling their congregations to be thankful for their blessings. We know that happiness comes only from God and that it begins with our own thankfulness for what we have been given. God gave us His Son. He gave us Jesus because we are deeply troubled and we needed a lighthouse, we needed a beacon to guide us safely home.
Jesus provides that light. Jesus comes as the promise of light at night. He was born at night. And that’s where his spirit meets ours. I can’t say what this will mean for me, much less for you. But Advent asks that we face any night within or around us, and come to see it as the birthplace of unexpected opportunity, a chance to find hope and love in a world filled with pain and hurt.
Let me tell you what happened to the teenage girl while she was with her aunt. She spent several weeks with her aunt. She didn’t talk at first so her aunt took her places and talked to her. Eventually, the teenager opened up bit by bit and began to speak of the darkness inside her. She felt all alone. She was scared of who she was and what she had done to her family. But just having a chance to speak about how she felt released some of that anger and bitterness. It was like for a brief moment the sun burst from the clouds and she could see the world around her, she could see her family was not her enemy.
Advent is a special time for us. We hope and wait, we watch and listen. But we are also supposed to talk. Talking releases those dark emotions so that the light can trickle in. Too often these days, Christians are afraid to speak out about their faith. Especially at Christmas time. Has anyone heard about the two billboards that have gone up about Christmas? One was put up by Atheists that says, “You KNOW it’s not real. This season believe in reason.” And the other billboard was put up by Catholics that says, “You KNOW it’s real. This season believe in Jesus”.
Is it any wonder our young people are confused? Is it any wonder so many people have chosen to not speak out about their Christian faith or have ignored their faith to the point where they have no faith at all? Christmas is no longer about anything but economics and rivalry. Who can put up the most lights on their house? Who will hold the best party? Will your Christmas bonus come in time for you to buy all those presents for your family?
The reality is that Christmas is not about any of those things. Christmas is about reminding all people and all nations that we have been given a gift without price. We have been given Jesus Christ, without any strings attached and there is nothing we have done or could do to have earned such a remarkable gift as our Savior. Because we are loved, a love so deep and bountiful that nothing we do could mar it, and because of that love we will know eternal life.
The teenage girl that asked, “How could you give me away” eventually got to come home to her mother. The first thing her mom did was hug her close, kissing her and not letting her go for several long minutes. Finally, the teenager pulled away and looked at her and said, “Could you ever love me again?”
This is the question we often end up asking God. “Lord, will you still love me even though I lied? Will you still care about me even though I cheated? Lord, how can you still love me when I’m so sinful?”
But just as that mother looked at her daughter and said, “I never stopped”, God looks at each of us and says the same. Because of Jesus Christ, we know that God will never stop loving us, God will always accept us and will never let us go. Sometimes it feels like God has left us. Sometimes it feels like the darkness in our lives will consume us until nothing is left. We forget that God is here with us, that God is listening to us and willing to help us. Like that teenage girl, we bottle everything up inside of us, not daring to speak until everything explodes and we are left with shattered dreams and broken hearts. Then we pray to God for help.
But Advent reminds us that we are not alone. Advent reminds us that Jesus Christ has redeemed us in God’s eyes and that when he looks at us he sees the love we have for Jesus and God loves that about His people. Advent is about Jesus Christ, the long awaited Savior who cements are relationship with God the Father so that in Christ we are forgiven. In and with Christ we are able to do good things and to be the people God wants us to be.
This Advent let us all remember that God is with us. That the Lord has never left us. Let us speak out about our faith. Let us not be afraid to love one another, lets not be afraid to believe in more than what we can see and touch. Let us raise our voices in song, in praise, and in prayer as we wait for the coming of our Savior. For God has given us a gift beyond compare, one that insures us everlasting life. I’ll leave you with these final words from Paul who wrote in Romans 15:14, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
I knew a woman a few year ago who had a teenage daughter that had behavioral issues. She was full of anger and bitterness and would refuse to speak to anyone. She had been this way since she was a little girl, but the older she got, the worse her behavior became. She began to act out, had awful fits of temper and would hit and bite and scream at whoever was near her. Her mother didn’t know what to do to help her. Finally, she sent her to visit for a few weeks with her aunt who was a counselor. Before she left, the teenage girl looked at her mom and said, “How could you give me away?”
I am telling you this because during the Advent season we are told to think of all the good things in life. To remember to be hopeful and expectant, to look at one another with love and compassion, to experience joy in the coming Savior and to feel peace on Christmas Eve. But for some people this season is about pain and loneliness and despair. This season reminds them of what has gone wrong in their life. It reminds this mother that for some reason, her child is deeply troubled, but she cannot help her.
The question the teenage girl asked her mom is one I often ask God about His Son, Jesus. How could God give Jesus to us? How could God bear to know the pain His Son would soon experience? Did Jesus ever want to ask, “How could you give me away?”
We live in darkness. Every day we are surrounded by pain whether it is our own or other people’s. We have created things to bring us happiness, but it only works on a superficial basis because the only happiness that lasts is happiness based upon God. There is a reason that pastors are always telling their congregations to be thankful for their blessings. We know that happiness comes only from God and that it begins with our own thankfulness for what we have been given. God gave us His Son. He gave us Jesus because we are deeply troubled and we needed a lighthouse, we needed a beacon to guide us safely home.
Jesus provides that light. Jesus comes as the promise of light at night. He was born at night. And that’s where his spirit meets ours. I can’t say what this will mean for me, much less for you. But Advent asks that we face any night within or around us, and come to see it as the birthplace of unexpected opportunity, a chance to find hope and love in a world filled with pain and hurt.
Let me tell you what happened to the teenage girl while she was with her aunt. She spent several weeks with her aunt. She didn’t talk at first so her aunt took her places and talked to her. Eventually, the teenager opened up bit by bit and began to speak of the darkness inside her. She felt all alone. She was scared of who she was and what she had done to her family. But just having a chance to speak about how she felt released some of that anger and bitterness. It was like for a brief moment the sun burst from the clouds and she could see the world around her, she could see her family was not her enemy.
Advent is a special time for us. We hope and wait, we watch and listen. But we are also supposed to talk. Talking releases those dark emotions so that the light can trickle in. Too often these days, Christians are afraid to speak out about their faith. Especially at Christmas time. Has anyone heard about the two billboards that have gone up about Christmas? One was put up by Atheists that says, “You KNOW it’s not real. This season believe in reason.” And the other billboard was put up by Catholics that says, “You KNOW it’s real. This season believe in Jesus”.
Is it any wonder our young people are confused? Is it any wonder so many people have chosen to not speak out about their Christian faith or have ignored their faith to the point where they have no faith at all? Christmas is no longer about anything but economics and rivalry. Who can put up the most lights on their house? Who will hold the best party? Will your Christmas bonus come in time for you to buy all those presents for your family?
The reality is that Christmas is not about any of those things. Christmas is about reminding all people and all nations that we have been given a gift without price. We have been given Jesus Christ, without any strings attached and there is nothing we have done or could do to have earned such a remarkable gift as our Savior. Because we are loved, a love so deep and bountiful that nothing we do could mar it, and because of that love we will know eternal life.
The teenage girl that asked, “How could you give me away” eventually got to come home to her mother. The first thing her mom did was hug her close, kissing her and not letting her go for several long minutes. Finally, the teenager pulled away and looked at her and said, “Could you ever love me again?”
This is the question we often end up asking God. “Lord, will you still love me even though I lied? Will you still care about me even though I cheated? Lord, how can you still love me when I’m so sinful?”
But just as that mother looked at her daughter and said, “I never stopped”, God looks at each of us and says the same. Because of Jesus Christ, we know that God will never stop loving us, God will always accept us and will never let us go. Sometimes it feels like God has left us. Sometimes it feels like the darkness in our lives will consume us until nothing is left. We forget that God is here with us, that God is listening to us and willing to help us. Like that teenage girl, we bottle everything up inside of us, not daring to speak until everything explodes and we are left with shattered dreams and broken hearts. Then we pray to God for help.
But Advent reminds us that we are not alone. Advent reminds us that Jesus Christ has redeemed us in God’s eyes and that when he looks at us he sees the love we have for Jesus and God loves that about His people. Advent is about Jesus Christ, the long awaited Savior who cements are relationship with God the Father so that in Christ we are forgiven. In and with Christ we are able to do good things and to be the people God wants us to be.
This Advent let us all remember that God is with us. That the Lord has never left us. Let us speak out about our faith. Let us not be afraid to love one another, lets not be afraid to believe in more than what we can see and touch. Let us raise our voices in song, in praise, and in prayer as we wait for the coming of our Savior. For God has given us a gift beyond compare, one that insures us everlasting life. I’ll leave you with these final words from Paul who wrote in Romans 15:14, May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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