Lev 19: 1-2, 9-18
Matthew 5: 38-48
The passage in Leviticus reminds us of the Ten Commandments as well as the passages we read the last two weeks in Matthew where Jesus explains in depth how we are to behave. We are told not to lie or steal, to not be overly zealous in reaping our harvest, but instead we are to leave some harvest for those that have nothing. We should not pervert justice and we should not curse or put stumbling blocks in front of the blind and deaf.
Some of these commands seem silly, why would anyone curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind? That seems like such a cruel and awful thing to do, have people really done such things in the past? Yes, they did. Back before science could explain so many illnesses and diseases, people that were different were treated as if they had demons or were cursed by God for doing something wrong.
Now that we have more knowledge about science and health, that is a less common treatment of the blind and deaf, but who have taken their place? Society always seems to have to have someone to bear the brunt of their dislike and scorn. In the United States it would be safe to say that immigrants and gay and lesbian people often bear the brunt of our scorn and dislike.
The more I read this passage in Leviticus, the more I thought about my friend John. Some of you know that last year I lost a dear friend, but I did not tell any of you John's story. The passage in Leviticus has made me feel like this is the time to tell you about the man who was John Wilson. Some people that call themselves Christians would tell me that John isn't worth missing. Others would tell me that John is in hell because of the choices he made. I'll let you decide.
John was born the oldest child of two. He was the apple of his father's eye, and John did everything he could to please his father. However, he had a secret that he knew his father wouldn't approve of and when his father found out, John was punished severely. As a teenager he realized he might have some feelings for boys rather than girls. When his father found out, he beat John until he was admitted into the hospital with a concussion and when he came out his mind blocked out his feelings for boys to protect him.
Even though John continued to be a model son, his father never again treated him the same and because of the concussion, John never knew why. He just continued to try. He went into the army and he became an army medic. John felt like if he was going to take lives, he was also going to do the best he could to save them as well.
He went and did two tours in Afghanistan and on the last tour, there was a lot of trouble. A young man got shot up pretty bad and John went in to save him. As he was running toward him, John took a bullet in the shoulder that made him fall so hard that his leg broke. He was laying there, feet away from the young man, a good friend, and watched as the Afghans tried to save that boy. John stared into his eyes as that young man died and as the others began to work on him, he told me all he could think, "If I could have got to him, maybe he'd still be alive. If I had just been a little faster, a little better.."
John survived his wounds and he came back to work on preparing other soldiers to go over. He was a captain and he had medals of honor and bravery. It was never enough for his father. Then John met someone, a man, who didn't shy away from talking about the war or even joking about it with him. This man made him feel alive, cherished, and loved when for so long he had felt empty and lost. John was confused and felt guilty and conflicted. It had been beaten into his mind and body that to have these thoughts and feelings were evil.
That's when I met John. As a Christian, as a pastor - what should I tell this man? What would you tell him? The words of Leviticus keep coming to my mind. "Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life."
I told John that Jesus loved him. I told him that he was not bad or evil. I know what the Bible says about homosexuality and I understand why some people feel so strongly against it. However, in that moment, as I saw the pain in his face; the absolute agony of trying to understand his emotions and thoughts, I knew it was not my place to judge him but it was my job to remind him that Jesus loved him and had died for him. It was my Christian duty to be there for someone in pain, to help him by listening to his story and trying to understand where he was coming from.
John ended up marrying the man that made him feel alive. They had a beautiful, private ceremony and it lasted for a short, idyllic period. Unfortunately, both in England as well as America, we do not take sufficient care of our troops with PTSD and in a moment of a flashback, John panicked and took his life. He apologized over and over again in his suicide note for not being good enough; for not being strong enough to stay and his last words were that he couldn't handle that he had survived when he was so unworthy when that young man had died.
John never felt he was good enough to be loved. I truly feel like he is dead because of not only his father's actions but because we as Christians do not do a good enough job at loving people. We are too quick to judge them and Jesus never told us to do that. I understand this is an issue that has deep feelings for many people. I am not telling you to change your position; that is for you and God to figure out. What I want to point out is that we always have a choice in how we treat people.
We can love them or we can hurt them. Jesus tells us to love. It's not always easy to do, but it is worth it. John was one of the most giving, self-sacrificing people I've ever met. He never knew his own worth and that is what seems truly sinful to me. In some churches, in some people's minds the idea that John was both gay and committed suicide would be enough to put him in the deepest depths of hell. But what of the man that gave up his peace of mind, and parts of his body, and then later his life so that all of us are safe here today in this church? What about the man that came back broken and suffering and tormented, and decided to help these other young men so they wouldn't be caught unaware as he was? What about the man that decided he needed to help out at medical clinics for free because there were so many that could use some good medical care?
Today I am not advocating for gay rights or anything like that. I am advocating for love and acceptance for everyone no matter who they are because every person has a story. Every person is more than their sins. The next time we feel the need to pass judgment on someone for whatever we think is wrong with them, we need to remember they are more than what we see on the surface. Jesus died for them too and that makes them our brother and sister in Christ. That makes them valuable and beautiful and worth loving.
Christianity is about helping our brothers and sisters. Being there for them. Loving them when no one else will. Not judging their sins because we don't want them judging ours. It's about understanding that EVERYONE sins and there is no degree to sin, no variance. Murder is not worse than a deliberate lie. They're both sins. They're both wrong. WE put degrees on them because it helps us organize it in our minds, but God sees a sin as a sin because sin is what separates us from God.
Some would think that means we're all doomed, but the good news is that Jesus died for EVERY sin so that when we ask God to forgive us, when we finally understand the sins we have committed have hurt ourselves and others that we can obtain forgiveness for them. Whether it's a lie or a murder - once we understand the depth of pain we've caused and feel remorse - forgiveness is given. Therefore, there is no degree to sins because Jesus has made us all equal in the eyes of God.
Do not judge your brother or sister because you are just like them - whether you want to admit it or believe it or not - in God's eyes we are all God's children and LOVED.
Amen.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Choosing Life Over Death
Deut 30:15-20
Matthew 5: 21-37
In my hands today are two options. In my left hand I hold life and prosperity. In my right hand I hold death and destruction. If I choose one of you from the congregation to come up and pick a hand, knowing already because I have told you, what is in each hand - which would you choose? You'd choose the left hand, correct, the one with life and prosperity in it? I mean, who would deliberately choose death and destruction when they KNOW the other hand holds life and prosperity?!
And yet, the writer of Deuteronomy's last words to us are, "Now choose life so that you and your children may live..." as if it is not certain that we will choose life to begin with. Why might that be?
How often did you lie this week, big whoppers and little white lies? How many times did you curse in anger, become jealous and covetous of what others have, become so angry that you couldn't think rationally? How many times did you say or think something truly awful about another person or even yourself? How many times did you speed and barely brake at a stop sign? How many times did you get on facebook or reddit instead of working? How many times did you gossip or complain about another person?
How many times did you pray this week? How many times did you crack open your bible and read it? How many times did you talk to your family, your friends, and your co-workers about your faith in Jesus Christ and what he has done for your life? How many times did you stop to think about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit throughout your day? How many times did you treat someone with kindness and respect despite not really liking them? How many people did you help who cannot help you in return?
Every day we have a choice. We choose life or we choose death. Life is kindness, courtesy, gentleness, meekness, and respect. Death is anger, jealousy, hatred, bitterness, and envy. Life is about being a person that does not need to say a word to proclaim themselves a Christian because our actions tell everyone who we are. Death is the slow wasting away of our faithful connection to God through our deliberate ignorance of God and Jesus' command to love.
The writer of Deuteronomy is aware of how tempted we are to stray from God's goodness and straight into the path of destruction which will only lead to death.
Sometimes we do not realize we are choosing death instead of life. One more hour at work instead of going home to our family. One more drink after a long, hard day. One more small lie to keep a loved one from being hurt. One more cookie because it's been a stressful morning. One more hour on the internet instead of going to sleep. One more phone call to talk about all the juicy gossip we heard that day. One more nasty thought said out loud. One more flirting glance at the good looking person walking by despite being married.
When does one more become too many? There is no way to tell. If there was, we all could avoid sin! We all could avoid temptations and addictions if we knew what would be the tipping point. When does a couple drinks after work become alcoholism? When does a phone call to chat become a nightly nasty gossip session about all the people we dislike? When does an hour extra at work turn us into workaholics? When does that one more cookie become the way we cope with stress all the time? When does that flirting glance turn into an affair?
We do not know or no one would sin. The write of Deuteronomy is trying to warn us that we must be careful and deliberate in our actions. We must embrace God. We must embrace Jesus' way of behaving if we are to choose life. The writer tells us, "But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient...I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed."
Those are harsh words; they are scary words! Sometimes, the problem with us Christians is that we have become so used to hearing that we are forgiven for our sins that we think sinfulness has no consequence at all. That is not true! Sin destroys who we are inside, it destroys the connection we have to God and without that connection we are left without the anchor we need to keep us steady in times of pain and crisis. If we are not anchored in Christ then we are bound to screw up even more by making bad decisions!
The consequence of sin, and thinking our sins are easily forgiven and therefore unimportant, is that we no longer know the mind and heart of Jesus Christ. As I have mentioned before, we can call ourselves Christians all we want, but when our actions do not back up our words, then our words are meaningless. We can say we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, but if we do not act like Jesus has saved us - then do we truly believe what we say?
Loving Jesus and being loved by Jesus, understanding the depth of his sacrifice for us - it changes who we are deep inside. We are different and therefore we act differently. We are not of the world anymore. We are part of God. We are God's children, God's precious heirs to the kingdom of heaven. If we want to receive our inheritance, we cannot sin willfully and think that we are choosing life. Choosing life means embracing the Spirit's gifts of love and gentleness, grace and mercy, humbleness and faithfulness.
If our lives do not portray these gifts, then we have somehow gone down the path of "one more" and can no longer see how destructive our choices have become. Who you are is God's child. That identity will always belong to you - if you choose life in Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Matthew 5: 21-37
In my hands today are two options. In my left hand I hold life and prosperity. In my right hand I hold death and destruction. If I choose one of you from the congregation to come up and pick a hand, knowing already because I have told you, what is in each hand - which would you choose? You'd choose the left hand, correct, the one with life and prosperity in it? I mean, who would deliberately choose death and destruction when they KNOW the other hand holds life and prosperity?!
And yet, the writer of Deuteronomy's last words to us are, "Now choose life so that you and your children may live..." as if it is not certain that we will choose life to begin with. Why might that be?
How often did you lie this week, big whoppers and little white lies? How many times did you curse in anger, become jealous and covetous of what others have, become so angry that you couldn't think rationally? How many times did you say or think something truly awful about another person or even yourself? How many times did you speed and barely brake at a stop sign? How many times did you get on facebook or reddit instead of working? How many times did you gossip or complain about another person?
How many times did you pray this week? How many times did you crack open your bible and read it? How many times did you talk to your family, your friends, and your co-workers about your faith in Jesus Christ and what he has done for your life? How many times did you stop to think about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit throughout your day? How many times did you treat someone with kindness and respect despite not really liking them? How many people did you help who cannot help you in return?
Every day we have a choice. We choose life or we choose death. Life is kindness, courtesy, gentleness, meekness, and respect. Death is anger, jealousy, hatred, bitterness, and envy. Life is about being a person that does not need to say a word to proclaim themselves a Christian because our actions tell everyone who we are. Death is the slow wasting away of our faithful connection to God through our deliberate ignorance of God and Jesus' command to love.
The writer of Deuteronomy is aware of how tempted we are to stray from God's goodness and straight into the path of destruction which will only lead to death.
Sometimes we do not realize we are choosing death instead of life. One more hour at work instead of going home to our family. One more drink after a long, hard day. One more small lie to keep a loved one from being hurt. One more cookie because it's been a stressful morning. One more hour on the internet instead of going to sleep. One more phone call to talk about all the juicy gossip we heard that day. One more nasty thought said out loud. One more flirting glance at the good looking person walking by despite being married.
When does one more become too many? There is no way to tell. If there was, we all could avoid sin! We all could avoid temptations and addictions if we knew what would be the tipping point. When does a couple drinks after work become alcoholism? When does a phone call to chat become a nightly nasty gossip session about all the people we dislike? When does an hour extra at work turn us into workaholics? When does that one more cookie become the way we cope with stress all the time? When does that flirting glance turn into an affair?
We do not know or no one would sin. The write of Deuteronomy is trying to warn us that we must be careful and deliberate in our actions. We must embrace God. We must embrace Jesus' way of behaving if we are to choose life. The writer tells us, "But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient...I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed."
Those are harsh words; they are scary words! Sometimes, the problem with us Christians is that we have become so used to hearing that we are forgiven for our sins that we think sinfulness has no consequence at all. That is not true! Sin destroys who we are inside, it destroys the connection we have to God and without that connection we are left without the anchor we need to keep us steady in times of pain and crisis. If we are not anchored in Christ then we are bound to screw up even more by making bad decisions!
The consequence of sin, and thinking our sins are easily forgiven and therefore unimportant, is that we no longer know the mind and heart of Jesus Christ. As I have mentioned before, we can call ourselves Christians all we want, but when our actions do not back up our words, then our words are meaningless. We can say we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, but if we do not act like Jesus has saved us - then do we truly believe what we say?
Loving Jesus and being loved by Jesus, understanding the depth of his sacrifice for us - it changes who we are deep inside. We are different and therefore we act differently. We are not of the world anymore. We are part of God. We are God's children, God's precious heirs to the kingdom of heaven. If we want to receive our inheritance, we cannot sin willfully and think that we are choosing life. Choosing life means embracing the Spirit's gifts of love and gentleness, grace and mercy, humbleness and faithfulness.
If our lives do not portray these gifts, then we have somehow gone down the path of "one more" and can no longer see how destructive our choices have become. Who you are is God's child. That identity will always belong to you - if you choose life in Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Christians in Community
Psalm 112 : 1-10
1 Cor 2: 1-16
If those who fear the Lord and keep the commandments are happy, and we are not happy, then do we truly fear the Lord and keep the commandments? This is a question that we must repeatedly ask ourselves because we are never good all the time. It is a lie to say that we are always good people and that we always love our spouses with our whole hearts and that we are always kind and generous in our thoughts, time, and attention to those around us.
Because, let us be frank, it is not realistic for a human being to always be good. That is what we have learned over the years, this is the wisdom that comes with age and mistakes. We are at heart good people that strive to make the world better, but we cannot always be kind and caring. We are eventually going to sin. We are eventually going to say something mean or do something unkind. We are eventually going to fall short of the glory of God.
That is where Jesus comes in. During Advent Bible study this year we went over the story of Adam and Eve, and the question I put to the class is, "If Adam and Eve had not eaten of the Forbidden Fruit and had been able to stay in the Garden of Eden, would we still have needed Jesus Christ?" We all sat there looking at each other, thinking it over. I'll ask the question to all of you. Do you think we always needed Jesus, from the beginning of our creation, or could we have saved ourselves?
In today's society, we like to think of ourselves as self-sufficient. We love our independence! We're not real big on carpooling because that means depending on someone else or having to leave when they do. When we do projects with people, we're always leery of depending on everyone to do their part so sometimes we micro-manage and nitpick, thinking to our self that if we could just do it ourselves it would have been easier!
We say that a lot, don't we? If we could just do it ourselves, our life would be so much easier. But, that's a lie.
It's a lie that is exposed by the questioned I posed to you a moment ago. We always needed Jesus. From the beginning of time, God knew that humanity was not perfect. God knew that we would be tempted to do things that were not right and God knew that eventually Jesus would be the only way to save us from ourselves. There was no way we could save ourselves without God's help.
But society tells us that it is important for us to do things on our own and that we should be self-sufficient. We're told that sharing what we have is wrong and we're told that if we have to lean on anyone then we're failing ourselves and society. However, Jesus makes a mockery of this kind of independent thinking. Jesus didn't do his ministry all on his own. He deliberately looked around and found twelve men that would be willing to help him. He took on women who helped to feed and shelter them during his three years of ministry, and who also learned a lot by his side and began to teach others. Jesus knew that being independent isn't as important as we try to proclaim it to be.
Being a Christian means more than being baptized. It is about more than taking communion once a month or year. It is more than wearing a cross or knowing a few bible verses. Being a Christian is being part of a community. It is about caring and sharing and loving one another and the only way we can live out the scriptures, the only way we can be like Jesus is to be in a community together. That means we cannot always do this alone.
There are so many people that will try to tell us that they don't need to come to church because they can find God anywhere. Well yes, they can. But you cannot be a disciple of Jesus Christ by walking through the woods alone. You cannot be a disciple by fishing or hiking or reading the bible every night alone. Being a disciple means going to others and sharing what you have learned. It means putting up with people you don't like and dont understand, and somehow communicating that although there are differences, there is also respect.
The Psalm today reminds us that we are to praise the Lord and we are to follow God's commands. Jesus commanded us to love God and to love one another and to spread that love throughout the world. That is the commandment we are called to follow. And so it brings us back to the very first question I gave to all of us, "If those who fear the Lord and keep the commandments are happy, and we are not happy, then do we truly fear the Lord and keep the commandments?" What are we doing wrong?
Are we working together? Are we sharing our problems with each other? Are we showing mutual respect for each other despite our differences? Are we being grownups about our problems in the church or are we spreading gossip and causing dissension? Are we always complaining about the church without doing anything to make it different and to make growth and change possible?
Jesus tells us over and over again that we are not in this alone. He is with us. He has given the Holy Spirit to us as a guide and a voice in our ears. We are called to work together, in community with love and respect, to make what we have here a blessing to our town, our state, our country and the world. If we are unhappy, then we are not following God's commandments. If we find ourselves angry and vengeful at each other and the church, the Psalm tells us today that, "The wicked are angry, they gnash their teeth and melt away; the desire of the wicked comes to nothing."
We can be mad at each other for the problems we have and the challenges we face, or we can work together to make this church a prosperous and loving atmosphere for all who step through the doors. It is up to us. Jesus makes it clear that if we try to do this as individuals that we will not succeed. We need each other. We're all here with different gifts and ideas. We are to use these gifts for the betterment of the church and our community, not to hide them or squander them on petty things.
Those who fear the Lord are gracious, merciful, and righteous. We are told that the righteous have hearts that are steady and unafraid. Righteous people will not be moved but will stand firm and demand justice and equality and goodness for everyone. This sounds like a Christian disciple to me. This sounds like exactly what Jesus was teaching his disciples to be and therefore, this is what we must be. We cannot be generous and gracious and merciful without others. We need community. We need to come to church. We need to invite others to church.
This week, take the time to share your love of Jesus Christ with someone else. Invite them to come to church. Tell them about the fellowship luncheon we had and tell them about the spaghetti dinner next week. Tell them about how we are planning on going to help the people at the Ronald McDonald house and invite them along! Share your faith. Share your love for God with someone who might desperately need to hear about Jesus' unconditional love.
The only way to be a Christian is through the things we do as well as what we believe. We need to live out the scriptures and we can only do that together. Then, true happiness will be ours because we will be following God's commands without fear or reservation.
Amen.
1 Cor 2: 1-16
If those who fear the Lord and keep the commandments are happy, and we are not happy, then do we truly fear the Lord and keep the commandments? This is a question that we must repeatedly ask ourselves because we are never good all the time. It is a lie to say that we are always good people and that we always love our spouses with our whole hearts and that we are always kind and generous in our thoughts, time, and attention to those around us.
Because, let us be frank, it is not realistic for a human being to always be good. That is what we have learned over the years, this is the wisdom that comes with age and mistakes. We are at heart good people that strive to make the world better, but we cannot always be kind and caring. We are eventually going to sin. We are eventually going to say something mean or do something unkind. We are eventually going to fall short of the glory of God.
That is where Jesus comes in. During Advent Bible study this year we went over the story of Adam and Eve, and the question I put to the class is, "If Adam and Eve had not eaten of the Forbidden Fruit and had been able to stay in the Garden of Eden, would we still have needed Jesus Christ?" We all sat there looking at each other, thinking it over. I'll ask the question to all of you. Do you think we always needed Jesus, from the beginning of our creation, or could we have saved ourselves?
In today's society, we like to think of ourselves as self-sufficient. We love our independence! We're not real big on carpooling because that means depending on someone else or having to leave when they do. When we do projects with people, we're always leery of depending on everyone to do their part so sometimes we micro-manage and nitpick, thinking to our self that if we could just do it ourselves it would have been easier!
We say that a lot, don't we? If we could just do it ourselves, our life would be so much easier. But, that's a lie.
It's a lie that is exposed by the questioned I posed to you a moment ago. We always needed Jesus. From the beginning of time, God knew that humanity was not perfect. God knew that we would be tempted to do things that were not right and God knew that eventually Jesus would be the only way to save us from ourselves. There was no way we could save ourselves without God's help.
But society tells us that it is important for us to do things on our own and that we should be self-sufficient. We're told that sharing what we have is wrong and we're told that if we have to lean on anyone then we're failing ourselves and society. However, Jesus makes a mockery of this kind of independent thinking. Jesus didn't do his ministry all on his own. He deliberately looked around and found twelve men that would be willing to help him. He took on women who helped to feed and shelter them during his three years of ministry, and who also learned a lot by his side and began to teach others. Jesus knew that being independent isn't as important as we try to proclaim it to be.
Being a Christian means more than being baptized. It is about more than taking communion once a month or year. It is more than wearing a cross or knowing a few bible verses. Being a Christian is being part of a community. It is about caring and sharing and loving one another and the only way we can live out the scriptures, the only way we can be like Jesus is to be in a community together. That means we cannot always do this alone.
There are so many people that will try to tell us that they don't need to come to church because they can find God anywhere. Well yes, they can. But you cannot be a disciple of Jesus Christ by walking through the woods alone. You cannot be a disciple by fishing or hiking or reading the bible every night alone. Being a disciple means going to others and sharing what you have learned. It means putting up with people you don't like and dont understand, and somehow communicating that although there are differences, there is also respect.
The Psalm today reminds us that we are to praise the Lord and we are to follow God's commands. Jesus commanded us to love God and to love one another and to spread that love throughout the world. That is the commandment we are called to follow. And so it brings us back to the very first question I gave to all of us, "If those who fear the Lord and keep the commandments are happy, and we are not happy, then do we truly fear the Lord and keep the commandments?" What are we doing wrong?
Are we working together? Are we sharing our problems with each other? Are we showing mutual respect for each other despite our differences? Are we being grownups about our problems in the church or are we spreading gossip and causing dissension? Are we always complaining about the church without doing anything to make it different and to make growth and change possible?
Jesus tells us over and over again that we are not in this alone. He is with us. He has given the Holy Spirit to us as a guide and a voice in our ears. We are called to work together, in community with love and respect, to make what we have here a blessing to our town, our state, our country and the world. If we are unhappy, then we are not following God's commandments. If we find ourselves angry and vengeful at each other and the church, the Psalm tells us today that, "The wicked are angry, they gnash their teeth and melt away; the desire of the wicked comes to nothing."
We can be mad at each other for the problems we have and the challenges we face, or we can work together to make this church a prosperous and loving atmosphere for all who step through the doors. It is up to us. Jesus makes it clear that if we try to do this as individuals that we will not succeed. We need each other. We're all here with different gifts and ideas. We are to use these gifts for the betterment of the church and our community, not to hide them or squander them on petty things.
Those who fear the Lord are gracious, merciful, and righteous. We are told that the righteous have hearts that are steady and unafraid. Righteous people will not be moved but will stand firm and demand justice and equality and goodness for everyone. This sounds like a Christian disciple to me. This sounds like exactly what Jesus was teaching his disciples to be and therefore, this is what we must be. We cannot be generous and gracious and merciful without others. We need community. We need to come to church. We need to invite others to church.
This week, take the time to share your love of Jesus Christ with someone else. Invite them to come to church. Tell them about the fellowship luncheon we had and tell them about the spaghetti dinner next week. Tell them about how we are planning on going to help the people at the Ronald McDonald house and invite them along! Share your faith. Share your love for God with someone who might desperately need to hear about Jesus' unconditional love.
The only way to be a Christian is through the things we do as well as what we believe. We need to live out the scriptures and we can only do that together. Then, true happiness will be ours because we will be following God's commands without fear or reservation.
Amen.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Blessed Are The Meek
Micah 6
Matthew 5
As you study the character traits described in the Beatitudes, you can't help but realize one thing; these qualities are by no means natural to the human spirit. They are very foreign. Poverty of spirit, true mourning over personal sins against God and meekness does not come to us naturally.
The greatest preacher of all time, Jesus Christ, proclaimed "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." The Greek word for "meek" means to be gentle; to be strong, very strong, yet be humble and tender. It is a person with all the emotions and ability to take and conquer, but he or she is able control themself in all ways. It is a state of being disciplined -- a person who is disciplined because they are God-controlled.
But many people tend to think of a meek person as being inherently weak. That is not true. Jesus Christ was a meek man, but he was not weak. His strength came from his trust in His Father in heaven and our strength also comes from God. Jesus was bold in his actions. He stood up for what he believed in. He stated the truth simply and powerfully and walked through angry mobs of people quite often. He deliberately allowed himself to be accused, beaten, and killed on the strength of his faith in God. These are not the actions of a weak man.
W. E. Vine writes: "Meekness is an inwrought grace of the soul; and the exercise of it are first and chiefly towards God. It is temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good and therefore without disputing and resisting."
True meekness is a submissive and trusting attitude toward God. It is an attitude which considers all things that come our way as being for God's good purpose in our life. Meekness looks beyond circumstances, no matter how upsetting and hurtful, and humbly bows the knee to the Sovereign God.
Jesus is the perfect picture of someone who was filled with the Holy Spirit, and lived a life of true meekness. He had all the power needed to prevent His arrest and crucifixion, yet He surrendered to God's will. He fully understood the sovereignty of God and the results of the free will of humanity. If meakness truly meant weakness, then Jesus as a meek person would have not had the strength to endure the things he dealt with on a daily basis.
People were constantly following him, constantly badgering him, constantly belittling him and his disciples. Jesus rarely had a moment to rest and relax in his three years of ministry. He was bombarded day in and day out with needy people and cocky, unlearned disciples, and his own desires. We sometimes forget that Jesus was fully human as well as fully divine which means he had the same desires and temptations as the rest of us.
Do you think he didn't want to yell at people that were mean to him? Do you think he didn't want to make fun of the person that asked him their 100th ignorant question? Do you think he never wanted to play hooky from work or that he never wanted to lie to make his life a little easier? He did. We know that because Jesus is just like us. He was human in all ways and therefore he suffered with the very same temptations we suffer with. Jesus relied on the strength of his Father in heaven to get him through each and every moment of temptation.
There is only one moment in the bible where Jesus allows his anger to overrule him and that is when he overturns the tables in the Synagogue. He was outraged on God's behalf that these people would take something pure and holy, and pervert it so evilly. Once again, Jesus was not being weak, but in his humble faith in God, he allowed his righteous anger to remove the offensive people from God's house.
Humanity has the strength to ignore God's will or to take God's gifts, talents, and abilities and use them for our sake, or we may choose to use God's good blessings to glorify the Lord. Without meekness, we will squander what is given to us by God to gain earthly wealth, self-satisfaction and fame (little or great). That is what happened to the moneychangers in the temple when Jesus comes in and becomes angry. They had taken the blessings God had given to them and perverted them for their own well-being rather than to glorify God.
What we need to remember is that being meek means finding a strength that does not rely on our self, but on God's goodness and grace. It is having faith that God loves us so much that everything that happens to us both good and bad, are for a greater purpose than we can ever fully comprehend. When Abraham and Sarah began on their faithful journey with merely a promise from God that their descendants would be as numerous as the stars, they had no idea what their actions would bring about.
Sarah had so many doubts and so much pain as she got older and continued to be barren! Abraham allowed Sarah's doubts to turn him from God's path and he had a child with his servant. They suffered and they had doubts and they had a lot of torment as they followed God's path for them. But because they stayed true to God through it all, because they continued to have faith, Isaac was born and from Isaac came Jacob and from Jacob came the 12 tribes of Israel and Jacob's son Joseph saved the Hebrews by bringing them to Egypt during the famine and eventually Moses was born who led them from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land of Israel. Then came King David and from David's line was born Joseph, and Mary his wife gave birth to a son named Jesus Christ.
All because an old couple dared to believe an outrageous promise from the voice of God. What is God creating from your life that you could never imagine at this point, but years in the future will bear great fruit? Stay faithful, humble, and meek. Trust in the Lord. Believe God's promises. We are not weak for having faith. We are strong and powerful, but gentle and caring because our convictions bring us closer to God and therefore we become more like Jesus Christ.
The Beatitude of meekness epitomizes the results of kneeling in total submission to God's will. It comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit and from allowing God to produce Christ-like character in us. Meekness says, "not my will, but Yours be done."
The Bible says, "...the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace." Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." The meek will rule and reign with Christ upon this earth someday.
True meekness is not a natural character trait. It can only be obtained by knowing Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. We need to invite Christ into our life today to discover the joyful surrender of true meekness.
Finally, the last thing I will leave you with is something I found on the internet titled the "Devil's Beatitudes" which is what happens to us when we forget to trust in God's promises and we go our own way, perverting our blessings by ignoring Jesus' voice for our own gain.
THE DEVIL'S BEATITUDES
1. Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, too distracted to spend even an hour once a week with their fellow Christians – they are my best workers.
2. Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked and expect to be thanked -- I can use them.
3. Blessed are the touchy who stop going to church –for they are my missionaries.
4. Blessed are the trouble makers – for they shall be called my children.
5. Blessed are the complainers –for their complaints are music to my ears.
6. Blessed are those who keep a list of the preachers mistakes -- for they get nothing out of his sermons.
7. Blessed is the church member who expects to be invited to his own church – for he is a part of the problem instead of the solution.
8. Blessed are those who gossip -- for they shall cause strife and divisions that please me.
9. Blessed are those who are easily offended -- for they will soon get angry and quit.
10. Blessed are those who do not give an offering to carry on God’s work — for they are my helpers.
11. Blessed is he who professes to love God but hates his brother and sister — for he shall be with me forever!
12. Blessed are you who, when you read this think it is about other people and not yourself — I’ve got you too!
Amen.
Matthew 5
As you study the character traits described in the Beatitudes, you can't help but realize one thing; these qualities are by no means natural to the human spirit. They are very foreign. Poverty of spirit, true mourning over personal sins against God and meekness does not come to us naturally.
The greatest preacher of all time, Jesus Christ, proclaimed "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." The Greek word for "meek" means to be gentle; to be strong, very strong, yet be humble and tender. It is a person with all the emotions and ability to take and conquer, but he or she is able control themself in all ways. It is a state of being disciplined -- a person who is disciplined because they are God-controlled.
But many people tend to think of a meek person as being inherently weak. That is not true. Jesus Christ was a meek man, but he was not weak. His strength came from his trust in His Father in heaven and our strength also comes from God. Jesus was bold in his actions. He stood up for what he believed in. He stated the truth simply and powerfully and walked through angry mobs of people quite often. He deliberately allowed himself to be accused, beaten, and killed on the strength of his faith in God. These are not the actions of a weak man.
W. E. Vine writes: "Meekness is an inwrought grace of the soul; and the exercise of it are first and chiefly towards God. It is temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good and therefore without disputing and resisting."
True meekness is a submissive and trusting attitude toward God. It is an attitude which considers all things that come our way as being for God's good purpose in our life. Meekness looks beyond circumstances, no matter how upsetting and hurtful, and humbly bows the knee to the Sovereign God.
Jesus is the perfect picture of someone who was filled with the Holy Spirit, and lived a life of true meekness. He had all the power needed to prevent His arrest and crucifixion, yet He surrendered to God's will. He fully understood the sovereignty of God and the results of the free will of humanity. If meakness truly meant weakness, then Jesus as a meek person would have not had the strength to endure the things he dealt with on a daily basis.
People were constantly following him, constantly badgering him, constantly belittling him and his disciples. Jesus rarely had a moment to rest and relax in his three years of ministry. He was bombarded day in and day out with needy people and cocky, unlearned disciples, and his own desires. We sometimes forget that Jesus was fully human as well as fully divine which means he had the same desires and temptations as the rest of us.
Do you think he didn't want to yell at people that were mean to him? Do you think he didn't want to make fun of the person that asked him their 100th ignorant question? Do you think he never wanted to play hooky from work or that he never wanted to lie to make his life a little easier? He did. We know that because Jesus is just like us. He was human in all ways and therefore he suffered with the very same temptations we suffer with. Jesus relied on the strength of his Father in heaven to get him through each and every moment of temptation.
There is only one moment in the bible where Jesus allows his anger to overrule him and that is when he overturns the tables in the Synagogue. He was outraged on God's behalf that these people would take something pure and holy, and pervert it so evilly. Once again, Jesus was not being weak, but in his humble faith in God, he allowed his righteous anger to remove the offensive people from God's house.
Humanity has the strength to ignore God's will or to take God's gifts, talents, and abilities and use them for our sake, or we may choose to use God's good blessings to glorify the Lord. Without meekness, we will squander what is given to us by God to gain earthly wealth, self-satisfaction and fame (little or great). That is what happened to the moneychangers in the temple when Jesus comes in and becomes angry. They had taken the blessings God had given to them and perverted them for their own well-being rather than to glorify God.
What we need to remember is that being meek means finding a strength that does not rely on our self, but on God's goodness and grace. It is having faith that God loves us so much that everything that happens to us both good and bad, are for a greater purpose than we can ever fully comprehend. When Abraham and Sarah began on their faithful journey with merely a promise from God that their descendants would be as numerous as the stars, they had no idea what their actions would bring about.
Sarah had so many doubts and so much pain as she got older and continued to be barren! Abraham allowed Sarah's doubts to turn him from God's path and he had a child with his servant. They suffered and they had doubts and they had a lot of torment as they followed God's path for them. But because they stayed true to God through it all, because they continued to have faith, Isaac was born and from Isaac came Jacob and from Jacob came the 12 tribes of Israel and Jacob's son Joseph saved the Hebrews by bringing them to Egypt during the famine and eventually Moses was born who led them from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land of Israel. Then came King David and from David's line was born Joseph, and Mary his wife gave birth to a son named Jesus Christ.
All because an old couple dared to believe an outrageous promise from the voice of God. What is God creating from your life that you could never imagine at this point, but years in the future will bear great fruit? Stay faithful, humble, and meek. Trust in the Lord. Believe God's promises. We are not weak for having faith. We are strong and powerful, but gentle and caring because our convictions bring us closer to God and therefore we become more like Jesus Christ.
The Beatitude of meekness epitomizes the results of kneeling in total submission to God's will. It comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit and from allowing God to produce Christ-like character in us. Meekness says, "not my will, but Yours be done."
The Bible says, "...the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace." Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." The meek will rule and reign with Christ upon this earth someday.
True meekness is not a natural character trait. It can only be obtained by knowing Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. We need to invite Christ into our life today to discover the joyful surrender of true meekness.
Finally, the last thing I will leave you with is something I found on the internet titled the "Devil's Beatitudes" which is what happens to us when we forget to trust in God's promises and we go our own way, perverting our blessings by ignoring Jesus' voice for our own gain.
THE DEVIL'S BEATITUDES
1. Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, too distracted to spend even an hour once a week with their fellow Christians – they are my best workers.
2. Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked and expect to be thanked -- I can use them.
3. Blessed are the touchy who stop going to church –for they are my missionaries.
4. Blessed are the trouble makers – for they shall be called my children.
5. Blessed are the complainers –for their complaints are music to my ears.
6. Blessed are those who keep a list of the preachers mistakes -- for they get nothing out of his sermons.
7. Blessed is the church member who expects to be invited to his own church – for he is a part of the problem instead of the solution.
8. Blessed are those who gossip -- for they shall cause strife and divisions that please me.
9. Blessed are those who are easily offended -- for they will soon get angry and quit.
10. Blessed are those who do not give an offering to carry on God’s work — for they are my helpers.
11. Blessed is he who professes to love God but hates his brother and sister — for he shall be with me forever!
12. Blessed are you who, when you read this think it is about other people and not yourself — I’ve got you too!
Amen.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Faithful Works
Isaiah 9: 1-4
Matthew 4: 12-23
Throughout our lives, we are tested many times. Our lives are living testaments to our character. Part of who we are is directly influenced by outside sources like the people we surround ourselves with and the other part is directly influenced by the personality we were given upon our birth. However, all of our heart and mind should be influenced by Jesus Christ when we call ourselves Christians. Which means that when we give our lives to Christ, we accept that it no longer matters as much what others think of us and what our own doubts and insecurities are because we have given up control to Jesus.
We believe that God holds us steady through the storms of life. We hold onto Jesus as our anchor. It doesn't always work out that way though. Sometimes, we forget. Sometimes, we get so caught up with the problems in our life that we stop turning to God and instead we turn to those around us or our own ingenuity. Then, when things start to fall even further apart, we get just desperate enough to turn to God.
Yes, sometimes it is desperation and a last ditch effort to save ourselves that makes us see Jesus more clearly. Sometimes it is other people's last ditch efforts on our behalf that help us see that Jesus is the foundation on which we should build our lives.
One of the earliest and the most outstanding intellectuals, leaders and defenders of the Christian faith was Augustine, the fourth century writer of the “Confessions of Saint Augustine,” one of the most famous tell-all autobiographies written. Young Augustine was a hedonist, a philosopher, an agnostic, and a rebel, but his mother Monica was a godly, persistent, and resourceful woman.
Augustine often laughed at his mother’s pious ways, mocked her faith, and deliberately defied her continual pleading for him to repent of his pagan lifestyle, to convert to Christ, and to live an exemplary life. When Augustine wanted to leave the shores of Carthage, North Africa, for the bright lights of Rome, his mother feared the worst for her son, dreaded the outcome of his leaving, and often fled to the church for solace, prayer, and advice.
In her despair, she would often weep uncontrollably for her son. One day a minister noticed her painful cries, and asked her why she was so bitter. She told him of her wayward son, but the bishop reassured her with these words: “Go in peace; as you live, it cannot be that the son of these tears should perish.” Augustine avoided his mother as much as possible and ignored her warnings time and again, but he could not escape her continuous prayers. Monica painstakingly prayed, wept, and looked for her son for 30 years until Augustine surrendered his life to Christ.
Monica did not give up on her son and she did not give up her faith in Jesus. She knew that God has the power to save even those that do not know they need to be saved. All we can do is trust in Jesus to be the one that will lead our loved ones as well as us back into the arms of the Lord.
It takes faith. Faith is not a complicated thing. Faith is as simple as a man walking up to two fishermen and when he says, "Follow me." they put down their nets and follow him. They saw something about this man they had never seen before and they were instantly drawn to him. They knew that this man was going to stand by his word and that they would indeed do great things in their lives from that day forward if they followed him. They had faith in him.
While faith is not a complicated concept, it is not easy to do either. It's not easy to constantly have faith especially when things aren't going our way. It's not easy to believe there is something better coming our way when everytime we fight our way through one battle; another, bigger one looms on the horizon. Faith is simple, but it's not simple to live out in our daily lives.
The only way way to live out our faith is through doing things that remind us daily we are faithful disciples of Christ. Jesus didn't just tell those two men to follow him where he walked, he wanted them to follow his actions as well. He sent his disciples out to pray over people, to cast out demons, to heal the sick and to comfort the berieved. He believed that following meant doing and the same is true for us!
It's not enough for us to just proclaim ourselves Christians. We must ACT like Christians. We must do good works in Jesus Christ's name and we must speak of our faith without fear. The only way to stay consistent in our faith is by the things we do in our lives. Otherwise, we end up going around in a circle where we have faith for awhile and we feel good about ourselves, and then slowly we stop having faith when things get tough before we get desperate enough to once gain turn to Jesus. And around and around we go.
An old Scotsman operated a little rowboat for transporting passengers. One day a passenger noticed that the good old man had carved on one oar the word "Faith" and on the other oar the word "Works." Curiosity led him to ask the meaning of these oars. The old man, being a well-balanced Christian and glad for the opportunity to testify said, "I will show you."
Then he dropped one oar and plied the other called Works, and they just went around in circles. Then he dropped that oar and began to ply the oar called Faith, and the little boat just went around in circles again - this time the other way around, but still in a circle.
After this demonstration the old man picked up Faith and Works, and plying both oars together, sped swiftly over the water, explaining to his inquiring passenger. "You see, that is the way it is in the Christian life. Dead works without faith are useless, and faith without works is dead also, getting you nowhere. But faith and works pulling together make for safety, progress, and blessing."
So you see, sometimes we have faith but we do not act on our faith therefore what good is there in having it? It helps no one, not even ourselves. But sometimes we are so busy trying to do good works that we forget to have faith in Jesus and then what good is it to do good things without a firm foundation in Christ? We accomplish our goals when we work faithfully to fulfill Jesus Christ's dreams instead of our own.
This church is filled with many wonderful, talented people. A lot of hard workers. But what are we working toward? Are we working to fulfill Jesus' dream for this church or our own dreams? Are we carrying out God's plans or our own? Remember that just as we must not act out of fear of our future, we cannot act without faith! Either one will hurt our church and it will be because we did not remember to work faithfully with full trust in Jesus.
Jesus Christ has issued a command to us today. Follow him. When we follow Jesus we become like him, filled with faith in God's love for us and through that faith and love, our hearts overflow with the desire to do good things for others. That is our goal as Christians. We are here to make our Lord proud as we show our love through fulfilling Christ's mission for the world.
Amen.
Matthew 4: 12-23
Throughout our lives, we are tested many times. Our lives are living testaments to our character. Part of who we are is directly influenced by outside sources like the people we surround ourselves with and the other part is directly influenced by the personality we were given upon our birth. However, all of our heart and mind should be influenced by Jesus Christ when we call ourselves Christians. Which means that when we give our lives to Christ, we accept that it no longer matters as much what others think of us and what our own doubts and insecurities are because we have given up control to Jesus.
We believe that God holds us steady through the storms of life. We hold onto Jesus as our anchor. It doesn't always work out that way though. Sometimes, we forget. Sometimes, we get so caught up with the problems in our life that we stop turning to God and instead we turn to those around us or our own ingenuity. Then, when things start to fall even further apart, we get just desperate enough to turn to God.
Yes, sometimes it is desperation and a last ditch effort to save ourselves that makes us see Jesus more clearly. Sometimes it is other people's last ditch efforts on our behalf that help us see that Jesus is the foundation on which we should build our lives.
One of the earliest and the most outstanding intellectuals, leaders and defenders of the Christian faith was Augustine, the fourth century writer of the “Confessions of Saint Augustine,” one of the most famous tell-all autobiographies written. Young Augustine was a hedonist, a philosopher, an agnostic, and a rebel, but his mother Monica was a godly, persistent, and resourceful woman.
Augustine often laughed at his mother’s pious ways, mocked her faith, and deliberately defied her continual pleading for him to repent of his pagan lifestyle, to convert to Christ, and to live an exemplary life. When Augustine wanted to leave the shores of Carthage, North Africa, for the bright lights of Rome, his mother feared the worst for her son, dreaded the outcome of his leaving, and often fled to the church for solace, prayer, and advice.
In her despair, she would often weep uncontrollably for her son. One day a minister noticed her painful cries, and asked her why she was so bitter. She told him of her wayward son, but the bishop reassured her with these words: “Go in peace; as you live, it cannot be that the son of these tears should perish.” Augustine avoided his mother as much as possible and ignored her warnings time and again, but he could not escape her continuous prayers. Monica painstakingly prayed, wept, and looked for her son for 30 years until Augustine surrendered his life to Christ.
Monica did not give up on her son and she did not give up her faith in Jesus. She knew that God has the power to save even those that do not know they need to be saved. All we can do is trust in Jesus to be the one that will lead our loved ones as well as us back into the arms of the Lord.
It takes faith. Faith is not a complicated thing. Faith is as simple as a man walking up to two fishermen and when he says, "Follow me." they put down their nets and follow him. They saw something about this man they had never seen before and they were instantly drawn to him. They knew that this man was going to stand by his word and that they would indeed do great things in their lives from that day forward if they followed him. They had faith in him.
While faith is not a complicated concept, it is not easy to do either. It's not easy to constantly have faith especially when things aren't going our way. It's not easy to believe there is something better coming our way when everytime we fight our way through one battle; another, bigger one looms on the horizon. Faith is simple, but it's not simple to live out in our daily lives.
The only way way to live out our faith is through doing things that remind us daily we are faithful disciples of Christ. Jesus didn't just tell those two men to follow him where he walked, he wanted them to follow his actions as well. He sent his disciples out to pray over people, to cast out demons, to heal the sick and to comfort the berieved. He believed that following meant doing and the same is true for us!
It's not enough for us to just proclaim ourselves Christians. We must ACT like Christians. We must do good works in Jesus Christ's name and we must speak of our faith without fear. The only way to stay consistent in our faith is by the things we do in our lives. Otherwise, we end up going around in a circle where we have faith for awhile and we feel good about ourselves, and then slowly we stop having faith when things get tough before we get desperate enough to once gain turn to Jesus. And around and around we go.
An old Scotsman operated a little rowboat for transporting passengers. One day a passenger noticed that the good old man had carved on one oar the word "Faith" and on the other oar the word "Works." Curiosity led him to ask the meaning of these oars. The old man, being a well-balanced Christian and glad for the opportunity to testify said, "I will show you."
Then he dropped one oar and plied the other called Works, and they just went around in circles. Then he dropped that oar and began to ply the oar called Faith, and the little boat just went around in circles again - this time the other way around, but still in a circle.
After this demonstration the old man picked up Faith and Works, and plying both oars together, sped swiftly over the water, explaining to his inquiring passenger. "You see, that is the way it is in the Christian life. Dead works without faith are useless, and faith without works is dead also, getting you nowhere. But faith and works pulling together make for safety, progress, and blessing."
So you see, sometimes we have faith but we do not act on our faith therefore what good is there in having it? It helps no one, not even ourselves. But sometimes we are so busy trying to do good works that we forget to have faith in Jesus and then what good is it to do good things without a firm foundation in Christ? We accomplish our goals when we work faithfully to fulfill Jesus Christ's dreams instead of our own.
This church is filled with many wonderful, talented people. A lot of hard workers. But what are we working toward? Are we working to fulfill Jesus' dream for this church or our own dreams? Are we carrying out God's plans or our own? Remember that just as we must not act out of fear of our future, we cannot act without faith! Either one will hurt our church and it will be because we did not remember to work faithfully with full trust in Jesus.
Jesus Christ has issued a command to us today. Follow him. When we follow Jesus we become like him, filled with faith in God's love for us and through that faith and love, our hearts overflow with the desire to do good things for others. That is our goal as Christians. We are here to make our Lord proud as we show our love through fulfilling Christ's mission for the world.
Amen.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Who's Your Savior?
Isaiah 49 January 18, 2014
This week, I wrote a pretty good sermon on the 1 Corinthians passage we read today. I labored over it. I struggled over the words and the exactly right illustrations to use. Finally, after quite a few hours, it was written and saved to my computer, and as I sometimes do, I asked a fellow minister to read it over to see what she thought. She asked me to send it to her, and when I went to open my computer up, it didn't turn on.
I didn't get worried too quickly however, because I just figured if I hit the power button, the computer will load up quickly enough. But nothing happened when I did that. So I pressed the button harder. I held it in for a good, long minute. Nothing. I plugged the computer in, even though I knew that the battery was fully charged, but I was getting desperate now. Still, nothing turned that computer on.
I sat there, stunned and angry because this computer is barely 6 months old and how dare this happen to me when I had no way to access that wonderful sermon I had written? By now, in my head, my sermon has become this epic writing that will inspire every one of us to do great things in the name of Jesus Christ. (Leave me to my illusions, please)
I was angry and upset, but not completely disheartened. I have friends that are technologically savvy. I turned to them. They couldn't help me. Then I remembered the man who has a computer business that has worked on the church computer. I gave him a call and he cheerfully agreed to look at it and he said that he'd at the least be able to get me my sermon off the hard drive. I breathed a deep sigh of relief! I was saved! This man was going to be my salvation!
I really should know better, shouldn't I? I am a pastor after all, I should know there is only one savior and it is not the very nice man at ACT. I dropped off my computer on Saturday morning and immediately, I heard him say, "Oh. This has a sealed hard drive. Hmm.." and I looked at him, alarmed, "Should.. should I write another sermon, just in case?"
"It might be wise," the man told me, but I didn't want to believe that he couldn't fix it; that this man couldn't save me the toil of writing two sermons in a week. I went and worked out, I took a leisurely shower, I called my grandmother. I went to Barnes and Noble and had a coffee, playing on the internet and considering writing a sermon, but holding off. I did everything but write a sermon because I had faith in the this man's computer saving skills.
As I write this, the man has had my computer for over eight hours and will not answer the phone when I call. I think he's afraid of delivering the blow that my sermon will be forever lost to me. That's when I decided to reread Isaiah 49 and a couple lines really jumped out at me.
"[God] said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor. But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all. Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God.”
I labored in vain all week long to write a sermon that would connect with each of you in the pews this week. It was in vain because I am unable to share it with you in it's exact, glorious form. However, the true lesson this week was a reminder to us all that when we do not remember God that we labor in vain. I wanted that man to save me. He's not my savior. Jesus Christ is my savior. Jesus Christ has control of my destiny. Not the ACT man.
And that's where the message I had written for you this week intersects with the one I had to relearn. Our destiny as a church should begin with Jesus Christ. The foundation of our every rule, the rock on which we stand begins and ends not with our own ideas and feelings, but with what Jesus would have us do as HIS church. You see, we allow ourselves to get caught up in the world and the world's ideas of what is right and wrong. We allow ourselves to worry and the anxiety rips apart the peace that comes from being beloved children of God.
The world has a distorted view of truth. Jesus tells us that he is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to God except through Jesus Christ. Then why is it, when something bad happens in the world, that we tighten our ropes and batten down the hatches and act like the world has control over what we do here? The world's rules and problems, while they can influence how we minister to the needs of others, should not and cannot affect who we are as a church. We cannot let fear and doubt be our motivators in what we do.
The fear and anxiety we experience every time we hear about something bad is not coming from Jesus. It comes from the devil. When we make decisions to not help others because our budget wasn't made last year; when we huddle in groups to gossip about others because it's easier than facing the problems of the church; when we turn to making more committees and rules and bylaws because it makes us feel safer; we are not following Jesus Christ.
Jesus never played it safe. Jesus never allowed an angry mob to prevent him from speaking the truth. Jesus never spoke something about a person that he wasn't willing to say to their face and he didn't use others to say those things he was thinking about them. Jesus didn't think the answer to a problem was to make a bunch of rules. The way Jesus faced problems was through prayer, meditation, reading the scriptures, and trusting in the unshakable foundation of his relationship with God. The same relationship that we have been adopted into upon our baptism.
As a church, we need to stop fearing the future. We need to let go of our anxieties as individuals. We need to leave the burdens of the world at the door and embrace the Holy Spirit's claim upon us. We are children of God. We are promised that when we trust in Jesus Christ, that he will guide us where we need to go. Jesus doesn't promise that it will be an easy journey, but he promises to be our shepherd.
When we don't think and act like Jesus, we labor in vain. When we make the mistake of thinking another person or another bunch of rules can save us; we labor in vain. We dig a huge hole for ourselves and wonder why suddenly we can no longer see the light. LOOK UP. Let go of your fears. Let go of your doubts. Trust that God has placed you exactly where you're supposed to be, that the people that are in your life are there for a reason, and trust in Jesus.
Stop trusting the world. Stop trusting the world's reactions to what goes on. Stop trusting yourself and all your thoughts that aren't inspired by the love and peace of Jesus Christ. Stop trusting in committees and rules and this crazy idea that the more you worry about something that you can prevent it from happening! We drive ourselves mad with all of these thoughts, worries, and fears. We get so lost and caught up in them that we forget why we're here.
WHY ARE YOU HERE?! If it's not to worship God, to share in the love of Jesus Christ, to experience the connection of a community bound in the Holy Spirit then you're here for the wrong reasons. If you're here to hear a good sermon or to be entertained by the music then you're here for the wrong reason. If you're here because you like me or because you hate me; if you're here because you've always come here; if you're here because you had nothing better to do this morning then you're here for the wrong reason.
Church is community. Worship services are about giving thanks to God for the blessings of our life and sharing in each other's sorrows. It's about connecting with others who believe the things that you believe. It's about loving that slightly strange person that walks in five minutes late every service. It's about feeling a sense of belonging to something so much bigger and grander than anything else in the world. It's about learning to accept differences and be more tolerant and forgiving. This is not a social club. This is not something to do on a Sunday morning. This is not the place to judge others.
When church becomes anything other than a connection of a community that is in love with Jesus Christ, it is doomed to fail. Harsh words, but true. We're not here because of you or me. We're here because of Jesus. We're not here to show off our jewelry or clothes. We're here to be clothed in the glory of Christ. We're not here to be petty and mean in our thoughts about the people we don't like that attend here. We're here to learn more about what it means to love a person that annoys us to death because Jesus loved those that killed him.
Fear and anxiety remove us from the light. Fear and anxiety will keep us wandering in the desert for a lot longer than the 40 years the Israelites spent in it. How long will we wander from God's path? How long will we ignore the Holy Spirit's urgings? How long will we pretend to be our own savior instead of acknowledging Christ as our only Savior?
That.. is up to you.
Amen.
This week, I wrote a pretty good sermon on the 1 Corinthians passage we read today. I labored over it. I struggled over the words and the exactly right illustrations to use. Finally, after quite a few hours, it was written and saved to my computer, and as I sometimes do, I asked a fellow minister to read it over to see what she thought. She asked me to send it to her, and when I went to open my computer up, it didn't turn on.
I didn't get worried too quickly however, because I just figured if I hit the power button, the computer will load up quickly enough. But nothing happened when I did that. So I pressed the button harder. I held it in for a good, long minute. Nothing. I plugged the computer in, even though I knew that the battery was fully charged, but I was getting desperate now. Still, nothing turned that computer on.
I sat there, stunned and angry because this computer is barely 6 months old and how dare this happen to me when I had no way to access that wonderful sermon I had written? By now, in my head, my sermon has become this epic writing that will inspire every one of us to do great things in the name of Jesus Christ. (Leave me to my illusions, please)
I was angry and upset, but not completely disheartened. I have friends that are technologically savvy. I turned to them. They couldn't help me. Then I remembered the man who has a computer business that has worked on the church computer. I gave him a call and he cheerfully agreed to look at it and he said that he'd at the least be able to get me my sermon off the hard drive. I breathed a deep sigh of relief! I was saved! This man was going to be my salvation!
I really should know better, shouldn't I? I am a pastor after all, I should know there is only one savior and it is not the very nice man at ACT. I dropped off my computer on Saturday morning and immediately, I heard him say, "Oh. This has a sealed hard drive. Hmm.." and I looked at him, alarmed, "Should.. should I write another sermon, just in case?"
"It might be wise," the man told me, but I didn't want to believe that he couldn't fix it; that this man couldn't save me the toil of writing two sermons in a week. I went and worked out, I took a leisurely shower, I called my grandmother. I went to Barnes and Noble and had a coffee, playing on the internet and considering writing a sermon, but holding off. I did everything but write a sermon because I had faith in the this man's computer saving skills.
As I write this, the man has had my computer for over eight hours and will not answer the phone when I call. I think he's afraid of delivering the blow that my sermon will be forever lost to me. That's when I decided to reread Isaiah 49 and a couple lines really jumped out at me.
"[God] said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor. But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing at all. Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God.”
I labored in vain all week long to write a sermon that would connect with each of you in the pews this week. It was in vain because I am unable to share it with you in it's exact, glorious form. However, the true lesson this week was a reminder to us all that when we do not remember God that we labor in vain. I wanted that man to save me. He's not my savior. Jesus Christ is my savior. Jesus Christ has control of my destiny. Not the ACT man.
And that's where the message I had written for you this week intersects with the one I had to relearn. Our destiny as a church should begin with Jesus Christ. The foundation of our every rule, the rock on which we stand begins and ends not with our own ideas and feelings, but with what Jesus would have us do as HIS church. You see, we allow ourselves to get caught up in the world and the world's ideas of what is right and wrong. We allow ourselves to worry and the anxiety rips apart the peace that comes from being beloved children of God.
The world has a distorted view of truth. Jesus tells us that he is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to God except through Jesus Christ. Then why is it, when something bad happens in the world, that we tighten our ropes and batten down the hatches and act like the world has control over what we do here? The world's rules and problems, while they can influence how we minister to the needs of others, should not and cannot affect who we are as a church. We cannot let fear and doubt be our motivators in what we do.
The fear and anxiety we experience every time we hear about something bad is not coming from Jesus. It comes from the devil. When we make decisions to not help others because our budget wasn't made last year; when we huddle in groups to gossip about others because it's easier than facing the problems of the church; when we turn to making more committees and rules and bylaws because it makes us feel safer; we are not following Jesus Christ.
Jesus never played it safe. Jesus never allowed an angry mob to prevent him from speaking the truth. Jesus never spoke something about a person that he wasn't willing to say to their face and he didn't use others to say those things he was thinking about them. Jesus didn't think the answer to a problem was to make a bunch of rules. The way Jesus faced problems was through prayer, meditation, reading the scriptures, and trusting in the unshakable foundation of his relationship with God. The same relationship that we have been adopted into upon our baptism.
As a church, we need to stop fearing the future. We need to let go of our anxieties as individuals. We need to leave the burdens of the world at the door and embrace the Holy Spirit's claim upon us. We are children of God. We are promised that when we trust in Jesus Christ, that he will guide us where we need to go. Jesus doesn't promise that it will be an easy journey, but he promises to be our shepherd.
When we don't think and act like Jesus, we labor in vain. When we make the mistake of thinking another person or another bunch of rules can save us; we labor in vain. We dig a huge hole for ourselves and wonder why suddenly we can no longer see the light. LOOK UP. Let go of your fears. Let go of your doubts. Trust that God has placed you exactly where you're supposed to be, that the people that are in your life are there for a reason, and trust in Jesus.
Stop trusting the world. Stop trusting the world's reactions to what goes on. Stop trusting yourself and all your thoughts that aren't inspired by the love and peace of Jesus Christ. Stop trusting in committees and rules and this crazy idea that the more you worry about something that you can prevent it from happening! We drive ourselves mad with all of these thoughts, worries, and fears. We get so lost and caught up in them that we forget why we're here.
WHY ARE YOU HERE?! If it's not to worship God, to share in the love of Jesus Christ, to experience the connection of a community bound in the Holy Spirit then you're here for the wrong reasons. If you're here to hear a good sermon or to be entertained by the music then you're here for the wrong reason. If you're here because you like me or because you hate me; if you're here because you've always come here; if you're here because you had nothing better to do this morning then you're here for the wrong reason.
Church is community. Worship services are about giving thanks to God for the blessings of our life and sharing in each other's sorrows. It's about connecting with others who believe the things that you believe. It's about loving that slightly strange person that walks in five minutes late every service. It's about feeling a sense of belonging to something so much bigger and grander than anything else in the world. It's about learning to accept differences and be more tolerant and forgiving. This is not a social club. This is not something to do on a Sunday morning. This is not the place to judge others.
When church becomes anything other than a connection of a community that is in love with Jesus Christ, it is doomed to fail. Harsh words, but true. We're not here because of you or me. We're here because of Jesus. We're not here to show off our jewelry or clothes. We're here to be clothed in the glory of Christ. We're not here to be petty and mean in our thoughts about the people we don't like that attend here. We're here to learn more about what it means to love a person that annoys us to death because Jesus loved those that killed him.
Fear and anxiety remove us from the light. Fear and anxiety will keep us wandering in the desert for a lot longer than the 40 years the Israelites spent in it. How long will we wander from God's path? How long will we ignore the Holy Spirit's urgings? How long will we pretend to be our own savior instead of acknowledging Christ as our only Savior?
That.. is up to you.
Amen.
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Let it Go
Isaiah 42:
1-9
Matthew 3: 13-17
Matthew 3: 13-17
There is
nothing more precious than a child. There is something inside most adults that
feels the need to nurture and protect little ones when we see them. We
instinctively know that our future lies with these children and if we do not
raise them properly, then everything that we have built will be for nothing.
When God created the world, God created human beings. We are God's children.
God considers us precious beyond words.
God loves
us so much that we were given the greatest gift; that of God's Son Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ, the one who came to save the world and make us the heirs
to the Kingdom of God. Jesus was born without sin, and yet the first thing he
does before beginning his ministry is to go up to John the Baptist and asked to
be baptized. There are several reasons we baptize our children and adults. We
are baptizing them to bless them with the Holy Spirit, and upon being blessed
they are accepted as God's child. We also baptize them because Jesus Christ
asked to be baptized, the one that had no sin believed it was very important to
become part of the body of God through the cleansing ritual given by water and
Holy Spirit.
And because
Jesus did it, we consider it important in the United Church of Christ. It's the
reason we also celebrate Communion. Jesus did it, and therefore so do we. There
are many things that Jesus did that we should consider important. Jesus' deep
love for the sinners of the world and his intense compassion for those whose
lives were marred with mistakes are two things we all need to get better at in
our efforts to be Christ's disciples.
Jeffrey Dahmer was a convicted murderer and cannibal who cooked and ate his victims. You don’t really get much more heinous than that. He was awarded 16 life sentences. While in prison, Dahmer met with Roy Ratcliff, a minister with the Church of Christ in Madison, Wisconsin, and turned his life over to Jesus Christ. He was baptized in prison, knowing that he would never leave prison alive. He had nothing to gain in this life, but everything to gain in the next.
We may scoff at jailhouse conversions, but within months of Dahmer’s baptism, people noticed a Christian spirit in him. His father and pen pals noticed the difference, and his father, who had left the church, has since been restored as a faithful member. Dahmer’s younger brother also had a conversion experience of his own.
Dahmer was killed in prison by a fellow inmate a few months after his baptism. At his memorial service, along with his own family and several Christians, two sisters of one of his victims attended, having grown close to Dahmer’s family after their brother’s death.
That may have been Dahmer’s last chance for repentance, and he took it. But many of us think he shouldn’t have been given another chance. He didn’t deserve it. And that’s true. He didn’t deserve another chance. But neither do we.
Jeffrey Dahmer was a convicted murderer and cannibal who cooked and ate his victims. You don’t really get much more heinous than that. He was awarded 16 life sentences. While in prison, Dahmer met with Roy Ratcliff, a minister with the Church of Christ in Madison, Wisconsin, and turned his life over to Jesus Christ. He was baptized in prison, knowing that he would never leave prison alive. He had nothing to gain in this life, but everything to gain in the next.
We may scoff at jailhouse conversions, but within months of Dahmer’s baptism, people noticed a Christian spirit in him. His father and pen pals noticed the difference, and his father, who had left the church, has since been restored as a faithful member. Dahmer’s younger brother also had a conversion experience of his own.
Dahmer was killed in prison by a fellow inmate a few months after his baptism. At his memorial service, along with his own family and several Christians, two sisters of one of his victims attended, having grown close to Dahmer’s family after their brother’s death.
That may have been Dahmer’s last chance for repentance, and he took it. But many of us think he shouldn’t have been given another chance. He didn’t deserve it. And that’s true. He didn’t deserve another chance. But neither do we.
Baptism is
a beautiful sacrament that reminds us that despite our sinfulness; despite the
constant warring of our flesh and spirit; despite the constant barrage of petty
thoughts in our minds that we are still loved by God. As Jesus comes up out of
the water, the Spirit alights upon him in the form of a dove and the voice of
God is heard to say, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well
pleased." Every time we baptize a child or adult, the Holy Spirit comes to
rest upon them. Every time we baptize a child or adult, God tells that person
they are now part of God's family and they are loved.
This is a
miracle. That some blessed water and a few words by the pastor can bring a
person into the Promised Land. What we waited thousands of years for; what God
had promised from the beginning with Adam and Eve and then with Abraham and
Sarah and then with Moses and Aaron is that they will be delivered into the
Promised Land and that nothing shall ever harm them as they have become God's
chosen ones. Baptism proclaims the same exact thing! We are God's chosen ones!
WE ARE GOD'S CHOSEN CHILDREN!
The second
part of the miracle is up to us. Does this matter to you? Do you care that you
are now part of something glorious and amazing and miraculous? Then we need to
change. We need to see where we have grown lazy in our lives and in the church
and make the changes God would have us make. Every person has something in
their life that keeps them from committing fully to God and God's plan for
them. We allow fear and the unknown to cause us to worry and stress and so we
put up blocks inside of our hearts.
Today, as
we celebrate the baptism of Jesus Christ, let us let go of those stumbling
blocks. Close your eyes and think for a moment of what holds you back from
being more loving. What keeps you from attending those church functions? What
prevents you from talking more about Jesus to strangers? What has God been
calling you to do that you have been persistently ignoring? Remove the fear from
your heart. Remove the worry from your eyes. Remove the pain of the past and
accept your future. A future free and clear of all that worry and fear and
pain.
Jesus'
baptism, our baptism gives us that freedom. We were accepted as God's child. We
are clean and whole and perfect in God's eyes. We just need to see ourselves
with the same light of love that God has for us. When you see what God sees
inside of you, your confidence and your ability to love and forgive will
increase exponentially.
We need to
know how to love others better. We need to know how to forgive the people that
drive us crazy. We need to accept the things we can change and then change
them, but we also need to let go of what is unchangeable and move forward.
Getting stuck in the past and getting caught up in worry, fear, and pain
prevents you from being the baptized and beloved child of God that you are. Let
it go. Let.it.go.
And may
God's love shine out of you and become a beacon to the ones that are lost and
stumbling in the dark. May you find renewed joy in being the baptized and
beloved child of God, and through your joy my hope for you is that you can
bring others to God's arms. That is what Jesus did for us when he came up out
of the water. He brought us into God's arms. May we bless another the way we
have been blessed!
Amen.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
